The Blower Continuation Series marks a Bentley Mulliner initiative aimed at producing a total of 12 new Bentley Blowers. Each of these vehicles is inspired by the data gathered through laser scans of the automaker’s own 1929 4½ Litre supercharged Team Car, which was famously raced by Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin. Following the completion of “Car Zero,” the prototype set to undergo high-speed trials and extensive durability tests, the experts at Mulliner will craft the twelve customer cars, all of which have already been sold and customized.
Car Zero is styled in glossy black with a striking Oxblood red leather interior sourced from Bridge of Weir. This prototype was painstakingly created over 40,000 hours of handwork, utilizing original designs and tools from Mulliner’s archives. To obtain specialized components and materials, Bentley collaborated with several external British suppliers, such as The Vintage Car Radiator Company, Israel Newton & Sons Ltd., and engine experts NDR and Vintage Headlamp Restoration International in Sheffield. Remarkably, for each vehicle, 1,846 unique parts were redesigned digitally, including 230 assemblies starting with the engine. When factoring in all the fittings and trim components, the total number of pieces increases to several thousand.
Historically, the allure of the Blowers lies in the fact that W. O. Bentley had been vehemently opposed to the idea of supercharging his large four-cylinder engines. He even rejected modifications to the engine’s design, which meant that, after he lost control of the company, Bentley Boy Sir Henry Birkin had to resort to a Roots-type supercharger made by Amherst Villiers, installed at the end of the crankshaft, thus adding extra weight in front of the axle. Consequently, while these cars could produce as much as 240 horsepower under optimal conditions, their understeering and typically unreliable nature meant they were often outpaced on the racetrack by the naturally aspirated Bentley 4½ Litre models and others.
Nevertheless, 55 supercharged 4½ Litre Bentleys were built during this era, cementing their legendary status. Mulliner’s Car Zero boasts a top-tier Blower engine featuring aluminum pistons, an overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, twin spark ignition, a magnesium crankcase, and a newly engineered Amherst Villiers supercharger that has been machined from a solid block.
In order to test this unique four-cylinder engine, Bentley needed to modify an engine testbed at its Crewe headquarters to accommodate the nearly century-old design. The testing facility has been operational since 1938 and was originally utilized to run in and test Merlin V12 aero engines produced by the Rolls-Royce plant for the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes.
Now, to facilitate the testing of this vintage engine, Bentley repurposed several original Merlin testbed fixtures to mount it on a replica front chassis and developed new control software to tune the engine, replacing the system once used for more contemporary equipment.
Now officially presented by Mulliner at Bentley’s new campus in Crewe, Car Zero is set to undergo the equivalent of 22,000 miles of real-world driving, comprising 5,000 miles of track testing that mimics challenges such as the Peking to Paris Rally and the Mille Miglia.
In addition, the newly crafted 1929 car will undergo top-speed tests with Bentley Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark at the helm. With this in mind, the team at Crewe is wished the best of luck, both on track and in front of this remarkable 1929 Bentley Blower..
