2023 Driven to Le Mans and raced in the Benjafield Racing Club 24-hour race at the Circuit de la Sarthe, driven to the circuit, not trailered. Ongoing The car has been a regular competitor and entrant at Goodwood, including the Revival and Members' Meeting, and continues in active use by its current owners.

"On Sunday (Sep 3, 2017) I reacquainted myself with my Dad's old 4.5 Litre Supercharged Bentley at Hampton Court’s Concours d’Elegance Motor Show in London. Quite an emotional experience as I hadn’t seen it since I was about 14 years old. Different coachwork then, but basically the same old beast.

A brief history of 1931 4.5 litre supercharged Bentley Reg No GP 1630
The Chassis number was MS3936, Engine No 3936, Supercharger No 148.

There were only 55 Supercharged Bentleys made, 5 where raced at Le Mans and 50 were built to comply with Le Mans regulations that stated there had to be a production car and for sale to the general public.

GP 1630 was built with  Lancefield  four seater drop head coupe body, detail numbers above.

GP1630's first owner was  Lieutenant Colonel IVOR WATKINS BIRTS of The Royal Artillery. He was born in England in 1910 and died in 1944. He bought the car as a 21 year old man, the son of a solicitor who lived at 250 Iffley Rd Oxford. While he owned GP1630 he raced the car in a private wager with a well know bridge player called Sir Guy Domvill driving a supercharged Essex Terraplane Six at Brooklands Racing Circuit. The Bentley won.

Owner No 2 was V.L. Seyed. He purchased the car in 1945. Details regarding V.L. Seyed are not known. Further research is ongoing.

Owner No 3  was T.D. Sutcliffe who purchased the car in 1947. Again details are unknown and further research required.

Owner No 4 was Dr J.O. Connor. GP 1630 was purchased by him in 1949. Further research is required.

J.O Connor sold the car in the same year  to Reginald Taylor (owner no. 5) of 51 Great Hamton Street Birmingham, Tel No Northern 4549.  I am unsure if he was a dealer or private seller.

My late father Henry Phillip Rippon (owner no. 6) saw the car advertised and purchased  GP 1630 in 1950 after selling his 3 litre Vanden Plas  short chassis, touring body Bentley, Chassis No 940, Speed Model Reg No PP 3275, to his son-in-law Thomas Glover an ex R.A.F. Pilot. PP 3275  now resides in Australia and is owned by Phillip Schudmak.

My father sold GP 1630 to the 7th owner P.J. Chatterly in 1953, P.J. Chatterly sold GP 1630 in 1966. It was left in a field for many years and the original Lancefield  body rotted. Why, is any body's guess as it was still a valuable car.

GP 1630 was purchased in 1966 by owner No 8, Wing Commander R.G. Seys  R.A.F Ret. from P.J. Chatterley. The rebuild was started in 1966 but was not finished until 1969. I am not sure if it was still under the ownership of Wing Commander Seys or if it had by that time been sold to owner No 9, J.D. Zeal (?)  but it was rebuilt by Elmdown Vintage Autombiles of Hungerford. The chassis was, in the 1960s, fitted with (according to Will Morrison of the Bentley Drivers Club) a  shortened chassis and fitted with a supercharger No 148 from chassis No MS3948 and rebuilt as Le Mans type body. The car according to Michael Hay in his (now out of print) book Bentley, The Vintage Years was confusing as history of early cars are. GP 1630 was built along side another Bentley Reg No GY 3905  at Elmdown Vintage Autombiles that was built for Wing Commander R.G Seys and subsequently purchased by Edward, Lord Montague for his Motor Museum, and can still be seen today, and is at present undergoing an engine rebuild.

GP 1630 was sold by J.D.B. Zeal via Gregor Fisken, a very well known classic motor dealer.

I am not certain but I think  it was purchased by the father of *the current owner* (owner no. 10) from Gregor Fiskin. I met *the current owner* who is a very pleasant fellow who I am in contact with. GP 1630 now resides in Belgium.

*The current owner* emailed me and told me that he was bringing GP 1630 to the U.K to show it at Blenheim Palace and at the Classic Car show at Hampton Court Palace.  I went to Hampton Court with my wife and son where we met him. He allowed  me to sit in the car and was gracious enough to  start the engine for us -- what a wonderful sound. (I was 14 years old the last time I saw it. It was a different  body now but basically the same old  beast that I remember.) We chatted for some time. We have agreed to keep in touch, so any further information will be added later."

Coppa Classic, 2012

1994 Sold by Gregor Fisken. Acquired by current owners. The car was subsequently rebuilt by Colin Smirke as a copy of the short-chassis Birkin team cars HB3403 and HR3976. Remarkably, despite its varied history, MS3936 retains a high degree of matching numbers integrity: the original engine MS3939, the original steering column stamped MS3936, the original back axle stamped MS3936 to both the banjo and the diff casing, and the original Gallay radiator, serial F827, still in place with its badge to the header tank. At some point in its history the car also acquired a genuine Birkin supercharger, identifiable by its distinctive Birkin centre casting, distinct from any production unit, with HB stamped on it alongside a number 2, and fitted with Birkin carburettors nos. 10270/10271 and an original Birkin instrument panel.

Photograph was taken at Bentley Drivers Club Concours at Kensington Gardens in July 1984.

