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New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

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New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

After 40.000 working hours, Bentley Mulliner has today completed the first new Bentley Blower in 90 years with the delivery of the pre-production vehicle, the prototype for the Blower remake. This highly exclusive small series of 12 customer vehicles - all already sold - is manufactured according to the design drawings and with the tools that were used for the original four blowers, which were built in the late 1920s and used in races by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin. Specifically, Bentley's own team car (chassis HB 3403, engine SM 3902, license plate UU 5872 - team vehicle no. 2) served as a template for the so-called Continuation Series. Each component was scanned by laser as part of a detailed complete restoration.

after 90 years there is a new blower

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

Based on this data, 1.846 individual parts were designed and handcrafted to produce the new blower. 230 of these parts are actually assemblies - one of them the engine - so that the total number of parts is several thousand if you include fasteners and parts of the interior trim. All parts and assemblies were manufactured by a project team of engineers, craftsmen and technicians from Bentley Mulliner in collaboration with various British specialists and suppliers.

first test and development prototype

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

The pre-production vehicle of the Blower is a special test and development prototype that was built before the 12 customer vehicles and is now subjected to endurance and performance tests lasting for months. The pre-production vehicle painted in gloss black with an interior with leather in Oxblood red from Bridge of Weir celebrated its premiere today to officially pay tribute to the creation of the new Bentley Motors plant in Crewe. Made possible by the closure of Pyms Lane - Bentley's address since 1946 - Bentley's headquarters are expanded through the area. Bentley Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Adrian Hallmark had the honor of driving the pre-production vehicle through Pyms Lane for the occasion, and says:

The first new blower in 90 years!

"Today was a really remarkable day, not only as a milestone in the Blower reissue project, but also for Bentley Motors. Driving the first new Blower in 90 years was a real privilege and the quality of the vehicle would make Sir Tim Birkin himself proud. The craftsmanship is exquisite and I'm happy to report that the car drives just as wonderfully as our original team car."

"It was also significant that I was able to drive the new Blower through Pyms Lane, which is now part of our main location, which we are expanding to create the new Bentley factory premises. The investment in our headquarters is vital to the future of Bentley and Crewe. Our new facilities and buildings are a physical manifestation of the exciting future ahead as we become the world leader in sustainable luxury mobility."

The new edition of the Blower is the first customer project of the new Classic department at Bentley Mulliner. Along with Coachbuilt (currently developing the equally exclusive Bacalar) and Collections (responsible for the Continental GT Mulliner), it forms one of the three new divisions of Mulliner.

Pre-production vehicle of the Blower - a project by designers and craftsmen

The first step in creating the pre-production vehicle was a thorough analysis of the original engineering drawings and designs that were used as the basis for creating the original Blower team cars. Archived historical photos of the vehicles were also used. After the Bentley-owned Team Car No. 2 (probably the most valuable Bentley in the world) was dismantled piece by piece and the frame and its components were laser-scanned with exceptional precision, a complete digital CAD model of the Blower was created. A team of craft specialists were then recruited to begin manufacturing the components that would be used by Bentley Mulliner to assemble the first blower.

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

Bentley Mulliner Director Paul Williams says:

"To witness the development of the pre-production vehicle in the last few weeks and months was incredible. The very latest digital construction methods have been combined with real craftsmanship - often using manufacturing methods from the 1920s. It was only through this combination of old and new that we were able to manufacture these vehicles, whereby the skills of our specialist suppliers are in no way inferior to those of our engineers. We've put out thousands of drawings and specifications for components, and seeing those parts arrive at Mulliner and the vehicle take shape was very enriching. Now we are tackling the next phase, with tests and development work, before we start building the 12 customer vehicles."

From the very beginning, Bentley Mulliner sought to hire the best professionals across the country to manufacture components for the Blower remake in a manner appropriate for such a project, using traditional techniques passed down through the generations. The chassis was designed by specialists from Israel Newton & Sons Ltd. Made of heavy steel, hand formed and hot riveted. This 200 year old company, based near Derby, traditionally manufactures boilers for steam locomotives and steam tractors, and has the skills to forge and shape metal the traditional way.

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

The Vintage Car Radiator Company, based in Bicester Heritage, has made exact replicas of some of the key components of the Blower - including the mirror-polished radiator housing made of solid nickel silver and the hand-molded fuel tank made of steel and copper. As the market leader in the manufacture and restoration of vintage radiators and components to the highest possible standards of craftsmanship and authenticity, this company was the perfect choice to manufacture these difficult and important components by hand.

