<< Prev Page 2 of 2 To keep the weight down, many were clothed with a fabric over wood frame body following a Weymann patent. These were built by a variety of coach-builders in England like Gurney Nutting and Vanden Plas. The competition cars usually featured four-seater roadster bodies by the latter and like their predecessors proved hugely successful. A 4½ Litre won Le Mans outright in 1928 and finished second and third to a Speed Six Bentley the following year.
Perhaps the most famous variant of the 4½ Litre was the 'Blower Bentley', which was the brainchild of Bentley boy Tim Birkin. As the name suggests, the Blower featured a supercharger, which lifted the power to 175 - 240 hp. This additional power proved detrimental to the reliability and achingly fast Blower ultimately scored not a single major victory. To meet homologation requirements, Bentley nevertheless had to build 55 examples.
Production of the 4½ Litre ran through to November of 1931 when the ailing company was sold to rival Rolls-Royce. By that time, 720 chassis had been produced, including the 55 Blowers. Although the naturally aspirated 4½ Litre is considered to be the better car the raw power of the supercharged cars meant that these are among the most sought after and valuable of all Bentleys ever built. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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4½ Litre Maythorn Saloon
To keep the weight down, many were clothed with a fabric over wood frame body following a Weymann patent. These were built by a variety of coach-builders in England like Gurney Nutting and Vanden Plas. The competition cars usually featured four-seater roadster bodies by the latter and like their predecessors proved hugely successful. A 4½ Litre won Le Mans outright in 1928 and finished second and third to a Speed Six Bentley the following year.