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Written by Ollie Marriage
To misquote Mark Twain, "buy classic cars, they ain"t making them any more". Only they are of course. Initially it was done using chassis numbers registered back in the day, but never used. When various car companies realised what good business it was, the interpretations got looser. Jaguar, Aston Martin, Alvis, Lister, Porsche are all at it. Even Ferrari is said to be considering a new run of 250 GTOs. But none is going further back to make a new car than Bentley. Over the next two years, the Crewe-based marque is going to build 12 re-creations of Sir Tim Birkin"s 4 litre "Blower". And no, they haven"t said how much each is going to cost. When you consider the significance of the car, and how much work Bentley is going to, it"s safe to say each is going to be a healthy seven figure sum. Sir Tim Birkin commissioned four original race cars, of which the most famous, UU 5872, is to be used as a template for the new cars. It"s not a car that won Le Mans in 1929 or 1930, but in an act of self-sacrifice, ensured another Bentley did win. Legend has it that Birkin harried the Mercedes SSK of Rudolf Caracciola so hard that it failed, with water pouring from the engine. He too retired and the race was won by the Speed Six of Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston.
Date written: 8 Sep 2019
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 16830
To misquote Mark Twain, "buy classic cars, they ain"t making them any more". Only they are of course. Initially it was done using chassis numbers registered back in the day, but never used. When various car companies realised what good business it was, the interpretations got looser. Jaguar, Aston Martin, Alvis, Lister, Porsche are all at it. Even Ferrari is said to be considering a new run of 250 GTOs. But none is going further back to make a new car than Bentley. Over the next two years, the Crewe-based marque is going to build 12 re-creations of Sir Tim Birkin"s 4 litre "Blower". And no, they haven"t said how much each is going to cost. When you consider the significance of the car, and how much work Bentley is going to, it"s safe to say each is going to be a healthy seven figure sum. Sir Tim Birkin commissioned four original race cars, of which the most famous, UU 5872, is to be used as a template for the new cars. It"s not a car that won Le Mans in 1929 or 1930, but in an act of self-sacrifice, ensured another Bentley did win. Legend has it that Birkin harried the Mercedes SSK of Rudolf Caracciola so hard that it failed, with water pouring from the engine. He too retired and the race was won by the Speed Six of Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston.
Date written: 8 Sep 2019
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 16830
