An extremely rare Blower Bentley will cross the auction block at a Bonhams sale scheduled for Aug. 16 in Carmel, Calif. Experts agree on its rarity, but differ on how pristine an example this machine truly is.
In the 94-year history of Bentley Motors, perhaps none of its creations is held in more esteem than the Blower Bentley.
The more powerful supercharged version of the 4.5-liter, 4-cylinder engine was the idea of Tim Birkin, who along with Dudley Benjafield and Woolf Barnato, comprised the original “Bentley Boys” team of racers. The Blower was fast, but it consumed profligate amounts of fuel and was not particularly reliable. Ettore Bugatti derided the Blower Bentley as “the world’s fastest truck.”
Though its name is forever associated with Le Mans, the Blower never did win the famed French endurance classic. In fact, a Blower Bentley never won any major race.
But today, a Blower Bentley can be worth 10 to 15 times more than a nonsupercharged 4.5-liter model of the same vintage. Certainly, some of that disparity is because of its scarcity; only 55 of the supercharged models were among the 722 built during its 1927-31 production run, says Richard Charlesworth, a Bentley historian.
Adding to the rarity of the 1931 model being offered at the auction is the fact that it is one of only three of the 50 production cars that came with a Le Mans specification chassis, said Mr. Charlesworth.
“Always coveted and frequently copied, the Blower Bentley holds its place in history as a true automotive icon, and this incredibly rare and highly original survivor is one of the best in existence,” Bonhams says.
The auction house notes that the car is in its original 1938 trim. But by 1938, its level of originality had become debatable.
“Surely only the mechanicals may be classed as ‘highly original’ as the body has been totally changed,” Mr. Charlesworth said in an e-mail on Thursday.
Actually, it’s more egregious than that. By 1938 the Bentley bearing registration plate JK 1925 had traveled from England, to Florida, to Canada, where its original Vanden Plas four-seat body was scrapped, in favor of a home-built homage to its Canadian owner’s vision of a two-seat Brooklands-type racing shell. It had nonspec Stromberg carburetors installed; its temperamental 240-horsepower engine had actually been rebuilt with valves from a 1930s-vintage Ford tractor.
JK 1925’s history is recounted in fairly gory detail in a July 7, 1944, Autocar article, written by one of the car’s Canadian owners.
Bonhams suggested that the car was previously owned and raced by the “Bentley Boys.” But the former owner noted merely “a Bentley Racing driver, Thistlethwaite,” had raced it at some point.
Mr. Charlesworth said that the 1931 model’s racing provenance was at best limited, as it was sold and shipped to America within a year or so of its manufacture. He said that a succession of owners followed, with the well-worn car eventually ending up in Winnipeg, Canada, where it sold in 1938 for $500.
Apparently many more ownership changes followed until it was bought around 1959 by Charles R. J. Noble, a noted Bentley collector, who brought it to New York. Noble at one time owned four supercharged models, more than any other collector, according to Bonhams.
Noble was known for driving this car between his home in New York City and the Bridgehampton race circuit on Long Island. “He would race, win and return home in it with honors that included the prestigious 1967 Vanderbilt Cup,” Bonhams said, adding that the car remained in the ownership of the Noble family for “more than 55 years.”
Last July, Bonhams sold a 1929 Blower Bentley, once owned and raced by Birkin to several speed marks, for $7.87 million. The company said that represented the world record price for any Bentley sold at auction. The auction house did not, however, provide a presale estimate for the car going up for sale next month.
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