Birkin, Paget and the Blower Bentleys
#1
Posted 01 July 2007 - 15:44
Having experienced the speed of Rudi Carraciola in the supercharged Mercedes Benz first hand , Birkin tried in vain to persuade Walter Owen Bentley to produce a supercharged Bentley to head off this new challenge.
Bentley was very much against the idea, so Birkin decided to produce a supercharged 4 1/2 Litre racing Bentley himself. Birkin commissioned Amherst Villiers to design a 'blown' version of the car .
Birkin persuaded Barnato who by this time in 1928 was personally funding Bentley Motors to agree to supply the cars.
So Birkin took two workshops in Welwyn Garden City , Hertfordshire, in fact 19, Broadwater Road .
Well he soon found the cost of doing this was high and his father who owned a lace making business announced the firm was bankrupt in no small way due to the drain of Birkin's racing activities.
So Tim Birkin cultivated a friendship with the Hon. Dorothy Paget then 25 who was from a fabulously wealthy family spending her life following the fortunes of her many top class race horses, ( she always took two Rolls Royces to the races so that she was never mechanically embarrassed, and typically bet £ 10,000 on one of her horses to win !)
Birkin persuaded Paget to back his Bentley building activities in Welwyn garden City from 1929 to 1931, by which time of course Bentley Motors had failed financially and were taken over by Rolls Royce and in any case Paget felt she could no longer carry the burden of the operation.
30 people worked in these two factory units part of a row of a dozen or more identical ones in a row built in the 1920s.
So yesterday in 30th June 2007 I set out to see if the building were still there , all but 2 of these buildings have been removed and the area redeveloped. Miraculously whether by design or just luck no. 19 (Topps Tiles in my photo ) and its neighbour are the only survivors, the buildings where Birkin produced about 40 of the 4 1/2 litre supercharged Bentley tourers each costing around £1700 very nearly 80 years ago.
All the more strange as we went through Hatfield yesterday afternoon coming the other way was a supercharged Bentley registered GY something one of the very cars to originate in those very factory buildings , quite spooky !!
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#2
Posted 01 July 2007 - 16:02
I always believed that the Blower Bentleys were made by the works. WO said in at least one book that the investment necessary to build the 50 or so in series to qualify as a catalogue model took funding away from the expensive but profitable 8 litre and hastened the end at Cricklewood.
The Birkin & Couper works at Welwyn prepared the Birkin-Paget Team cars for racing.
#3
Posted 01 July 2007 - 16:51
DCN
#4
Posted 02 July 2007 - 06:49
Brandon Country Park which is open to the public.
#5
Posted 02 July 2007 - 08:27
However the authors made one of their classic schoolboy howlers when it came to naming the wealthy backer . . .
#6
Posted 02 July 2007 - 08:55
the Rowan Atkinson TV programme included a delightfully tongue in cheek line - Birkin is showing Lady Dorothy round the factory
"Now let me see - this one is blown?" she asks pointing at one car - then to another alongside
".. and this one isn't? And you'd like me to blow this one?"
Birkin nods enthusiastically with a suitably Terry-Thomas style leer on his face
#7
Posted 02 July 2007 - 10:54
http://ourworld.comp...cing/owners.htm
http://en.wikipedia....i/Dorothy_Paget
http://www.brookland...list/birkin.htm
http://en.wikipedia..../Blower_Bentley
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Henry_Birkin
This lovely photograph posted by Scuderia SSS from the FOS thread
This splendid picture posted by Maldwyn from the FOS thread
#8
Posted 02 July 2007 - 12:32
Originally posted by Allan Lupton
These buildings were featured in a book about British car factories published a few years ago.
However the authors made one of their classic schoolboy howlers when it came to naming the wealthy backer . . .
What did they say Allan ?
#9
Posted 03 July 2007 - 09:30
Originally posted by RTH
What did they say Allan ?
Mirabel Topham!!!!!
#10
Posted 03 July 2007 - 10:48
Originally posted by Allan Lupton
These buildings were featured in a book about British car factories published a few years ago.
Do you still have the book details Allan, wonder if anyone knows if its still available anywhere ?
