This exclusive run of 12 customer cars – all pre-sold - will be crafted from the design drawings and tooling jigs used for the original four Blowers built and raced by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin in the late 1920s.
Specifically, Bentley’s own Team Car (Chassis HB 3403, engine SM 3902, registration UU 5872 - Team Car #2) has provided the master model for the Continuation Series, with every single component laser-scanned as part of a wheels-up restoration.
From this data, 1,846 individual parts have been designed and hand-crafted to create the new Blower.
A total of 230 of those parts are actually assemblies – one of which being the engine – taking the total part count to several thousand when fixings and interior trim parts are included.
Each of these parts and assemblies have been created by a project team of Bentley Mulliner engineers, craftspeople and technicians working together with a number of British specialists and suppliers.
Blower Car Zero is a dedicated test and development prototype, built in advance of the 12 customer cars, and will be subjected to months of durability and performance testing.
The test programme is designed to achieve the equivalent of 35,000km of real-world driving across 8,000km of track driving, and simulates the undertaking of famous rallies such as Peking to Paris and Mille Miglia. The testing will also have a particularly brave driver taking the car to its top speed – with Adrian Hallmark first in the queue.
Finished in gloss black, with an interior in Oxblood red leather from Bridge of Weir, Car Zero made its debut on Wednesday to officially mark the creation of the new Bentley Motors campus in Crewe.
Made possible by the closing of Pyms Lane – Bentley’s address since 1946 – the campus extends Bentley’s headquarters to a new expanded footprint.
Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, Adrian Hallmark, had the honour of driving Car Zero down Pyms Lane to mark the occasion, and comments:
The Blower Continuation Series is the first customer project delivered by the new Bentley Mulliner Classic portfolio, one of three new divisions of Mulliner alongside Coachbuilt (currently developing the Bacalar) and Collections (responsible for the Continental GT Mulliner).
