Vintage Bentley sets auction record

When you hear Bentley, you probably think hundreds of thousands of dollars and sublime luxury. But this car is different. The four-and-a-half liter Bentley racing legend from 1929 has set an auction record, having fetched $7.9 million.

The vintage Bentley ‘Blower’ belonged to a British racing driver of the 1920s Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin. In the past this vehicle was a very powerful one-seat racing car. It was sold at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed sale on Friday.

This ‘Blower’ is known to have set another record in the past. In 1932 Birkin used the car to set a new speed record at UK’s Brooklands circuit. He managed to clock 222 kilometers per hour.


"The Birkin single-seater Bentley was, in effect, the Concorde of its time, the fastest car around the high Brooklands bankings,” Bonhams historian Doug Nye said. “It was driven by a great British hero in Sir Henry Birkin and was the most glamorous racing car of the era."

The car was auctioned as a part of watchmaker George Daniels’ collection. Other lots on sale included another Birkin car – a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Long Chassis Touring Spider, which sold for almost $4 million.