#11
Posted 03 July 2007 - 11:08
Originally posted by RTH
Do you still have the book details Allan, wonder if anyone knows if its still available anywhere ?
I have one in stock Richard, title details are -
"British Car Factories From 1896 A Complete Historical Geographical Architectural & Technological Survey by Paul Collins & Michael Stratton." quite a mouthful.... published by Veloce 1993.
Despite not being very old this is now a very rare book so the one I have, which is in 'as-new' condition is £55.00 (if you check web sites thats still about £20 cheaper than anyone else....)
#13
Posted 03 July 2008 - 11:28
"Dorothy Paget - a twenty stone plus lady with an aversion to men and the richest unmarried women in Britain".
Now I'm not sure, but I take it that meant either she was not an attractive lady or she preferred to play with her own kind but I loved the fact she was commonly known as the richest unmarried woman in Britain!!
Was she involved in any other car racing activities or was it just with Bentley and Birkin?
#14
Posted 03 July 2008 - 11:52
She always took two Rolls Royces to horse race meetings .....just in case one broke down !!
So far as I know her only involvement with motor racing was with Birkin. Horse racing was her passion.
#15
Posted 04 July 2008 - 11:08
#16
Posted 04 July 2008 - 11:49
#17
Posted 22 November 2008 - 13:36
Paget did indeed prefer her own. When she greeted with a kiss her most famous horse, Golden Miller (who won a Grand National and five Cheltenham Gold Cups), in a winning circle one afternoon, the following conversation is said to have taken place:
'That must be the first time she's kissed a male'
'Yes, and he's only a gelding!'
I believe the Birkin team was the only time she invested in motor racing, but Tim did give her sufficient driving lessons that she felt competent enough to race at Brooklands as 'Miss Wyndham'. Whether she was any good or not is another thing altogether. John Bolster recalled her engaging the supercharger of her Mercedes on the start line at Shelsley Walsh, then setting off in reverse...
But her stable of cars was as impressive as her stable of horses. It was Paget who bought the world's first supercharged Rolls-Royce from its original owner, Jack Kruse. This was the Phantom I to which Amherst Villiers fitted a little engine on its near side running board to drive the blower. Birking took the heavyweight vehicle round Brooklands at a claimed 108 mph. Thus was the cast of the Birkin Blowers assembled, two years before the Blower Bentley saw the light of day...
Have you heard how, if she had to travel by train, she booked the whole coach, or bought two tickets for Wimbledon, one for her, the other for her handbag?
There was nobody quite like Dorothy Paget!
Rgds
Paul
#18
Posted 22 November 2008 - 14:32
#19
Posted 22 November 2008 - 15:05
I'm writing Amherst's biography. 'Tha Man Who Supercharged Bond' will be published by Haynes next summer.Originally posted by RTH
Fascinating Paul, where did you unearth all that ?
If you want to learn more about Paget, I can recommend Quintin Gilbey's 'Queen of the Turf', published by Arthur Barker Limited in 1973. Virtually nothing on Birkin, but a fascinating read about a remarkable woman.
Rgds
Paul
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#20
Posted 22 November 2008 - 19:42
#21
Posted 22 November 2008 - 23:04
2003 Colorado Grand, just east of Aspen.
Frank
#22
Posted 23 November 2008 - 00:12
Just out of curiosity, if they were Blowers, does anyone know how the altitude would affect the supercharger (if at all), compared to a normally aspirated engine? (Sorry, maybe we should start a thread in the Technical Forum! )Originally posted by fbarrett
Maybe not Blowers, but how often do you see four vintage Bentleys above 12,000 feet?
2003 Colorado Grand, just east of Aspen.
Frank
It's just that there's a marvellous passage in the book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', where they ride over the mountain pass between Red Lodge and Bozeman in Montana - the 'high country', the author calls it - snowfields in June - and he has to adjust the carburettors of his motorcycle to run leaner, to prevent it running too rich due to the rarified air, then vice versa when they come back down.
(That passage ends with the line, 'We move among rocks and lakes and trees now, taking beautiful turns and curves of the road.' - I expect everyone here relates to that! )
#23
Posted 23 November 2008 - 08:52
#24
Posted 23 June 2013 - 21:16
The dedication on the wreath reads, 'Tim Birkin, who gave us inspiration beyond mortality, and the dream of living a life at full throttle.'
