1931 Bentley 4.5 Liter Supercharged Le Mans Front Grill
by John Colley
Title
1931 Bentley 4.5 Liter Supercharged Le Mans Front Grill
Artist
John Colley
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Bentley Cars and Le Mans
1929 4½ litre "Blower" Bentley
developed in Welwyn Garden City by "Tim" Birkin and pushed over W.O. to market before it was reliable
A group of wealthy British motorists known as the "Bentley Boys"—Woolf Barnato, Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, steeplechaser George Duller,aviator Glen Kidston, automotive journalist S.C.H. "Sammy" Davis, and Dr Dudley Benjafield among them—kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive. Bentley, located at Cricklewood, north London, was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1927 to 1930.
In 1929, Birkin had developed the lightweight Blower Bentley, including five racing specials that started with the Brooklands racing designed Bentley Blower No.1.
In March 1930, during the Blue Train Races, Woolf Barnato raised the stakes on Rover and its Rover Light Six, having raced and beatenLe Train Bleu for the first time, to better that record with his 6½-litre Bentley Speed Six on a bet of £100. He drove against the train fromCannes to Calais, then by ferry to Dover, and finally London, travelling on public highways, and won; the H.J. Mulliner–bodied formal saloon he drove during the race as well as a streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupé" by Gurney Nutting—he took delivery of on 21 May 1930—became known as the "Blue Train Bentleys"; the latter is regularly mistaken for (or erroneously referred to) as being the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race.
Bentley 8 Litre 4-door sports saloon
1921–29 3-litre
1926–30 4½-litre & "Blower Bentley"
1926–30 6½-litre
1928–30 6½-litre Speed Six
1930–31 8-litre
1931 4-litre
The original model was the 3-litre, but as customers put heavier bodies on the chassis, a larger 4½-litre model followed. Perhaps the most iconic model of the period is the 4½-litre "Blower Bentley", with its distinctive supercharger projecting forward from the bottom of the grille. Uncharacteristically fragile for a Bentley, it was not the racing workhorse the 6½-litre was. It became famous in popular media as the vehicle of choice of James Bond in the original novels, but this has been seen only briefly in the films. John Steed in the television series The Avengers drove a Bentley.
The new 8-litre was such a success that when Barnato's money seemed to run out in 1931 and Napier was planning to buy Bentley's business, Rolls-Royce purchased Bentley Motors to prevent competition for the market of their most expensive model, Phantom II.
Source: Wikipedia
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February 9th, 2014
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