Bentley Blower Car Zero

90 years after the last new Bentley Blower, Bentley Mulliner is now producing new examples of this roadworthy racing car. This Continuation Series is the world’s first of a pre-war sports car. The pre-series vehicle ‘Car Zero’ has now been completed. Its development and construction took about 40,000 working hours. Old construction drawings were studied and evaluated, original production tools were revived. Until 1930 Bentley produced only four original Blowers. One of them is still owned by the factory today. Chassis number HB3403 now served as an additional model for the beginning Continuation Series.

Intensive preparation for the Continuation Series

The fact that this car has been extensively restored helped in this. So it was possible to capture every important component with a 3D scanner. These parts were put together to a CAD model. In this way, 1,846 individual parts were identified, which had to be newly constructed by hand. 230 of these are assembled assemblies, such as the engine, so that the total number of parts is significantly higher. Bentley Mulliner engineers, craftsmen and technicians formed a permanent project team for the Continuation Series and called in external experts. In some cases, production methods from the 1920s had to be relearned.

The frame chassis is manufactured at Israel Newton & Sons Ltd. from heavy, hand-moulded steel sections. These are formed by hand and hot-riveted. The 200-year-old company usually makes boilers for steam locomotives and steam traction engines. They turned to the Vintage Car Radiator Company for the mirror-polished radiator housing made of solid nickel silver and the steel and copper fuel tank. Jones Springs Ltd. supplies the leaf springs and shackles to original specifications and the headlamps are supplied by Vintage Headlamp Restoration International Ltd. The ash wood frame of the bodywork, made by Lomax Coachbuilders, is finished by Bentley’s Mulliner division with special Rexine leatherette trim.

Intensive test drives planned

A total of 12 new Blowers are to be created, all of which have already been pre-ordered by solvent customers. In order to be able to deliver these vehicles in the usual quality, the above-mentioned ‘Car Zero’ was built, where all work processes were trained. In the coming months, this glossy black painted car will also be used for endurance and performance tests. These tests are designed to continuously increase speeds and loads. Ultimately, a particularly courageous driver is to test the topspeed. The 4.5-liter engine with Roots supercharger already ran its first laps on a specially converted engine test bench. Inside, ‘Car Zero’ wears Bridge of Weir leather in Oxblood red on the horsehair-filled seats.

Images: Bentley