Wednesday 29 February 2012

Now This Is What I Call A Real Car,

it is a Bentley Blower,

made in 1929 the 4.5 litre car is coming under the hammer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 29th, it was driven by British racing legend Sir Henry 'Tiger Tim' Birkin, who set a lap record at the iconic Brooklands Outer Circuit in 1931 when it hit a staggering 137mph, Birkin was one of the most famous of the Bentley Boys - a group of wealthy men who raced the British sports cars in the 1920s and 30s, His life was tragically cut short in 1933 in a freak accident after he burned himself on an exhaust pipe during a race, the burn became infected and he died from septicaemia at the age of 36,


the car, known as a Bentley Blower, was fitted with a 4.5-litre supercharged engine which developed 240bhp, just 54 were built, with the sports cars capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in just 8 seconds, Birkin reached an amazing 137mph in this particular model, now here is a thing, back in the mid 1950s I actually sat in one of these, it had a string steering wheel, outside brake and was painted green, I can still remember begging Dad to buy it, also I can remember his reply, 'Stan we have just paid £400 for our house that will take your mum and me 25 years to pay back, the car is £475, we can not,'


the thing is the house I guess is worth say £200,000 at to days prices, if this was the actual car that I sat in all of those years ago it is expected to go for up to £5million - making it the most expensive British-built car ever sold publicly, 'Dad, if you can hear me up there, we should have gone with the car!'

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