This car is the oldest surviving Bentley, the second ever made and the first to win a race. EXP (for ‘experimental’) is the prefix given by Bentley to all pre-production models; EXP2 was the test bed for the 1921 Bentley 3 Litre model, the company’s first production car.

Walter Owen ("W.O.") Bentley founded Bentley Motors Limited, on 18 January 1919 and began by making three prototypes for the 3 Litre. EXP1, the first of the three, was eventually stripped for parts, leaving EXP2 as the oldest prototype. Built at Cricklewood, it was debuted at the 1919 Olympia Motor Show as a static display model as the engine was not ready in time.

After the Motor Show it was rebodied and had its engine replaced twice. EXP2 made an appearance as the first ‘works’ racing Bentley in the 1921 Essex Car Club and Whitsun meetings at Brooklands on 16 May, when driver Frank Clement won the Junior Sprint Handicap. W.O. Bentley also used the car for practice in the 1922 Isle of Man TT. By the time it was sold in 1923, EXP2 had achieved eleven first and seven second places. In the 1990s EXP2 was given a complete rebuild and was restored to its 1921 race-winning specification.