Rgds
Paul
https://dl.dropboxus...81679360/Birkin
#25
Posted 25 June 2013 - 01:04
#26
Posted 25 June 2013 - 05:45
http://www.kidston.com
It is titled:
"The Brits Are Coming: In Birkin’s Tyre Tracks On The 2013 Mille Miglia"
Vince H.
#27
Posted 25 June 2013 - 08:18
I visited Birkin's grave many years ago, probably the mid-60s. I remember it as very overgrown and with a completely different headstone. Has it been changed?Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of Tim Birkin's untimely death. A rally marking the anniversary began with a wreath-laying ceremony at his grave at St Nicholas' Church, Blakeney.
The dedication on the wreath reads, 'Tim Birkin, who gave us inspiration beyond mortality, and the dream of living a life at full throttle.'
#28
Posted 25 June 2013 - 11:06
#29
Posted 25 June 2013 - 16:46
I can't be sure, Roger. I can tell you that the entire churchyard is well-maintained. The headstone looks of the same style as the surrounding ones, but appears to have been re-fettled. A couple of model Blowers, obscured by the wreath in the picture above, have been left there.I visited Birkin's grave many years ago, probably the mid-60s. I remember it as very overgrown and with a completely different headstone. Has it been changed?
A villager told one member of the Rally that he pops by each Saturday and 'has a little chat with Sir Henry, so he's not lonely.'
There is a small car park outside the churchyard, and cars aren't normally allowed in the churchyard itself. However, I understand the vicar is a grandson of Archie Frazer Nash, so an SSK, a Talbot and a whole phalanx of Bentleys were admitted.
Rgds
Paul
#30
Posted 25 June 2013 - 17:12
It was 1979, David, and I would love to have seen him in action.My favorite memory of the Blower Bentleys is of Phil Hill at the Monterey Historics in 1978 (?) when it was a Tribute to Bentley year. Hill was driving his own Blower-the ex Amherst Villiers car-and he just blew the rest of the field away-pun intended. He would come through the slow turn in front of the pits with the car sideways and bellowing, smoke flowing from under the bonnet-apparently from a minor oil leak. He thrashed that car! It was only a few years really since he had retired from professional racing and it showed!
He let Dan Gurney drive the Blower back to Santa Monica the next day, and Dan kindly contributed the following description of the journey to my biography of Villiers.
She had tall gears and she loped along at 100 without straining at all. I was driving an open roadster with the windshield down, and I could have been in 1930 or ’31. If ever there was a ‘King of the Road’ kind of feeling, it was in that car. It was easy, effortless, it just cantered along. It was capable of sustaining high speed motoring for a very long time. I knew she could do 130, so it was duck soup to do 100. If you had a gap to the next car which you needed to close, you could gas it at 100 and it would accelerate.
Cruising down the Pacific Coast Road at about 100, we came across a whole flock of Panteras, about nine or ten of them. I picked them off one at a time. I’m sure they couldn’t believe such an old car could blow them away. Well, we started to get hungry so we pulled into a restaurant. Gradually we were joined by the Pantera drivers and we had a talk with them. After about half an hour, the last of them showed up, and he was obviously angry. He’d been given a speeding ticket by the police. The’d asked him if he’d seen a big old green roadster going way too fast. They’d been trying to follow us for half an hour!
Rgds
Paul
#31
Posted 25 June 2013 - 19:17
DCN
#32
Posted 25 June 2013 - 22:50
Originally posted by P0wderf1nger
I'm writing Amherst's biography. 'The Man Who Supercharged Bond' will be published by Haynes next summer.....
What a shame you have to use a title to get popular coverage...
In the meantime, I'm pondering what those Pantera owners would have thought if the car had been six-wheel equipped. Undoubtedly their spare tyres were skinny little ones tucked away in some tiny corner and make their cars look like a joke on the road, not causing undue wind resistance or aesthetic disturbance.
A great story!
I wonder if she was there for the gelding process...
