Vintage Bentley
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1930 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged 4 seater
Chassis No. HR3976
Engine No. HR3976
Registration No. UR 6571
July 31, 2019
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Source: Sports Car Digest
Posted: Oct 15, 2019
December 31, 2014
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Source: Flickr, posted by user 'Clive Barker'
Posted: Mar 7, 2015
October 30, 2014
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1929 Birkin Blower Bentley 4.5-Litre Vanden Plas owned by Ralph Lauren
The concept of the 4� Liter, supercharged Bentleys (The Blower Cars) originated with Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, privileged son of a wealthy family whose resources allowed him to pursue his ambition of becoming a race car driver. Birkin developed a friendship with W.O. Bentley and given Birkin’s connections, Bentley realized that Birkin could help the struggling car maker (which was going bankrupt) to win important races.
Birkin knew he would need a lot of power to compete with the supercharged Mercedes, Alfa and Bugatti racing cars of the time and came up with the idea of supercharging the then-fastest 4� Liter Bentleys. Bentley, though skeptical, conceded and built 50 supercharged cars to qualify for the 1929 Le Mans 24 Hour race. Birkin built two “works cars,” but neither finished. (A “Speed Six” Bentley placed first, followed by 4� Liter, non-supercharged Bentleys placing second, third and fourth).
With his money running low, Birkin convinced friend, noted socialite and horsewoman Dorothy Paget to help finance his team. Entering Le Mans again in 1930 with two Bentleys (#8 and #9) including chassis HR3976, which carries the Paget crest between the radiator cap and the Bentley badge, the Birkin cars did very well – while they lasted (the fastest race-lap, 6 minutes 48 seconds, was set by the 9 car). Birkin’s cars again failed to finish; HR3976, driven by Dr. Dudley Benjafield and Giulio Ramponi, completed 144 laps before it broke a piston.
This car’s best finish was a second at the 1930 French Grand Prix (Pau) at the hands of Birkin. By the end of 1930 Paget’s patience with the Birkin team ran out; she cut off funding and the team closed up shop. HR 3976 was then sold to a Frenchman, racing at Le Mans in 1932 and 1933, again failing to finish either. This car was restored in 1990 by Traction Seabert of England with care given to not over-restore it but rather to maintain it in its ‘as raced’ condition. It is one of only two “short chassis” Bentleys built.
Source: Sports Car Digest
Posted: Nov 7, 2014
August 28, 2014
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Source: Flickr, posted by user 'Christopher Kasinskas'
Posted: Jan 13, 2015
2011
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Bentley Blower, 1929 – This car was designed by W.O. Bentley, but it was Sir Hilary Birkin, one of the “Bentley Boys” (a group of British gentlemen, all of them drivers and lovers of fast cars) which led Bentley to equip it with a compressor, hence its nickname “Blower.” With massive bodywork embellished with the English flag, the Bentley Blower was created for a single purpose: to win races. This is the car Ian Fleming chose for James Bond 007 in his first novels.
Source: Sports Car Digest
Posted: Feb 1, 2013
2011
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Source: Sports Car Digest
Posted: Nov 27, 2012
August 15, 2009
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Source: Flickr, posted by user 'Beetlebomb Pohutukawa'
Posted: Mar 27, 2015
1930
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Source: "Bentley" magazine, Issue 21, Spring 2007
Posted: Jan 30, 2008
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Source: Classic Cars in Colour, J. R. Buckley, 1964
Posted: Oct 8, 2007
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Source: Bentley Media
Posted: Jan 8, 2015
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Source: Treasury of the Automobile by Ralph Stein, 1961
Posted: Feb 5, 2007
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Source: Unknown
Posted: Sep 5, 2006
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Source: Private Motor Car Collections of Great Britain, Peter Hugo, 1973
Posted: Oct 8, 2007
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Source: TopSpeed
Posted: Feb 15, 2007
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Source: Kevin Bailey
Posted: Jan 21, 2015
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Source: Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
Posted: Nov 9, 2006
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Source: Internet Movie Car Database
Posted: Jun 29, 2007
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Source: R.H. Rippon
Posted: Feb 29, 2008
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Source: Tom Fryars
Posted: Jul 10, 2007
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Source: Rolls-Royce & Bentley: Classic Elegance by Paul W. Cockerham, 1999
Posted: Feb 5, 2007
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Source: Ed Hyman
Posted: Nov 23, 2007
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Source: Unknown
Posted: Oct 8, 2007
Earliest Record Of Historical Facts & Information
| Chassis No. | HR3976 |
|---|---|
| Engine No. | HR3976 |
| Registration No. | UR 6571 |
| Date of Delivery: | 1930 |
| Type of Body: | 4 seater |
| Coachbuilder: | Vanden Plas (Body No. 1659) |
| Type of Car: | No info |
| First Owner: | No info |
| More Info: | This car was purchased by Dorothy Paget new for Tim Birkin to race. Supercharger was added. — VintageBentleys.org Michael Hay, in his book Bentley: The Vintage Years, 1997, states: "No. 4 Birkin Blower." |