Chassis Development

Restoring the chassis

Chassis BX2411 originally left the Bentley factory as a 12’6” wheelbase, the largest chassis produced by Bentley at the time. Throughout its long life, the chassis remained at this full length as the car cycled through several different bodies. Thanks to the many years it spent in Africa and America, BX2411 was in surprisingly strong condition when we began considering Harrison 2-door coupe it carries today. Even so, with a chassis approaching its centenary and a period spent abandoned in a yard in Africa, we fully expected some level of repair work would be required.

A 2018 inspection by Claire Hay confirmed that the chassis was intact and that both chassis and engine numbers matched. Knowing this, we understood that altering the wheelbase was a significant choice. Preserving originality mattered to us, and our goal was to retain as many original components as possible. However, fitting the original 2-door Harrison Coupe body required reducing the wheelbase to 10’10”, also a standard Bentley size of the era. 

We had to make sure that the chassis work we were carrying out ticked the following three boxes

• That it remained both an original Bentley length and identical in construction to an original 10'10" chassis
• That as much of the original metal was retained as humanly possible
• That it was strong and preserved for the future

With all these priorities in mind, chassis BX2411 was stripped, by David Ayres team, resized to 10’10”, and comprehensively overhauled to ensure lasting strength, integrity, and performance. What was gratifying was that in shortening the chassis only already weak and compromised metal was removed.