Notifications
Clear all
Forum 43
5
Posts
5
Users
36
Reactions
2,471
Views
Topic starter
24/01/2022 5:02 pm
Steve Williams mentioned the 1930 Bentley 'Blue Train' after looking at the SS1 Jaguar Airline Coupe. Here is the story of that famous Bentley and the misunderstanding about the car. Thanks Steve for the reminder.
Le Train Bleu, officially the Calais-Méditerranée Express, was a luxury French night express train which carried wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera from 1922 until 1938. It was colloquially referred to as "le train bleu" in French and the Blue Train in English because of its dark blue sleeping cars
Woolf Barnato, chairman of Bentley and winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928 and 1929, contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit and he couid beat it in his Bentley. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of his Bentley Speed Six, he could be at his club in London before the train reached Calais and bet £100 on that challenge. Despite very poor weather, he beat the Blue Train by over four minutes.
Barnato drove an H. J. Mulliner-bodied Bentley Speed Six formal saloon during the race, which became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting. Barnato named it the "Blue Train Special" in memory of his race, and it too became commonly referred to as the Blue Train Bentley. The H. J. Mulliner-bodywork was stripped off the original car's chassis to make place for a bespoke replacement, as was common practice for automobiles at that time.
As time passed, the Gurney Nutting-bodied car was regularly mistaken for or erroneously referred to as being the car that had raced the Blue Train. This was reiterated in articles and in Terence Cuneo's painting of the race, which shows the Gurney Nutting coupé just ahead of the train.
Here is the actual car that Woolf Barnato raced against the Blue Train.
Here is the Bentley Nutting Sportsman Coupe that many mistakenly thought was raced.
Here is the Terence Cuneo's painting of the race, which erroneously shows the Gurney Nutting coupé just ahead of the train.
Here is Minichamp’s 1/43 version of the 1930 Bentley Gurney Nutting Saloon Blue Train Special.
24/01/2022 5:30 pm
great post👍👍
I have this painting as my iPad background
Alan Fearnley's "Barnato and the Blue Train"
an interesting “rest of the story article” here
https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a30802147/the-blue-train-bentley-is-a-beautiful-myth/
Frank Reed
Chesapeake, VA
24/01/2022 7:47 pm
I have the MiniChamps model and it is wonderful.
24/01/2022 8:03 pm
I have the Minichamps too. Notice how much the actual car looks like the Lansdowne 8-liter saloon of W. O. Bentley (though with completely opposite door hinging.
25/01/2022 2:09 pm
Thank you David (for the post) and Frank (the myth link) for the fun read. I always thought the Blue Train was the Gurney Nutting coupé. Never got around to collecting the model though, as I don't remember seeing one for sale. It would have fit in well with my Rolls/Bentley repair shop.
Models = Miracles in miniature = Holding History in ones hand
Cheers and Happy Collecting,
Steve