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1931 Bentley Blower The Bentley Blower was a development of the 41/2 Litre, which won at Le Mans in 1928. Faced with intense overseas competition, racer Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin asked Amherst Villiers to
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produce a Roots-type supercharger for the 41/2. WO Bentley disagreed with supercharging, however, and refused to let the engine be adapted for the supercharger, so the
unit was placed at the end of the crankshaft, in front of the radiator. This example originally had an unusual body for a Blower, which are usually two-seaters. The Service
Record described it as a close-coupled saloon; a more accurate description is the then-fashionable drophead coupé. In the 1990s it was rebuilt as a copy of the
short-chassis Birkin team cars HB3403 and HR3976, with the wheelbase now at 9ft 9½in and wearing a new Birkin-style body. A genuine spare team supercharger was also fitted.
