Friday 24th June 2022

Bentley 'Speed Six' Continuation Series revealed

After selling twelve 'Blower' recreations for £1.5m each, Bentley announces twelve 'Speed Six' continuations

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The mighty Speed Six became the most successful racing Bentley of its time, winning Le Mans in 1929 and 1930 driven by the good old Bentley Boys – Tim Birkin, Glen Kidston and Woolf Barnato. And to mark its racing icon, Bentley is reintroducing the Speed Six name to its current line-up – not as a badge-engineered Continental GT or Flying Spur, but as another recreation series, announced on Friday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Just like the Blower Continuation Series, this will be a twelve-car run. Our very own Mike Duff drove one of the Blowers around Millbrook last year and said, after a dose of double declutching, “You could own a barn full of supercars and not have anything remotely like this.” And, having seen those cars up close myself, when they were testing at Millbrook, I can tell you they were exquisite things behold. The same team that brought those Blowers back to life will be producing the Speed Sixes, so there’s no doubting their quality.

The Blower Continuations were based on the 1929 4½ litre ‘Blower’ Bentley Team Car #2 that raced alongside the Speed Six in 1930. With the original Blower reputedly the most famous and valuable Bentley in the world, perhaps it’s no surprise that all twelve of the continuations sold out – despite commanding a £1.5 price tag, plus taxes. The same thing has happened this time around – all twelve Speed Sixes have been snapped up, too.

The original Speed Six chassis was launched in 1928, and its 6½ litre engine represented W.O. Bentley’s faith in cubic inches over forced induction. To tease out the performance he was after, the Speed Six was fitted with twin SU carburettors, a higher compression ratio and a high-performance camshaft. The end result was 180hp. 182 examples were built, and they came in a range of wheelbases from 3,505mm to 3,874mm – the short chassis proving most popular.

The racing versions were 3,353mm between the axles, with an even higher compression ratio of 6.1:1 that produced 200hp. Enough for Birkin and Barnato to lead every lap of the 1929 event in a wholly dominant display that saw Birkin go 46-seconds quicker than the previous La Sarthe lap record, clocking an average speed of 83 mph.

As with the previous recreations, the team will be working from the original blueprints as well as producing detailed 3D CAD models from original cars. “Old Number 3” is one of those, which is part of a private collection and still raced today. The other car is from Bentley’s Heritage Collection – a 1929 road car with a four-seat Vanden Plas body. This is the car that’ll be used to benchmark the performance and handling of the continuation cars.

The first example, Car Zero, will assembled by the end of this year and become the engineering test bed for the rest. Eventually, it will join the original in the Heritage Collection, alongside Car Zero from the Blower recreations.

Speaking at Goodwood, Adrian Hallmark, Bentley’s Chairman and Chief Executive, said “After incredible levels of skill were acquired by the Mulliner team through the development of the Blower Continuation Series, and with the success of the cars with their customers, a chance to honour the Speed Six is a fantastic next step. The Speed Six is one of the most important Bentleys in our 103 year history, and the 12 cars of the Continuation Series will embody the same values as W.O. Bentley’s originals, crafted by hand with the same meticulous attention both to engineering quality and to fanatical attention to detail. The lucky owners will be able to race their cars around the world, and truly relive the exploits of the original Bentley Boys.”

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• Bentley Blower Continuation | PH Review
• New Bentley Continental GT Mulliner

[blearyeyedboy]

No doubt someone will comment about how it's a ridiculous price, completely impractical and that you'll never be able to use it on a public road.

I would absolutely love one if I had the means.

"Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else’s horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop!"

[wpa1975]

More pointless than the game show.

If you want a vintage car buying one from that era has to make more sense than this, at least you can use and enjoy it on the road.

[ntiz]

blearyeyedboy said:

No doubt someone will comment about how it's a ridiculous price, completely impractical and that you'll never be able to use it on a public road.

I would absolutely love one if I had the means.

"Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else’s horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop!"

If the price is the same as the Blower it is a stupid price because you could buy a real one for the same money! Which you could drive on the road and enter a world of fantastic events in.

Plus call me old fashioned but if you are going to buy a pre war Bentley. Having one that was actually built by W O Bentley in period is just better as it’s a real bit of history. Not an expensive knock off. Probably a better investment too.

I am of course very biased.

[mersontheperson]

I don’t see the future potential of these, who in 30 years time is going to want to own one?

[blearyeyedboy]

mersontheperson said:

I don’t see the future potential of these, who in 30 years time is going to want to own one?

Think of it like the epitome of restomodding.
There isn't a big market for it but there doesn't need to be.
Scarcity and novelty will keep values stable, I imagine.

See also the Prodrive P25 thread, where similar concerns were raised.

[Earl of Petrol]

mersontheperson said:

I don’t see the future potential of these, who in 30 years time is going to want to own one?

Me.

