The British Bulldog.... [PIC]

The 1929 Bentley 4.5 Litre Blower is as brutish looking as the British Bulldog (or Winston Churchill for that matter). It should be wearing a spiked collar. W.O.Bentley believed that horsepower should only come by added displacement, so by 1927 the SOHC I-4 displacement was increased to 4.5 liters from the 3.0. Going against his philosophy, Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, with an eye towards a 5 car entry in the '29 Le Mans 24 Hours, had 55 4.5 liters supercharged built to meet homologation rules. These cars had almost double the stock 4.5 giving them 240 HP. Birkin could do this blasphemous  act only because Bentley was no longer running the company. Two things always fascinated me about this car:

1.) The blower placed outside the engine compartment, and

2.) the directional wire wheels... there has to be a story there.

I absolutely adore this FM model!