Photo: Bentley / edited
In the past decade or so, British automakers rolled out a plethora of continuation vehicles. The Jaguar C-Type and Goldfinger-spec Aston Martin DB5 come to mind. Bentley embarked on its first continuation project – the Blower Continuation – in 2020 with Mulliner's help.
Two years later, the British marque announced yet another project in the guise of the Speed Six Continuation. The first example of the breed – lovingly dubbed Car Zero – will premiere in the flesh at Goodwood this week. It's the first Speed Six in 93 years, and Car Zero is as close to the original as possible.
How did the Volkswagen Group-owned automaker manage to create such a faithful copy of a car that's been discontinued in 1930? As it happens, Bentley had two references in the form of GU409 and Old Number 3.
GU409 is a tourer-bodied Le Mans racecar finished in British Racing Green. Bearing chassis number KR2682, this fellow is an important entry in Bentley's heritage collection. Old Number 3 is the nickname given to chassis number HM2868, which features registration number GF8507. That being said, Bentley had cataloged and scanned pretty much every component to build a digital model for the continuation series.
Customer deliveries will have to wait until the summer of 2024, though, because the continuation model still needs real-world mileage accumulation and race simulations before it receives the green light for production. Each car takes about 10 months to complete, and Bentley estimates that chassis number one will start production sometime this October. In other words, the first delivery is due in June 2024.
Car Zero will be "displayed" at Goodwood, according to the release below. This wording is a confirmation that Car Zero won't race up the hill, which is a bit of a bummer. Nobody in their right mind would laugh at Bentley if a mechanical failure were to occur at the Festival of Speed. Also, said failure would also help Bentley improve the continuation model's design.
A high-performance version of the 6½ Litre, of which only 362 were produced as opposed to 182 for the Speed Six, the sporty one is Bentley's most successful racecar to date. Walter Owen Bentley is credited with designing both, and both versions originally came as rolling chassis rather than factory-bodied cars. That was a thing back in the 1920s, although the likes of the Model T and Beetle spelled the end of automotive coachbuilders.
More than 600 new parts go into the Speed Six Continuation's engine, a 6.5L inline-six lump that originally developed 147 horsepower in combination with a five-jet carb from Smiths in the 6½ Litre. Back in 1928, the Speed Six rocked 180 horsepower due to a pair of SU carburetors. Other differences include a higher compression ratio and a hi-po camshaft. The racing version developed 200 horsepower, whereas the newly built engine for the continuation car has 205.
Only 12 examples will ever be made in addition to Car Zero, with all of them already spoken for. Each one carries a starting price of £1.5 million, which converts to $1,950,000 at current exchange rates.
How did the Volkswagen Group-owned automaker manage to create such a faithful copy of a car that's been discontinued in 1930? As it happens, Bentley had two references in the form of GU409 and Old Number 3.
GU409 is a tourer-bodied Le Mans racecar finished in British Racing Green. Bearing chassis number KR2682, this fellow is an important entry in Bentley's heritage collection. Old Number 3 is the nickname given to chassis number HM2868, which features registration number GF8507. That being said, Bentley had cataloged and scanned pretty much every component to build a digital model for the continuation series.
Customer deliveries will have to wait until the summer of 2024, though, because the continuation model still needs real-world mileage accumulation and race simulations before it receives the green light for production. Each car takes about 10 months to complete, and Bentley estimates that chassis number one will start production sometime this October. In other words, the first delivery is due in June 2024.
Car Zero will be "displayed" at Goodwood, according to the release below. This wording is a confirmation that Car Zero won't race up the hill, which is a bit of a bummer. Nobody in their right mind would laugh at Bentley if a mechanical failure were to occur at the Festival of Speed. Also, said failure would also help Bentley improve the continuation model's design.
A high-performance version of the 6½ Litre, of which only 362 were produced as opposed to 182 for the Speed Six, the sporty one is Bentley's most successful racecar to date. Walter Owen Bentley is credited with designing both, and both versions originally came as rolling chassis rather than factory-bodied cars. That was a thing back in the 1920s, although the likes of the Model T and Beetle spelled the end of automotive coachbuilders.
More than 600 new parts go into the Speed Six Continuation's engine, a 6.5L inline-six lump that originally developed 147 horsepower in combination with a five-jet carb from Smiths in the 6½ Litre. Back in 1928, the Speed Six rocked 180 horsepower due to a pair of SU carburetors. Other differences include a higher compression ratio and a hi-po camshaft. The racing version developed 200 horsepower, whereas the newly built engine for the continuation car has 205.
Only 12 examples will ever be made in addition to Car Zero, with all of them already spoken for. Each one carries a starting price of £1.5 million, which converts to $1,950,000 at current exchange rates.
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