#33
Posted 26 June 2013 - 00:03
Gradually we were joined by the Pantera drivers and we had a talk with them. After about half an hour, the last of them showed up, and he was obviously angry. He’d been given a speeding ticket by the police. The’d asked him if he’d seen a big old green roadster going way too fast. They’d been trying to follow us for half an hour![/i]
Rgds
Paul
Thanks for sharing
#34
Posted 26 June 2013 - 07:31
#35
Posted 26 June 2013 - 09:38
Right after "Birkin"...
#36
Posted 26 June 2013 - 09:57
If only I had got popular coverage...What a shame you have to use a title to get popular coverage...
#37
Posted 03 July 2013 - 17:46
I have attached a couple of pages of photos and I hope Paul is OK with that-if not, I will remove them. Hill and Gurney with the ex-Amherst Villiers Blower on their way home after Hill's wonderful performance at the 1979 Monterey Historics--note the license plate:
And Amherst Villiers shown restoring his Blower Bentley in California. Look at that crankshaft! It must weigh 100lbs. The rods appear to be aluminium:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Edited by David Birchall, 03 July 2013 - 17:51.
#38
Posted 03 July 2013 - 19:57
ST
#39
Posted 03 July 2013 - 20:15
The car has since been re-united with its original GP21 registration and is still only on its fourth owner, John Bentley (no relation). He bought it from Phil, who bought it from Amherst.
John and Phil once co-drove it on a Mille Miglia Storica. Phil went unrecognised for some days, in leather helmet and goggles, but once the Italians identified him he was feted wherever they went. He got frustrated with the rattling windscreen on one leg, and wedged a folded-up piece of card beneath it. It’s still there.
Thanks for your kind comments about the book. If I may be excused a shameless plug, discounted copies, with a personal dedication from me, are available from my web site (see link below).
Rgds
Paul
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#40
Posted 04 July 2013 - 16:04
That’s embarrassing – the original registration was GP42, chassis number MS3937, engine number MS3942. Source, Michael Hay’s Blower Bentley (Number One Press, 2001).The car has since been re-united with its original GP21 registration
Now there is a good book.
Rgds
Paul
#41
Posted 04 July 2013 - 22:54
Did you not get my e-mail?
#42
Posted 05 July 2013 - 13:32
Apologies, Ray, I've been laid up in bed this week, and this was a prompt to check web site email.I'd rather hoped to hear by now of your book, Paul...
Did you not get my e-mail?
I've sent you an email by return.
Rgds
Paul
#43
Posted 09 August 2013 - 13:19
http://www.bbc.co.uk...mshire-23574665
#44
Posted 10 August 2013 - 07:38
I find this odd. The car was bought last September. Has the export ban only been put on it now, or has the ban only become news now?A bit of news re the Birkin single-seater; apologies if this has been reported in another thread (if so, the search function did not find it).
http://www.bbc.co.uk...mshire-23574665
Can Doug tell us more?
Rgds
Paul
#45
Posted 10 August 2013 - 08:23
I find this odd. The car was bought last September. Has the export ban only been put on it now, or has the ban only become news now?
Can Doug tell us more?
Rgds
Paul
Seems strange that they now decide to stop a single car moving to Germany when they didn't mind the company itself being sold there!
#46
Posted 04 October 2013 - 19:52
Anyone know the latest on this saga? The export bar lasts until 31st October - and can be extemded to allow an appropriate organistaion more time to raise fuunds - but I have not been aware of any UK museum making themselves known as a potential purchaser. The costs are, of course very high, although a Ferrai 250 GTO has reputedly recently been sold for $52 Million. And, then, there are the Duke of Sutherland's two Titians at £45 Milluion apiece!
The National Motor Museum (although they're currently exhibiting Sir Malcolm Campbell's 1935 Blue Bird; you would only know by checking the Press Release on their website) seems to have been silent on the subject of the Birkin Single Seater. Brooklands would probably be the only other logical "home" for this car.
#47
Posted 10 October 2013 - 19:51
Anyone know the latest on this saga? ....................
And, then, there are the Duke of Sutherland's two Titians at £45 Milluion apiece!
Someone has to say it and it might as well be me:
That is a very expensive pair of Tits.
It has gone really quiet; I've suggested to a "well-known motor-manufacturer" that they might want to off-load some of their "no longer relevant old stock" and put this one in the collection. No response so far.