[InitialDave]

ntiz said:

If the price is the same as the Blower it is a stupid price because you could buy a real one for the same money! Which you could drive on the road and enter a world of fantastic events in.

Plus call me old fashioned but if you are going to buy a pre war Bentley. Having one that was actually built by W O Bentley in period is just better as it’s a real bit of history. Not an expensive knock off. Probably a better investment too.

I am of course very biased.

Yep, the way I see it, if I'm in a position to afford one of these, I can probably afford an original, and I'd rather have that.

[Penguinracer]

I’m sure that some of these cars will see road use outside the UK. It’s a big world out there that doesn’t stop at this little island in the Atlantic.

[thegreenhell]

Penguinracer said:

I’m sure that some of these cars will see road use outside the UK. It’s a big world out there that doesn’t stop at this little island in the Atlantic.

Most of the developed world has similarly developed regulations that would prevent these from legally being driven on the roads. Certainly most of Europe is off limits. It's somewhat ironic that it's the fact that Bentley themselves are building them that is the main issue, as if it was an independent third party doing it they would qualify for low volume exemptions to get around some of the legislation.

It still doesn't make much sense to have a replica that costs more than an original car, especially given the limitations on its usability.

[blearyeyedboy]

It's not a Ford Focus.

There are very few cars for sale.
The individuals who buy them will see practical limitations as logistic problems they will pay someone else to overcome. Or they will exhibit them, or they own property large enough to drive around without being fussed about traffic laws.

There aren't many individuals like that, but Bentley only need to find a couple of dozen. They're ultimately in the business of making money for shareholders, and I doubt they will fail to make as profit on this venture.

Good luck to them, and to their customers. I really don't get the negativity.

[sidesauce]

ntiz said:

If the price is the same as the Blower it is a stupid price because you could buy a real one for the same money! Which you could drive on the road and enter a world of fantastic events in.

Plus call me old fashioned but if you are going to buy a pre war Bentley. Having one that was actually built by W O Bentley in period is just better as it’s a real bit of history. Not an expensive knock off. Probably a better investment too.

I am of course very biased.

How exactly is it "an expensive knockoff" when it's built by the very same company that built the original version? That literally makes zero sense and clearly your definition of what defines a knockoff is somewhat skewed and certainly badly biased.

Plus I don't care about owning a pre-war car, at all, when I can have a brand new one built to my personal specifications!

[Draxindustries1]

It may be built by Bentley but its just a replica. There's nothing like the original .
In years to come these will depreciate while the original will still rise in value.
Same as a Ming vase, replicate that and it'll appeal to very few.

[ntiz]

sidesauce said:

ntiz said:

If the price is the same as the Blower it is a stupid price because you could buy a real one for the same money! Which you could drive on the road and enter a world of fantastic events in.

Plus call me old fashioned but if you are going to buy a pre war Bentley. Having one that was actually built by W O Bentley in period is just better as it’s a real bit of history. Not an expensive knock off. Probably a better investment too.

I am of course very biased.

How exactly is it "an expensive knockoff" when it's built by the very same company that built the original version? That literally makes zero sense and clearly your definition of what defines a knockoff is somewhat skewed and certainly badly biased.

Plus I don't care about owning a pre-war car, at all, when I can have a brand new one built to my personal specifications!

You have no interest in owning a pre war car but would be in having an exact copy of a pre war car? Now that makes no sense to me, especially when you couldn’t even use it much. If you want this type of car why not have one actually built in period? Pretty much all pre war Bentleys are converted to be bespoke to their owners wants and needs. If you want modern stuff any Bentley specialist will add it. My Dads has an alternator, USB under the dash etc to make it better for touring.

It’s an expensive knock off because it’s not a 1920s W O Bentley. It’s a copy of a 1920s Bentley. Bentley building one today doesn’t make it the same thing, not to me anyway. Plus Bentley today bares very little to do with the original company ran by W O Bentley that built these cars. Factory isn’t even in the same part of the country.

You are of course entitled to your opinion. This just happens to be a subject I’m passionate about. So apologies if I seem abrupt.

[blearyeyedboy]

ntiz said:

Bentley building one today doesn’t make it the same thing, not to me anyway.

There's the rub: they only have to find a limited number of people to whom it does hold meaning. If it hike no meaning to you and Bentley sell them all to happy customers, I doubt they'll have sleepless nights worrying about the people who wouldn't want one.

If Bentley find customers- which they're very likely to do- and the people who buy them are happy, then what skin is it off anyone else's nose?

This is a replay of the Prodrive P25 thread, only lacking someone declaring that £50k given to an aftermarket tuner could give you just as good a result.

[N.A.R.T Spyder]

There is a dealer round the corner from where I live that specialises in pre-war Bentleys. It's great to see them on test drives on the local roads - they certainly have an amazing road presence among all the mundane modern cars.