Detour #253: A Capital Run Around W.O. Bentley’s London, UK
Photo Simon Thompson / The Little Car Company
What better way to explore bentley’s london history than in a modern interpretation of his most famous model?
For most of its 100-plus years Bentley Motors has been based at Crewe in Cheshire, but the journey actually began in Marylebone. At 48 New Street Mews, to be precise.
It was here, on 10 July 1919, that Walter Owen Bentley founded his fledgling car company using the £8,000 he received from the Commission of Awards to Inventors to recognise his contribution to the war effort. Bentley was also awarded an MBE thanks to his development of the BR. 1 rotary engine fitted to the Sopwith Camel.
Before the year was out the mews (known as Chagford Street since 1929) had produced its first chassis, exhibited it at the London Motor Show, and got its innovative four-valves-per-cylinder engine running – an occasion marked on the wall of number 48 with a blue plaque.
The Bentley that’s currently occupying this cobbled street has no engine at all. At least not a combustion one. Instead it’s electric, and in another first for the British marque, it’s also the only Bentley to have been built outside the company’s own factories. Instead it’s assembled by the Little Car Company in Bicester – and, as the name suggests, it’s a little smaller than usual. In fact it’s 85 per cent of the size of the car it was modelled on: the famous Blower. A replica of Team Car number two from 1929, this £100,000 Blower Bentley Junior is made using many of the same materials as the original, including a special fabric for the car’s skin and hand-formed aluminium for the long bonnet and cycle wings.
It differs by having tandem seating for two and a charge socket instead of a supercharger, but is otherwise near perfect. And being electric and exempt from both ULEZ and Congestion Charges, it means that it’s ideal for a trip to trace W.O.’s own journey in the city.
To be chronologically correct the first stop should be Cricklewood where Bentley moved production in 1920 and stayed until 1932. However, since the corner of Oxgate Land and Edgware Road is now just a nondescript industrial estate, I elect to save the battery and stick to central London.
Driving the Blower in mid-morning stop-start traffic is a cinch as it’s automatic, and almost silent. Even though it takes a good half-hour to travel the paltry 1.5 miles to Berkeley Square the time passes quickly, as every red traffic light is a chance to chat with fellow road users or have a photo taken. Never have I driven a car that attracts so much attention, and all of it positive.
The square at the centre of Mayfair is home to Jack Barclay, the oldest Bentley dealership in the world. Barclay actually started out selling and racing Vauxhalls but after beating Bentley Boy Woolf Barnato at Brooklands he switched allegiance and began selling Bentleys in 1927. These days Jack Barclay is part of the HR Owen group and, next to the Bentley showroom are both Bugatti and Ferrari. As it happens you can buy Little Car Company versions of both of these as well.
My final destination is the scene of one of the most extraordinary celebrations in Bentley’s history. The route takes me through the heart of the West End, ticking off landmarks along the way: Picadilly, St James St, Pall Mall and the RAC Club, before I reach the Strand. It was here in 1927 that The Autocar hosted an 11-course feast for Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis who had just won the Le Mans 24-hour race in their 3-litre. They subsequently drove it back to London where it was taken apart to fit through the doors of the Savoy hotel, then rebuilt inside to form the centrepiece of the party.
In theory this whole drive should take less than 24 minutes, but the capital’s traffic always has other ideas and a bicycle might well be the most practical way to follow the route. A Blower Bentley Junior, however, is definitely more fun.
ROADBOOK
CLASS: CITY BRAKE
NAME: W.O. Bentley’s London
ROUTE: marylebone to the STrand
COUNTRY: UK
Distance: 3 Miles
If you’re heading up the M6 this Halloween you might want to call Ghostbusters.