Bentley to Remake 4 1/2 Blower .

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One of the rarest and oldest race cars will be reborn by its maker Bentley as a limited run built with assistance from modern technology.

And in the true sense of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” the modern versions of the 90-year-old Bentley 4 ½ litre “Blower” don’t have a price tag.

“Prices will be on application,” said Bentley in its press release announcing the recreation of the older cars.

Suffice to say, each of a planned production run of 12 cars won’t be cheap, with original Blowers previously selling at auction for many millions of dollars.

Adding to its rarity, the “continuation series” cars will be based on the Team Blower cars, of which only four were produced to be raced in various 1920s and 1930s events, including the famous Le Mans 24 Hour.

“The four Team Blowers are the most valuable Bentleys in the world, and we know there is demand for genuine recreations that can be used, enjoyed and loved without risk to the prized originals,” said Bentley chairman and chief executive Adrian Hallmark.


Some 50 less powerful Blower road cars were also built and partly made famous by novelist Ian Fleming, who cast his fictional British secret agent James Bond as driving one of the sporty machines in Casino Royale, published in 1953 (in the 007 movies Bond typically drives Aston Martins).

While the born again Blowers will be faithful to the original and recreated using some original tooling and manufacturing techniques, modern technology will also be employed in the planning and analysis, which starts with one of those original four cars.

“Twelve lucky customers will soon be able to own a unique tribute to Bentley’s history,” said Hallmark.

The British brand is planning to strip down its own 1929 Blower race car, taking every piece off it to be 3D scanned to create a digital model of the car.


A set of 12 components will then be produced before each car is assembled, a process Bentley expects to take two years.

Powering the modern Bentley Blowers will be a 4.4-litre four-cylinder supercharged engine faithful to the original.

It is expected to make about 240 horsepower, or about 180kW — less than a V6-powered Toyota Camry.

Not that the Blower is about setting any modern lap records. Its heritage and classic design are clearly a big part of the appeal of driving a modern version of a legend.

Originally published as Ninety-year-old car to be reborn https://www.couriermail.com.au/motor...024930a09147a9

[roKWiz]

Very nice, loved the front mount supercharged concept. I'll put my order in now.

[Dr Terry]

The very first World Championship type race won by an Australian was won in one of these cars.

Long before Ricardo, Webber, Alan Jones, Vern Schuppan & Jack Brabham, arguably our most successful international drivers, came a bloke named Bernard Rubin. He won the Le Mans 24 hrs in 1928 driving a Bentley 4-1/2 litre for the Bentley factory team.

Dr Terry

[happy1]

It sounds like the new price for a replica will also be 'many millions'. Then I struggle to see some of the purpose of building the replicas if they cost the same. It would give 12 more people in the world a chance to own a replica at a high cost.

Also the replica cars will obviously have year 2021 or so on their title documents, and obviously not be in compliance for road registration, but I guess they can have some form of 'motorsports' registration for use at special events such as Pikes Peak or similar.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

The very first World Championship type race won by an Australian was won in one of these cars.

Long before Ricardo, Webber, Alan Jones, Vern Schuppan & Jack Brabham, arguably our most successful international drivers, came a bloke named Bernard Rubin. He won the Le Mans 24 hrs in 1928 driving a Bentley 4-1/2 litre for the Bentley factory team.

Dr Terry

Hate to be picky but your sorta right, the car that Bernard Rubin & Woolf Barnato won the 1928 Le Mans 24hr was a naturally aspirated Bentley 4 1/2 Litre, the Blower Bentleys didn't race at Le Mans until 1930....thats still not taking anything away from Rubin, it's still a great achievement...

Interestingly the original Blower Bentley, which was constructed privately in 1929 by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, was originally done so without the blessing of Walter Owen Bentley who said the supercharger would ‘pervert the engine’s design and corrupt its performance’, old W O Bentley was a firm believer of if you wanted to go faster then more cubes was the answer (i've heard that here before ) but Birkin eventually persuaded Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato to approve the project. W.O. Bentley was overruled.....the Bentley Blowers that are the subject of this topic where developed and built by Bentley from Birkins racer, it's doubtful that if W O Bentley still had full control over Bentley motors that they would have been built at all....

The original Blower Bentley is known as Bentley Blower No.1 or the Brooklands Battleship and to date is the most expensive British-built car sold, it sold in 2012 for £5,042,000...

https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/wor...r-bentley.html

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2012/0...e-british-car/

The original 1929 Bentley Blower No1

[NX74205]

It'll probably be prohibitively expensive, but it'll be fun. This is the original car James Bond drove, and I'd probably want one if I could afford the asking price, and spec it exactly like Bond did.