1931 Bentley 4½ Liter Supercharged Tourer

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4½ Liter SOHC Inline 4-Cylinder Engine - 4 Overhead Valves Per Cylinder
Factory Delivered High-compression Specification
Amherst Villiers Roots Type IV Supercharger
182bhp with 10lbs Boost at 3,900rpm
4-Speed 'C' Type Gearbox
Front and Rear Leaf Spring Suspension

*One of the original 50 production 'Blower' Bentleys
*Formerly in famous Charles R.J. Noble Collection for more than 47 years
*Iconic Performance Bentley Model
*Matching Numbers original crankcase included with the car
*Presented in Desirable Birkin Le Mans Racing Guise

THE SUPERCHARGED 4½ LITER BENTLEY

The "Blower" Bentley is one of the most masculine, muscular, and sporting motorcars ever built. Where some companies hid their superchargers behind the radiator grill, the Bentley wears it right out front, and that statement alone says it all about the car and its creators.

First shown at the 1929 London Motor Show, it was developed as a private venture by 'Bentley Boy' Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin in order to extract more performance from the proven 4½-Liter model, which was becoming outclassed by its rivals on the racetracks of Europe. His aim was to produce a car that would enable British drivers to continue to win races as spectacularly as the 4½-Liter that had won the 1928 Le Mans 24-Hour race. The supercharger installation was engineered by the brilliant Amherst Villiers, who modestly claimed that it was 'recognized in engineering circles as a definite landmark in automobile construction.' W.O. Bentley never supported the development of the supercharged car and was quoted as saying how much he 'disliked the easy short cut provided by the supercharger,' preferring to increase engine capacity, as evidenced by the 6½-Liter and 8-Liter cars. He preferred reducing front-end weight by using Elektron castings. Fortunately 'W.O.' did not control the purse strings at Bentley Motors, and the influence of Birkin, backed by the fabulously wealthy Honorable Dorothy Paget and Woolf Barnato, saw the Supercharged 4½-Litre Bentley come to fruition.

Its potential was emphatically demonstrated when Tim Birkin took 2nd place in the French Grand Prix at Pau with his supercharged 4½-Liter tourer amid a field of monoposto GP racers. The production Blower Bentley was intrinsically linked to Le Mans, quite simply Bentley Motors built the 50 production supercharged 4½-Liter Bentleys to support the homologation of five Birkin team cars. When Birkin campaigned his Blower at Le Mans in 1930 his car retired after 138 laps and almost 20 hours of Racing. But, in an incredibly Heroic effort he passed the leading 7-Liter Supercharged Mercedes driven by Rudolf Caracciola on the Hunaudières Straight. The pass at 125mph shocked Caracciola and caused him to overstress the Mercedes engine in efforts to keep up with the Bentleys. This effort and the continual Bentley pressure caused the Mercedes to fail and withdraw from the race with a blown gasket Birkin therefore eased the way for the Works Speed Six to win the marque's final Le Mans victory until this century. It should be noted that Birkin set the Fastest Lap in the Race and broke the Lap Record at 89.696mph in his No. 9 supercharged 4½ liter Bentley. His time of 6 min. 48 sec. was never beaten on the 10.153 mile circuit. The fifty production cars were fitted with an Amherst Villiers Supercharger Mark IV, of Roots type with twin paddle rotors, which drew mixture from twin SU carburetors and was driven off the front of the crankshaft, the latter having been substantially strengthened to accommodate the increased power. With 9½ lbs boost at 3,500rpm the blown Bentley developed 175bhp, a healthy increase over the production 4½-Liter's 110 horsepower, while with 10lbs boost at 3,900rpm, 182bhp was produced.

Despite representing the epitome of 'Boys Own' motoring and providing the heart and soul of the hobby, selling the requisite fifty cars that had needed to be built in the dire economic climate of the late 1920s proved hard work for Bentley Motors. As a result of this, though it may seem improbable today, not all were sporting tourers in period.

Among the few cars that were capable of 100mph on the open road. Blowers have always been regarded as the Supercars of their era. In period the British magazine Motor Sport spoke of the Blower's 'remarkable acceleration' and 'ancestry of well-tried racers' calling it 'a car for the connoisseur of sporting cars...' - Nothing has changed today!

THE CAR OFFERED

This fabulous Blower embodies every ounce of the Bentley, Birkin and Le Mans spirit following an exacting rebuild with a great eye for the details on the racing Bentleys of the Cricklewood age.

