This car is presently owned by Diarmaid Boland.

This car was purchased by Diarmaid Boland in 2017.

"Recent photos of 3-Litre Chassis no. 356"

Carovana Romantica, Cortona Italy, 2013

BDC Concours, 2010

Coys Blenheim Palace auction, July 2009

Lot 638
Bentley 3-Litre "Red Label"
Concours & Auction Weekend, Coys (18 July 2009)

Lot Details
Auction - Concours & Auction Weekend
Coys, Blenheim Palace

Estimate - £140000-£170000
Outcome - SOLD
Hammer Price -
Hammer Price - (inc premium) £157825
Year - 1924
Registration number - YM1796
Chassis number - 356
Engine number -

The Rabagliati 3 Litre is recognised as one of the milestones in the sporting history of the motor car. Chassis 356 was the first 'Red Label' Bentley produced and it was this model that was to lay the foundations of Bentley's financial success. The 'Red Label' became the envy of sporting motorists and race followers the world over.

The final specification of the first 'Red Label', short chassis, speed model (generally known in the works as 'speed one') was signed off by W.O. himself in July 1923, and the running chassis No 356, engine No 357, was completed in late August of that year and was put on show in Bentley's showrooms in Hanover Street, W1.

Apparently the future ownership of this rather special car was hotly contested. A number of famous sporting motorists of the period, such as J.D. Benjafield, were anxious to acquire it. However, it was Dr A.H. Rabagliati, an eminent surgeon and close friend of both W.O. and Wolf Banato that was privileged to buy it. Rabagliati was a talented driver and extremely wealthy, with a number of financial interests in motor sport, including Brooklands. The choice of coachwork and fittings were apparently agreed between W.O. and Rabagliati over dinner at Wheelers. Permission was granted to put the completed car on show, before Rabagliati shipped it off to South Africa to campaign it for the forthcoming season.

Cadogan panelled touring coachwork was chosen with off set doors (as copied by Vanden Plas). The body was fitted with a fold flat windscreen fully glazed and shaped down to the bulkhead and fitted with supplementary Brooklands screens. It was equipped with expensive stirrup mounted Zies headlamps, crystal glow side lamps and helmeted lamps to the rear. It carried a rear mounted spare wheel and underslung battery box on the near side, flanked by a running board mounted tool box on the off side. The brightwork was of course nickel plated, with the exception of the instrument bezels and radiator car which were ordered in brass. In addition, the steering shaft, track rod and all viable brake components were also nickel plated, the result of which made the finished car most distinctive.

The car was finished, as all Rabagliati's sports cars were, in Masons Black over a red chassis. It was upholstered and trimmed in black hide with matching hood, tonneau and hood bag, as it is indeed today.

The running chassis was extensively road tested by Frank Clements and Wally Hassan, prior to it going on show in the Bentley showroom in London. The car was registered QQ 2946 and delivered to his club, the RAC, Pall Mall, before being shipped to his home in Durban. The car returned to London in the late autumn of 1924 and was registered YM 1796. Apparently the car had performed well in the hands of both the doctor and his brother, Colonel Euan Rabagliati of Brooklands Double Twelve fame. Regretfully 1920s motor racing records for South Africa are practically none existent, so the exploits of the car are lost to posterity. We do know, however, that they returned to London with their racing mechanic, Eddie Stone, who teamed up with the colonel and raced with him on the continent.

The colonel took over 'Speed One' for the 1925 season with Wally Hassan and Micheal Sedgwick. They were apparently an extremely colourful team and a number of apocryphal stories are told of their exploits. This one being recounted by Wally Hassan and Micheal Sedgwick.

In the summer of 1925 Rabagliati was driving 'Speed One' from a Brooklands meeting to a party being held in Grovesnor Square. His passengers were Wally Hassan and Doctor Benjafield. They were closely followed by another 3 Litre driven by another gentleman driver and Rabagliati was determined that the car should not pass him. They apparently approached Buckingham Palace Road neck and neck, only to find a Phantom 1 limousine being driven sedately down the middle of the road, they passed either side of it at full bore with just a bonnets length between them. Rabagliati was pronounced the victor on arrival with a good deal of shouting and back slapping. The following morning, Hassan (a Bentley employee) was carpeted by a very angry W.O. who by fate had been a passenger in the Phantom 1.

'Speed One' is one of the few Bentleys to have a full record of its previous owners. The second listed owner was a Mr D.E. Morris and the third being a Mr E.A.A Stone. The car today looks largely as it did when it first went on show to the public in 1923 and as such, its originality still shines through. Consequently, it ranks amongst the very best of W.O. Bentley's.

During its restoration the body was removed and the chassis stripped, sand blasted and dimensionally checked. It was then painted to show finish in its original red, as were all the ancillary components. The bodywork, bonnet and wings were all stripped to bare metal and the body frame was strengthened and repaired by Rod Jolley coach building. The engine was completely rebuilt by McKenzie Guppy (including lead free conversion) and the S.U. G.5 slopers overhauled. The 'A' Type gearbox was rebuilt with all new gears, shafts and bearings and the back axel was similarly overhauled. The steering, brakes, suspension and electrical system have all received the same detailed attention, with long term trouble free motoring in mind.

Curborough Speed Trials, May 2007

"I was driven to the church for my wedding in this vintage Bentley in October 1981. It belonged to a friend of a vintage Bentley owner who had been my father's best man! (Here is a photo of me with him and his wife at his 50th wedding anniversary celebration at his house.)"

"These photographs were taken at Silverstone Race Track in England in August 1981."