Leaf springs and shackles were manufactured by Jones Springs Ltd. according to original specifications. a specialist West Midlands company with nearly 75 years of experience and a history that began in a forge. The legendary headlamps of the Blower were designed by Vintage Headlamp Restoration International Ltd. newly created in Sheffield. This father-son team is world-famous for their silversmithing and their ability to produce headlights in classic car designs according to original specifications.

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

Meanwhile, at the Mulliner upholstery shop in Crewe, a new ash frame made by Lomax Coachbuilders (based in Ludlow) was undergoing final carpentry work with Mulliner specialists. This included the installation of 25 meters of highly specialized Rexine® artificial leather material with which the body was lined. The final detail work on the interior trim of the body was then carried out by hand by the Mulliner master craftsmen. In the pre-production vehicle, the glossy black painted body is combined with leather from Bridge of Weir in Oxblood red and matching trim. As with the originals, the seats are stuffed with a total of ten kilograms of natural horsehair.

New life for a legendary engine

The brand new 4½ liter engine of the pre-production vehicle, originally designed by WO Bentley itself, was developed with the expert support of specialists such as NDR Ltd. made from Watford. The famous engine is coupled with a newly manufactured Amherst Villiers-type Roots compressor and has many innovative features that would also look good on a sports car engine from the 1970s: aluminum pistons, an overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder and dual ignition. The newly made blower motor is an exact replica of the engines that powered Tim Birkins four team blowers that raced in the late 1920s - including the use of magnesium for the crankcase.

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

During the assembly of the first engine, an engine test bench at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe was also rebuilt so that it could accommodate the almost 100-year-old engine design. The engine test facility has been with Bentley since the plant was built in 1938. The cells were originally used to run in and test the Merlin V12 aircraft engines that the plant produced for the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes during World War II.

To prepare the test bench, a replica of the front blower chassis part was made to accommodate the engine, which could then be mounted on the computer-controlled dynamometer. A new software version for measuring and controlling the engine has been programmed and tested, with the help of which Bentley engineers can monitor and run the engine according to precise parameters. Because the blower drivetrain differs significantly in size and shape from Bentley's modern production engines, the test bench was adapted to these particular engines using various original Merlin test bench fixtures that were still in Bentley's warehouse. After its complete installation on the test bench, the engine went through a set run-in program before being installed in the vehicle.

The next step

With the construction of the pre-series vehicle now complete, a program of practical stress tests will begin. In test units with slowly increasing duration and speed, functionality and robustness are tested under increasingly tough conditions. The test program is designed to achieve the equivalent of 35.000 kilometers of real driving performance within 8.000 kilometers. The conditions of famous rallies such as Beijing-Paris and the Mille Miglia are simulated. As part of the test drives, a particularly courageous driver will bring the car to its top speed - Adrian Hallmark will be the first in line ...

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

Photos: Bentley

THE FIRST NEW BENTLEY BLOWER IN 90 YEARS:

  • Bentley Mulliner completes the first prototype of the new blower edition
  • “Pre-production vehicle” celebrates its premiere as the first new blower since 1930
  • First example of the world's first reprint of a pre-war vehicle
  • Almost 2.000 individually designed and handcrafted parts
  • 40.000 hours invested in the development and construction of the pre-series vehicle
  • Made entirely by hand from original drawings and using original tools, with a team of in-house technicians and external UK suppliers
  • The data comes from a laser-scanned 3D CAD model of Bentley's own 1929½-liter supercharged team car driven by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin in 4
  • Pre-series vehicle is now subjected to an extensive test and load program - including a drive up to top speed
  • 12 customer vehicles will follow - all already sold and configured

New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Our tuning magazine has tens of thousands more tuning reports in stock. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. Or are you particularly interested in the tuner Bentley? Then the following excerpt is sure to be just the thing.

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New car - Bentley is building a blower after 90 years!

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About Thomas Wachsmuth

Thomas Wachsmuth - He has been an integral part of tuningblog.eu since 2013. His passion for cars is so intense that he invests every available penny in them. While he dreams of a BMW E31 850CSI and a Hennessey 6x6 Ford F-150, he currently drives a rather inconspicuous BMW 540i (G31/LCI). His collection of books, magazines and brochures on the subject of car tuning has now reached such proportions that he himself has become a walking reference work for the tuning scene.  More about Thomas

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