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31/05/2021 7:57 pm
The 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Birken Blower Touring Car. W.O.Bentley never liked the idea of supercharging his engines fearing reliability issues. Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin persuaded the CEO to sponsor a race team of a supercharged (Roots type) 4½ liter for LeMand obligating the building of at least 50 cars for homologation. 55 were built and did not fare well on the racing circuit. Ultimately, it was the Speed Six that made Bentley's name in racing. This car however, became a British icon which needed to be driven by the great fictional characters including James Bond and John Steed.
TFM did a great job on this model, as old as it is. It compares favorably with the relatively recent 1/18 Minichamps.
01/06/2021 3:04 am
One of my all time favourites, great pics Rich. Bought this a few years back to build a companion to it. Gotta get motivated!
Rich Sufficool and Rich Sufficool reacted
01/06/2021 7:02 am
Great pictures and commentary Rich.
09/11/2021 9:36 am
It wouldn't have become so famous just because of innovations, because that's the normal process for evolution. The main success came in racing. The museum greatbritishcarjourney.com learned that Blower's first victory was at Brookland in 1929 in the 800-kilometer endurance race. The following year was a major race for Birkin, his original goal is to win at Le Mans, with two models to start. I agree that this is a true rare classic Briton. In 2012, the first one sold for £5,042,000 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.