The ledgers of the Cricklewood works survive to this day, with the result that tracing the origins of these cars is a relatively straightforward exercise. On file for SM 3928 is a copy of its original build sheet which confirms that it was delivered new as a handsome Gurney Nutting Drophead Coupe built to Weymann (lightweight) principles. Images of the car as new show that it was a truly understated car and undeniably a 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing', which must have grabbed some 'double takes' when it hared around in 1931, not least as its supercharger was discretely hidden under a valance. Agent Jack Olding & Co. Ltd handled its original sale, selling it to W.C. Gordon Black of Fife, Scotland in the spring of 1931. On the technical side its record notes its original engine to have been number SM 3921, Supercharger number 128 and it to have had a D-Box as new.

According to the Vintage Bentley expert Clare Hay, ownerships after Gordon Black followed in 1934, the car being sold through Rowland Smith in this period albeit the owner is not known; J.L. Fawdon purchased the Blower in 1948 owning it for 2 years before it passed to a T.P. Balch. Squadron Leader William Kent was its owner from 1952 to 1954, an experience which he recounted to Bentley historian Clare Hay in a letter in 1993 he 'thought it magnificent' despite lacking 'creature comforts, and 10-11mpg'. 'It had such unusual and I thought ideal coachwork' 'and the body panels, except for the bonnet and boot, faced in black patent leather and soft to the touch' (confirming its Weymann design). He must have toured on the European continent as he praised its large headlights and dipping system 'for the Grand Touring on French Roads.'

Its next owner was D.C. Wilson, who owned it for a short time in 1954 before passing it on to A.J. Sterling Wakeley of London who kept the car through to March 1st, 1961. It was owned briefly by R.J. Whittaker, the former owner Charles R.J. Noble acquiring it from him on Halloween 1961 as a rolling chassis. Later that decade a restoration was begun to put it into the famous 'Birkin Blower' guise, the lightweight fabric skinned bodywork being completed by Restor Ltd. and the various mechanical aspects being attended to by respected restorers of the day such as Hoffman & Burton and Jeff Huckle. By this point it had lost its gearbox, and a C-Type unit was fitted being number 6926 which had begun life in the fourth from last Speed Six (HM2867) and was therefore up to the job. Its restoration was completed in the middle of the 1980s and the car was shown in this freshly finished form in 1987 at the Bentley Driver's Club Kensington Meet in Kensington Gardens.

Shortly after this the car was brought to its American ownership, remaining in this country ever since. In the mid-2000s, a full mechanical refurbishment of the engine was carried out in this country by noted British engineer Tony Wardle, who flew to the USA to undertake the work. During which the decision was made to replace its crankcase using a replacement casting supplied by John Bentley, with new insert bearings as opposed to white metal and a new block. At this point the original numbered crankcase was separated from the car. Although away from the car for a number of years this key component has now been repatriated to the car ensuring its matching numbers, chassis/engine status, which is shared also with front, back axle banjo (not turret) and steering box all stamped MS 3928.

After 47 years of Noble ownership, where at one point it shared stable with 3 other Blowers for a tally of 10% of the surviving examples, MS 3928 was sold publicly in 2008, joining a prominent collection of competition and sports cars. In this custody, the Bentley has been exercised and kept ready for use, albeit its actual use has been relatively modest. Today the car emerges for sale, having been off the radar and in a mere two ownerships in 62 years. Its rebuild of the 1980s is now well-settled, adding some patina and general character to the car. On a recent test drive the Blower was shown to start promptly on multiple occasions and continues to be an enjoyable and strong performer.

Beyond their 'Boys Own' looks, Vintage Bentleys are incredibly usable machines, they have the physical road presence to carry their own today on any road, be it single lane or freeway, and ample performance to hold their own in the performance stakes too. Accordingly, there are numerous events for which they can be used from those of the North American Vintage Bentley Club, to even long distance tours such as the Colorado Grand. They are also supported by an international roster of engineers who can supply key spares to keep them on the road.

With the recent Centenary of Le Mans, images of the iconic endurance racers that campaigned over those 100 years were recalled. Of course, the Vintage Bentley epitomizes the late 1920s era, and of all those that you might want to be behind the wheel of, it is a Blower such as this that is the most coveted, their racing intentions dictated their production run and they are intrinsically linked to Le Mans.