1931 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged ‘Blower’ Vanden Plas Sports Tourer

- One of The 50 Original Factory Supercharged “Blower” Bentleys 

- Exceptionally Rare Example With Its Original Vanden Plas Coachwork 

- Retains Its Original Chassis, Steering Box, Front and Rear Axles, With Original Replacement Blower Engine and Gearbox per Factory Records

- Concours Restoration by VBE and McDonald Vintage Restoration

- Known History From New and Documented by Dr. Clare Hay

- Awarded First in Class at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Just 50 of the legendary Blower Bentleys were built originally, making it one of the more sought after sports cars of the pre-war era. MS3927 hails from the second batch of 25 cars built by Birkin which are perhaps more readily identifiable by their ribbed supercharger casings protruding from the front of the car. Importantly it has retained that original body from new, making it one of only a third of the cars to be able to make such a claim. It is car that has remained in the public eye throughout its life with the result that its history may be traced transparently through factory, coachbuilder and club records all of which have been condensed into a thorough report by the definitive expert for this period of the marque, author and historian Dr. Clare Hay. 

The supercharged Bentley was likely built across the winter of 1930/31 being supplied in completed chassis form to Vanden Plas on February 11, 1931. The coachbuilder bodied the car with their most up to date sports touring bodywork, which in keeping with the fashion of 1931 was paneled in aluminum. The VdP order lists the particularly appealing feature of Le Mans type bucket seats, designed to enhance the true ‘Bentley Boy’ driving experience. Body 1723 is confirmed to have been finished in striking raven black paint with a rich red leather trim. The finished article was delivered to Bentley Motors Cork Street showrooms and registered for the road with the London plate ‘GP1993’. 

Nearby agents Jack Barclay of Berkeley Square secured the sale of the new Blower to O.D. Winterbottom, of Newbury, for whom it was an upgrade from the stock 4½ Litre he had covered 30,000 miles in over the preceding 2 years and was traded in against the purchase. 

Maintenance and ownership are listed up until the war, Winterbottom certainly being one of the longest original owners of these cars and keeping MS3927 for 7 years in total. Subsequent owners were F. W. Ball of Chelsea who also acquired the car from Jack Barclay, a period image and details of its sale particulars are on file and Captain P.G. Ashton, based on the Isle of Wight, in 1939. 

Just after the war ended, Michael Crowley-Milling, the long-time owner of the Nuvulari Alfa Romeo 8C was its brief owner in 1948/9, followed by Mr. Sleight (1949); Ben H Bowring (1952); Jack Bailey (1954); D.A. Bullock (1959); Vyvyan Salisbury (1961), Tim Holcroft (1968) and then Peter Agg (1971). In this period Bowring particularly raced the car, and reflecting the fashion of the day he and other successive owners progressively chose to add some of the classic Birkin-esque Le Mans style features to it. The Bentley gained a large Le Mans tank and drilled handbrake lever, while the bodywork was covered in dark green fabric. A C-Type gearbox is known to have replaced the original for a while and the numbered crankcase was replaced with another original Blower Bentley unit (confirmed by its SM prefix), and then stamped as MS 3930 to match its original. Although sometimes campaigned in unblown form, its original supercharger casing (127) has remained with it to this day. 

A later owner was Michael Over in 1983 before the car migrated here to America for its first stint of US ownership in the hands of Sam Ornstein of New Jersey. Sold publicly in London in December 1993, at that point it would pass into one of America’s foremost collections of its day, that of Henry Petronis of Maryland. It would spend the next 20 years there before passing to the immediate previous present owner in the UK. The current custodian purchased the Bentley from the UK and before bringing it to the States elected to have the highly regarded specialists at VBE Engineering rebuild its mechanicals, during which the aforementioned gearbox change was corrected with the fitting of the stronger D-Type gearbox, the unit from the very next supercharged production car, MS 3928.

With this work completed, the Blower was exercised regularly on events such as the Colorado Grand and when entirely satisfied with the car from this perspective, the owner decided to attend to its cosmetics with a goal of showing it here at Pebble Beach. The car was entrusted to Jeff McDonald’s team at McDonald Vintage Restoration in Candby, Oregon, whose workmanship on Rolls-Royce and Bentleys has consistently garnered major concours awards. MS3927 received similar focus in a refurbishment that respected its intrinsic authenticity and used the sister car MS3926 of Dr. Fred Simeone’s collection for comparison and to ensure accuracy in the details. The green fabric was removed from its exterior and the bodywork restored and returned to the black over red palate in which it was originally supplied. Testament to the quality and exacting detail of this restoration, the Bentley won its class at Pebble Beach in 2022. Its use since has been regular and careful, such that the car continues to present beautifully. 

A hypercar of its day, Birkin’s Supercharged Bentleys are one of the greatest statements of brazen power and presence in motoring ever built. Rarely for a Vintage Bentley and particularly a ‘Blower’ this exceptional car stands today much as it left Bentley Motors, importantly retaining its original Vanden Plas coachwork including Le Mans seats and most of its original running gear. All of that makes it not only a blue-chip example, but also a great way to experience this legendary model, be it on fast road tours or in competition.

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