Blower Bows out, Speed Six Steps Up

We’ve been to Crewe, by which we mean the Bentley factory – we’re not entirely sure there’s any other reason to go to Crewe – and in doing so, we have seen that it’s a thriving, busy, expansive and expanding place. Sure, the cars that roll by, covered in protective film and foam blocks are modern offerings. Flying Spurs, Bentaygas, that sort of thing. However, deep within the period brickwork of the Crewe facility, there are other, more classic things going on. We’ve told you about the Continuation Blower, but that’s done now. As such, it’s time for the Continuation Speed Six to shine.

There is a selection of the Continuation Blowers that have been built and now delivered to their new, lucky owners. But Bentley doesn’t want to draw a line under it and call it a job well done. Instead, it has opted to push forward with a new continuation project in the form of the Speed Six. The core reasoning behind it is simple – the Blower served to keep a legend alive, and with it, traditional coachbuilding skills while also bringing new blood into the artisan trades required to produce such a unique machine. Bentley now has a veritable army of young, evermore talented apprentices at its disposal as well as those time served craftspeople. So why not utilise them?

The Speed Six takes two original Speed Sixes as its master model: the company’s own Speed Six, GU409, and ‘Old Number 3’, a works Speed Six driven in the 1930 Le Mans 24 Hour race by Sammy Davis and Clive Dunfee. The latter was generously loaned by its owner to provide the Mulliner team with invaluable data on dimensions, materials and components, down to the last screw, nut and bolt. The Mulliner Classic team is also indebted to the W.O. Bentley Memorial Foundation, which has provided 80% of the original drawings and notes used by the team. The Continuation cars will include modifications that were made by the Bentley works team to improve reliability and performance in the 1929 and 1930 Le Mans races; the works Speed Sixes won both races by a distance.

No detail has been overlooked. The Mulliner Classic team visited the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, to verify the five authentic period Parsons Paints that will be available to customers. Over 600 individual new parts, including a new engine block casting, were fabricated for the new 6½ Litre race spec engine, which in period developed 200 bhp. Initial dyno testing has shown the Continuation Series engines to develop 205 bhp; higher outputs would be achievable with the aid of modern engineering materials (as many classic racing teams do) but the aim of the Continuation Series team is to create a Bentley exactly as it would have looked and performed in 1930.

Two Continuation Speed Six models, Car Zero and the Factory Works car, have already been built by Mulliner using a mixture of modern and traditional coachbuilding skills. One of the aims of the Continuation Series programme has been to pass precious skills on to the next generation and this is already bearing fruit. In the Mulliner workshops, skilled artisans with decades of experience can be seen working alongside young apprentices, helping to train the master craftspeople of the future. Each customer car will take 10 months to build, with deliveries commencing in 2025.

The Blower demonstrated that such a bold, brave project was commercially viable. The Speed Six carries an arguably more noble duty on its shoulders, though. This car is a further means by which traditional skills can be kept alive, while bringing in new, young talent. But it also leans on modern tech and design where it will best benefit such a project. This is a glorious coming together of tradition and technology, and we salute it. It might not have a supercharger, but that’s better than wasting those skilled, keen hands on something that will eventually need to be plugged into an electric charger.