Bentley to construct 12 1929 Workforce Blowers in new continuation sequence
We have seen continuation sequence builds of beloved 1950s and ’60s vehicles, however now there’s a continuation sequence for a pre-war automobile.
Bentley introduced on the Salon Privé Concours d’Magnificence within the UK on Sunday that it’ll construct 12 new examples of the 1929 Bentley Workforce Blower. Bentley says that is the primary continuation sequence primarily based on a pre-war race automobile.
Whereas greater than 700 Four half Liter fashions had been constructed, solely 55 had been supercharged “Blower” fashions. Solely 4 authentic examples of the automobile had been constructed for racing by Sir Henry Ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin and campaigned in European racing within the late 1920s and early 1930s. Three of those fashions had been entered within the 1930 24 Hours of Le Mans (together with one piloted by Birkin himself). Whereas none completed the race, they had been credited with pressuring the SSK from rival producer Mercedes-Benz into untimely retirement, making room for Bentley’s surviving Pace Sixes to complete first and second. The 12 vehicles Bentley will construct matches the variety of races wherein the unique vehicles competed.
1929 Bentley Workforce Blower Continuation
“As we proceed to commemorate 100 years of Bentley, we’re combining a glance to our previous with the very newest digital applied sciences and strategies to create one thing actually extraordinary. The 4 Workforce Blowers are probably the most precious Bentleys on the earth, and we all know there may be demand for real recreations that can be utilized, loved and liked with out danger to the prized originals,” stated Bentley Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark.
1929 Bentley Workforce Blower Continuation
To construct these tributes to the long-lasting racing machines, Bentley will tear down and digitize the corporate’s surviving instance, chassis no. HB 3403. Utilizing the unique molds, jigs, and instruments, alongside trendy manufacturing applied sciences, sufficient components to construct 12 new vehicles will likely be fabricated from scratch. These “kits” will then be hand-assembled into new Workforce Blowers and chassis no. HB 3403 will then endure a mechanical restoration and rebuild.
Bentley is popping to Mulliner, its captive coachwork division, to construct the vehicles. The ultimate end result needs to be true to the unique race vehicles, right down to duplicate roots superchargers, which, in race tune, feed the 4398 cc inline-Four sufficient air to provide virtually 240 horsepower. Some adjustments, made for security’s sake, will happen below the pores and skin.
Bentley is the newest producer to catch “continuation” fever. In recent times, we have seen trendy reproductions of Ford’s Le Mans-winning GT40 race automobile and Jaguar’s iconic 1963 Light-weight E-Sort. Former Ferrari and FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne even thought-about producing continuation fashions of the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Do not search for a manufacturing instance of the Workforce Blower continuation sequence anytime quickly. Bentley says the method will take two years. Bentley hasn’t introduced pricing, but when it’s a must to ask, you most likely will not have the ability to afford these reborn items of historical past.