1970–1977 Class winner at the BDC Kensington Gardens concours in 1970 and again in 1976. Attended the 1977 Historic Vehicle Silver Jubilee rally.

In rebuilt form MS3936 appeared at the 1969 BDC Dorchester Dinner-Dance fresh from the Elmdown rebuild.

c.1966–1969 MS3936 was acquired by Wing Commander R.G. Seys and sold to John Zeal in September 1967. Zeal commissioned Tony Townshend's firm, Elmdown Engineering, to carry out a full restoration. The car was rebuilt and rebodied as a copy of the long-chassis Birkin Blower YU3250, finished in black with red upholstery.

"A member of the Bentley Drivers Club told me there was an advert for my late father's Bentley GP1630 in an old "Motor Sport" magazine. The magazine was dated April 1953, around the time my father sold the Bentley. I bought the magazine through eBay for £5.40. The original price was one shilling and six pence.

The next owner, P.J. Chatterley (1953), is believed to have parked the car in a field, allowing the original coachwork to disintegrate over the following years.

"Chassis MS3936 is partially visible on extreme right. This photograph was taken at a Bentley Drivers Club meeting at The Police Headquarters Driving School at Hendon London in 1951."

Sold by Reg Taylors of Birmingham to Henry Philip Rippon for £495.00 in 1950.

My father, Henry Philip Rippon, owned this car from 1950 to 1953. He purchased the Bentley from Reg Taylors in Birmingham and paid £495.00 for it.

Post-war Post-war owners listed as V.L. Seyd (1945), T.D. Sutcliffe (1947), D.J. O'Connor (1949), R. Taylor (1949), and H.P. Rippon (1950), who purchased the car from Reg Taylors of Birmingham for £495. Photographs from this period, provided by Bob Rippon, show the original Lancefield coachwork still in place.

Engine decarbonised by Manor Motors, London SW1, in November 1936. This is the last entry in the Bentley Motors Service Record, the records closing in 1939/40 when Rolls-Royce shut down the old Bentley Service Department.

Clutch stop plate sent to Terence Windrum & Garstin, London W4, in September 1935.

Towards the end of the year MS3936 was at Brooklands for a private wager between Ivor Birts and Sir Guy Domville, the latter driving an Essex Terraplane Six. Over two half-mile sprints, the Bentley experienced clutch trouble in the first run but overhauled the Essex in the second, despite its initial advantage. The encounter is recorded and photographed in Nic Georgano's book on Brooklands, and represents the earliest known photographic record of MS3936, showing the original Lancefield drophead coupé coachwork.

Chassis completed 18 March 1931 and despatched to coachbuilder. Bodied by Lancefield to order for Rootes Ltd. as a close-coupled drophead coupé, a unique body style for a Blower, the vast majority of the fifty production chassis having been fitted with open four-seaters, and indicative of the body having been made to order for the first owner. Final Test carried out at Bentley's Cricklewood works on 4 June 1931, with the five-year guarantee issued four days later, on 8 June 1931. The first owner was Ivor W. Birts, of 250 Iffley Road, Oxford. MS3936 was his second Bentley, having previously owned 3 Litre Speed Model chassis LM1332 with a Vanden Plas two-seater body. The first Service Record entry, dated 12 November 1931, records an O.R. visit, a call by the Service Department. Radiator no. F827 was repaired in December 1931, with minor adjustments at the same time. Mileage at this date: 542. 1932 Bottom end of the engine overhauled in March 1932, mileage 5,422. Gearbox overhauled by Kingsdown Garage in July 1932, with a new casing fitted, gearbox lid no. 7240, casing no. 7191 R5, a 1929 season works racing box. Mileage by this date: 9,586. The five-year guarantee was cancelled in November 1932 following engine work by A. Blakewell of London SW. By this date Bentley Motors had been acquired by Rolls-Royce, who were keen to terminate guarantees on supercharged chassis. 1933 Blakewells relined the brakes in February 1933. Engine decarbonised by McKenzies Garages, London SW1, in September.

"These photos where given to me by Christopher Watkins-Bell. He is the man on the left in the photo and was involved as a young man in rebuilding the Blower to the Le Mans style body we see today.

Christopher is still involved with vintage Bentleys and when I visited his workshop he had nine vintage Bentleys they were working on. The company was Elmdown Vintage Automobiles. It is now called Elmdown Enginering and is still run by Christopher Watkins-Bell.

Please name Christopher as the source of the photos."

The first 25 production Supercharged 4½ Litre cars where Chassis Nos. SM3901-SM3925, all with "smooth-case" blowers. The next 25 were Chassis Nos. MS3926-MS3950 and had "rib-case" blowers.

Production Blower Bentleys had handbrake handles made from rectangular stainless steel, whereas the five 4½ litre race cars for Tim Birkin had the "H" section handle, but were drilled for lightness.

The Model is an Airfix 1/25 scale model with the Registration Number plate of the "Blower".

According to Stanley Sedgwick's book Where Have All the Blowers Gone the blower "was rebodied in 1969 by Elmdown Vintage Automobiles as a long chassis Le Mans replica." - Information contributed by R.H. Rippon, Feb 28, 2008

The car its converted state. These photographs (featured in an advertisement) were taken outside the dealership of Gregor Fiskins.