Bentley Blower 4½ Litre
1929–1931 · Bentley Blower 4½ Litre — Sports Car, Inline-4 Supercharged, designed by W.O. Bentley.
The Story
The most famous Bentley ever built never won the race it was made for. The Blower was Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin’s obsession — a 4½ Litre force-fed by an Amherst Villiers supercharger, conceived to beat Mercedes at Le Mans. W.O. Bentley loathed it, insisting that ‘to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance,’ and only built the 50 road cars needed for homologation because chairman Woolf Barnato forced his hand.
It was sensationally fast and gloriously unreliable, and it never took the Le Mans win. Yet Birkin’s single-seater ‘Monoposto’ lapped Brooklands at 137.96 mph in 1932, and the Blower’s dashing failure made it immortal — so much so that Ian Fleming handed one to James Bond in his first three novels.
The Numbers
Benchmarked against its class
Each dial ranks this car within its Sports Car class — fuller means higher, and the tick marks the class midpoint.
Signature Colors
The Designer
W.O. Bentley
Walter Owen Bentley founded Bentley Motors in 1919; his OHC 4-valve engines and the ‘Bentley Boys’ won Le Mans five times (1924, 1927–30). After Rolls-Royce bought Bentley in 1931 he moved to Lagonda, designing its V12.
Studio Motors POV
The most famous Bentley ever built — a glorious failure made immortal by Birkin, Brooklands and Bond. The very definition of a blue-chip grail.
Lineage
Where it sits in the bloodline
Market & Value
Values on cars like this move monthly. Our brokers price from real transactions.
What Reviewers Said About Blower 4½ Litre
Worth Knowing About the Blower 4½ Litre
3 Things You Didn’t Know
- 1. W.O. Bentley hated it — 'to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance' — and built the 50 road cars only because Barnato forced the issue for Le Mans eligibility.
- 2. It never won Le Mans — the very race it was built for — yet became the most iconic Bentley of all.
- 3. Ian Fleming made it James Bond's car: 007 drives a supercharged 4½ Blower in Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and Moonraker.
5 Fast Facts
- 1. 4,398 cc supercharged (Amherst Villiers Roots blower); 55 built incl. 5 Birkin team cars.
- 2. Road cars ~175 hp; team cars ~240 hp.
- 3. Birkin's single-seater 'Monoposto' set a 137.96 mph Brooklands lap record (1932).
- 4. Built at Tim Birkin's insistence, against W.O. Bentley's wishes.
- 5. James Bond's car in Ian Fleming's early novels.
Provenance
Owners & what to look for
Famous Owners
Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin — the Bentley Boy who willed it into existence and set the Brooklands record in the single-seater. James Bond — fictional owner via Ian Fleming’s novels. (Documented; Bentley Media / Wikipedia.)
Studio Buyer’s Brief
The five team cars and Birkin’s single-seater are the ultimate (among the most valuable Bentleys, eight figures at the top); the 55 road cars are blue-chip grails. Authenticate ruthlessly — and note Bentley’s 2020 ‘Blower Continuation’ (12 cars) is a separate modern recreation.
Full Specifications
- Make / Model
- Bentley Blower 4½ Litre
- Class
- Sports Car
- Production years
- 1929–1931
- Units built
- 55 (incl. 5 Birkin team cars)
- Variants
- Engine layout
- Front
- Engine
- Inline-4 Supercharged
- Engine family
- W.O. Bentley Vintage Four
- Displacement
- 4,398 cc (4.5 L) supercharged
- Power
- 175 hp
- Torque
- lb-ft
- 0–60 mph
- s
- Top speed
- 125 mph
- Power-to-weight
- 100 hp/tonne · 22.1 lb/hp
- Transmission
- 4-speed manual
- Drivetrain
- RWD · Petrol
- Curb weight
- 3860 lb
Questions
Blower 4½ Litre FAQ
Did W.O. Bentley approve of the supercharged Blower Bentley?
No. W.O. Bentley openly opposed it, declaring that ‘to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance.’ Bentley chairman Woolf Barnato overruled W.O. and approved Birkin’s project, including the 50 road cars required for Le Mans homologation.
Is the Blower Bentley James Bond’s car in Ian Fleming’s novels?
Yes. Fleming equipped Bond with a supercharged 4½ Litre Blower in his first three novels — Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, and Moonraker — describing it as a battleship-grey convertible with Marchal headlamps, before it was written off and Bond was issued a Mark VI as its immediate replacement. The fictional Mark II Continental appears later, in Thunderball.
How many Blower Bentleys were built?
55 supercharged Blower Bentleys were built between 1929 and 1931, comprising four works/team competition cars plus 50 road homologation cars (one additional car is variously counted depending on convention). The team cars produced approximately 240 horsepower versus the standard road cars’ 175 horsepower.
Can you lease a Blower Bentley?
Yes, specialty lenders structure collector-car leases regardless of model year.
What speed record did Tim Birkin set in the Blower Bentley?
Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin set a Brooklands outer circuit lap record of 137.96 mph in 1932 at the wheel of the single-seat Blower Bentley ‘Monoposto,’ a stripped racing derivative with the Amherst Villiers supercharger in full racing tune.
The Bentley Lineup
Explore every Bentley
3 Litre ’216½ Litre / Speed Six ’264½ Litre ’27Blower 4½ Litre ’29
R-Type Continental ’52S1 Continental ’55S-Type Saloon (S1/S2/S3) ’55S2/S3 Continental ’59
Mulsanne (1980) ’80Turbo R ’85
Continental R ’91Azure ’95Arnage ’98
Continental GT (1st gen) ’03Continental Flying Spur ’05Azure (2nd gen) ’06Brooklands (Coupé) ’08
Mulsanne (2010) ’10Continental GT (2nd gen) ’11Flying Spur (2nd gen) ’13Bentayga ’15Continental GT (3rd gen) ’18Flying Spur (3rd gen) ’19
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