In what appears at first to be a trick of the eye, four expressions of Bentley’s iconic Blower, all in different scales, have come together at Bentley’s home in Crewe, bringing together examples of engineering, hand craftsmanship and innovation spanning close to a century inspired by one of the most recognisable cars in Bentley’s history.
The original 1929 4½ Litre Supercharged Team Car No. 2 – the crown jewel of the Bentley Heritage Collection – has inspired three smaller-scale versions, created by Hedley Studios and Amalgam Collection. Completing the quartet are Amalgam Collection’s 1:8 and newly unveiled 1:18 scale models, together with Hedley Studios’ 85 per cent scale, fully electric Blower Jnr. Each new example has been developed with incredible focus and crafted by hand to capture the intricate details and character of the original car.
Separated by almost a century and dramatically different in scale, construction and purpose, all four share the same unmistakable DNA. From the raw character of the original Le Mans racers to exquisitely detailed scale models and a fully driveable electric interpretation, each demonstrates the enduring ability of the Blower to ignite imagination and inspire new generations of craftsmanship and engineering.
First revealed in 2023 as a collaboration between Bentley Motors and The Little Car Company, now Hedley Studios, the Blower Jnr is an 85 per cent scale, fully electric car that can be driven on public roads. A 31 bhp (23kW) powertrain delivers a top speed more than 50 mph (80 km/h), with a certified range of up 75 miles (120 km).
Blower Jnr faithfully recreates the distinctive proportions and character of the 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged Team Car No. 2, while discreetly integrating the modern engineering required to make it a genuine road-going production vehicle without compromising its distinctly analogue character. The first 25 Blower Jnrs have now been completed at Hedley Studios’ Bicester atelier and are preparing for delivery to customers, marking an important new chapter in the Blower Jnr story. The first of these 25 is Bentley’s own car, now delivered to the company’s campus in Crewe.
Extensive engineering, testing and homologation have been undertaken to ensure that the Blower Jnr delivers an authentic driving experience while meeting the requirements of a modern road-going vehicle. Modern technology has been integrated discreetly, allowing the craftsmanship and character of the original Blower to remain at the heart of the design.
Ben Hedley, founder of Hedley Studios, commented:
“The hardest part of recreating a 1929 Bentley is everything you can’t see. We wanted Blower Jnr to preserve the character and analogue experience of the original, while also being a genuinely usable modern road vehicle. That meant engineering everything from headlights, indicators and braking systems to the electrical architecture and even a reversing camera, so that the modern technology effectively disappears into the car. Doing that as a fully homologated production vehicle for a run of just 349 cars has been an enormous undertaking. We believe Blower Jnr may be the first recreation of a pre-war car design to be homologated as a newly manufactured production road vehicle, which gives some sense of just how unusual the programme has been.”
At the other end of the scale, Amalgam Collection’s newly released 1:18 Bentley Blower brings extraordinary intricacy to a more compact format. Created in collaboration with Bentley, it is the most technically accomplished 1:18 model Amalgam Collection has ever produced and joins the company’s remarkable 1:8 scale Blower, first revealed in February 2020.
Sandy Copeman, founder of Amalgam Collection, said: “Having already developed the Bentley Blower in 1:8 scale, we knew just how complex this car is. The challenge was taking all that exposed mechanical detail and engineering and recreating it faithfully at one-eighteenth of the real size. Achieving that level of complexity in 1:18 scale demanded extraordinary precision from our team, and the result is what we believe to be the finest, most complex and technically accomplished 1:18 scale model we have ever produced.”
Blower Continuation Series owners can take personalisation one step further, commissioning either a 1:8 or 1:18 scale model crafted to mirror the individual specification of their own car, creating an intricately detailed miniature counterpart to their full-size Blower.
Amalgam Collection has also created a race-weathered version of its 1:8 scale model. Limited to just 30 examples, each is meticulously hand-painted and detailed by Amalgam’s master model makers to recreate the dirt, patina and battle scars accumulated in the heat of competition, capturing the Blower not simply as a pristine historic object, but with the visceral character of a racing machine. The weathered version recreates how Team Car No.2 looked after the 1930 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, complete with bent rear fenders caused by tyre failures.
At the heart of the story remains Team Car No. 2, the original 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged ‘Blower’ that continues to play an active role within the Bentley Heritage Collection today. Registered UU 5872, it was one of four Team Blowers created for competition and raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1930, cementing its place in Bentley’s illustrious motorsport history.
Its distinctive proportions, exposed mechanical components and uncompromising character have made Team Car No. 2 one of the most instantly recognisable cars from Bentley’s early racing era. Nearly a century later, those same qualities have inspired both Blower Jnr and Amalgam Collection’s extraordinarily detailed scale recreations.
Far from living a quiet retirement, Team Car No. 2 remains an active member of Bentley’s Heritage Collection, appearing at events and historic driving experiences around the world. Its continued presence on the road embodies the same adventurous spirit that defined the original Bentley Boys and Girls: engineering ambition, fierce competitive determination and an enduring desire to put extraordinary cars to the test.
Today, Team Car No. 2 stands as one of the most historically significant Bentleys in existence, a living piece of automotive history whose influence continues to shape how the Blower is recreated, celebrated and experienced almost a century after it first took to the road.
Together, the four expressions tell a remarkable story of the Blower’s enduring appeal and the extraordinary craftsmanship required to capture its character across dramatically different scales and formats. From the original Team Car No. 2 and Hedley Studios’ driveable Blower Jnr to Amalgam Collection’s intricate scale recreations, each begins with the same inspiration but interprets it in a distinctly different way.
Almost a century after the original Blower thundered onto the racetrack, its influence remains undiminished. Each recreation preserves something of its engineering ingenuity, uncompromising design and unmistakable character, ensuring that one of Bentley’s greatest icons continues to inspire, excite and be experienced by generations to come.
