1929 Bentley 4½-Litre Supercharged Tourer (by Vanden Plas)
A famous disagreement between company founder W.O. Bentley and racing driver Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin led to one of motoring’s most legendary machines. W.O. Bentley opposed supercharging the 4½-Litre engine on the grounds it could harm handling and reliability, but Birkin pushed forward with development, backed financially by Dorothy Paget.
The result became known as the “Blower Bentley” and would set lap records while showcasing forced induction technology long before it became mainstream.
Built from the 4½-Litre model that claimed victory at Le Mans in 1928, the supercharged version used an Amherst Villiers-designed Roots-type blower mounted ahead of the radiator, forcing the fuel-air mixture into the engine. This gave the car its unmistakable front-end appearance.
The 274 cubic inch (4,398cc) four-cylinder engine delivered significantly more power than the naturally aspirated version, though reliability problems plagued the design as W.O. had predicted. Despite mixed racing success, a stripped single-seater variant set a Brooklands lap record at over 137 mph, and Birkin drove a Blower to second place at the 1930 French Grand Prix.
Only 50 production examples were built to meet racing homologation requirements.
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