Bentley Speed Six rides again – 12 to be built
The first continuation model of Bentley’s Speed Six has been delivered
This is the first new customer Speed Six for 94 years. Twelve will be built in total. The handcrafted Continuation Series cars are in 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours condition – inside and out
Bentley
Car of the month – Bentley speed six
That Bentley looks familiar…
Yes, well, it has been gracing the pages of Motor Sport for almost as long as the magazine has been published. It is the grand old marque’s Speed Six, first introduced in 1928 and the winner of the 1929 and 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours. In fact the original model is regarded as one of Bentley’s most important cars and remains its most successful racing car. This, though, is a brand new version of that original – a Continuation Series that Bentley is making.
Rust leather seats
So is it new or old?
A bit of both but mainly new. Although based on original blueprints of the Speed Six, the Continuation Series cars are crafted by hand from scratch, each taking eight months to complete. Bentley is keen to stress that attention to detail is the watchword here: Mulliner craftsmen have been tasked with ensuring absolute accuracy to the original.
In the cockpit, for example, every gauge, switch and control is exactly as per the specification of the Speed Sixes that raced at Le Mans in 1930. To create the exterior Parsons Napier Green the Mulliner Classic team visited the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, to verify the five authentic period Parsons Paints that are available to customers.
6½-litre race-spec engine
Bentley
What about the engine?
Over 600 individual new parts, including a new engine block casting, were made for the new 6½-litre race spec engine, which at the time developed 200bhp. Dyno testing has shown the Continuation Series engines to develop 205bhp; Bentley says it could have been more powerful but that the brief was “to create a Bentley exactly as it would have looked and performed in 1930”.
Authentic to the last detail
Can I buy one?
No, all 12 have already been sold. The first customer Continuation Series has just been delivered to its new owner – existing Mulliner client John Breslow, who is based in the US. Bentley rather neatly has claimed that this period-perfect Continuation car represents the first delivery of a new Speed Six for 94 years. Each will cost £1.5m.