In its centenary year, Bentley has revealed plans to build 12 new Blowers, meticulous recreations of Sir Tim Birkin’s 4½ Litre Team Blower.
This dazzling dozen will be the world’s first pre-war race car continuation series and each will be handmade by Mulliner, Bentley’s in-house department dealing with bespoke work and coachbuilding.
Of course, there were just four original ‘Team Blowers’ built for racing by Birkin, in the late ’20s, the most famous being Birkin’s own Team Car No 2, registration UU 5872.
It’s estimated that it will take two years to complete this 12-car series; prices are upon application.
In order to ensure that these are faithful recreations, Bentley’s own Team Blower – chassis number HB 3403 – will be taken apart, and each part will be catalogued and scanned, creating a 3D digital model of every component of the car.
The build process will combine 21st-century technology with original moulds, tooling jigs and hand tools from the 1920s.
The continuation models will be almost entirely identical to the original Blower, with a few hidden concessions to modern safety concerns.
