A little history
Bentley’s very first model had been the 3-litre, but in 1926 two new cars, even more ambitious, followed. They were the 4½-litre, which promised high performance, and the huge 6½-litre, which put Bentley in the same league as Rolls-Royce, no less. Both raced, and made Bentley the company to beat during the Twenties, should it be at Brooklands or at Le Mans. This brought a performance-oriented variant to each of them: for the 6½-litre, it was called the Speed Six and appeared in 1928, while the 4½-litre saw a Supercharged version (the famous Bentley “Blower”) introduced during the following year.
Racing also created the legend of the Bentley Boys, a group of young and rich gentlemen-drivers who were so dedicated to the brand that when it felt in dire straits, they all dipped into their personal fortunes in order to save it. But ultimately even the most deeply involved of the Bentley Boys, Woolf Barnato, didn’t succeed in avoiding Bentley’s bankruptcy despite the huge amounts he poured into its coffers. In 1931, Bentley was sold to Rolls-Royce, and for almost seventy years thereafter lost most of its autonomy and retired from racing.
About the models
Model: Bentley Speed Six Sportsman Coupé, body by Gurney Nutting
Year: 1930
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.8 of its Voitures Classiques press series
Acquired: brand new, in August 2006, in Souillac, France
Often erroneously called the “Blue Train Special”, this spectacular one-off automobile has been wonderfully reproduced by Ixo. Praises should be given to Altaya to have proposed the great series of pre-war classics of which this model is a part. My rating is 15/20.
Model: Bentley Speed Six “Old Number 1”
Year: 1930
Event: 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.31 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2004, in Souillac, France
In 1930, Bentley closed a series of four straight wins at Le Mans with this car, while another Speed Six finished second ahead of two Talbots – a British triumph! Ixo’s model is good enough, though it’s unclear what the Chinese brand wanted to do regarding the car’s headlights. Correct enough though to be awarded a 12/20.
Bentley’s very first model had been the 3-litre, but in 1926 two new cars, even more ambitious, followed. They were the 4½-litre, which promised high performance, and the huge 6½-litre, which put Bentley in the same league as Rolls-Royce, no less. Both raced, and made Bentley the company to beat during the Twenties, should it be at Brooklands or at Le Mans. This brought a performance-oriented variant to each of them: for the 6½-litre, it was called the Speed Six and appeared in 1928, while the 4½-litre saw a Supercharged version (the famous Bentley “Blower”) introduced during the following year.
Racing also created the legend of the Bentley Boys, a group of young and rich gentlemen-drivers who were so dedicated to the brand that when it felt in dire straits, they all dipped into their personal fortunes in order to save it. But ultimately even the most deeply involved of the Bentley Boys, Woolf Barnato, didn’t succeed in avoiding Bentley’s bankruptcy despite the huge amounts he poured into its coffers. In 1931, Bentley was sold to Rolls-Royce, and for almost seventy years thereafter lost most of its autonomy and retired from racing.
About the models
Model: Bentley Speed Six Sportsman Coupé, body by Gurney Nutting
Year: 1930
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.8 of its Voitures Classiques press series
Acquired: brand new, in August 2006, in Souillac, France
Often erroneously called the “Blue Train Special”, this spectacular one-off automobile has been wonderfully reproduced by Ixo. Praises should be given to Altaya to have proposed the great series of pre-war classics of which this model is a part. My rating is 15/20.
Model: Bentley Speed Six “Old Number 1”
Year: 1930
Event: 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.31 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2004, in Souillac, France
In 1930, Bentley closed a series of four straight wins at Le Mans with this car, while another Speed Six finished second ahead of two Talbots – a British triumph! Ixo’s model is good enough, though it’s unclear what the Chinese brand wanted to do regarding the car’s headlights. Correct enough though to be awarded a 12/20.
5 comments:
i love these pre war oldies, specially that bentley speed six, great cars once again sir Laurent! :-)
Thanks again JD for your comment and for visiting this blog so regularly.
Unfortunately pre-war cars are so rare in 1/43! I suppose a narrower potential market (this Altaya series has only been released in France, a project to distribute it in Spain failed after it was realized most collectors there, particularly the younger ones, had no interest for this type of cars), and furthermore a steeper cost than post-war cars due to higher complexity (separate fenders and headlights, radiator mascot, spoke or wire wheels, etc.) turn many a major die-cast manufacturer away from these models.
A correction to what I just wrote: the information I had about the classic cars series from Altaya being cancelled in Spain was wrong; in the worse case it was only postponed. So after all, there were enough collectors in Spain interested in these dinosaurs to justify this series - I can only rejoice!
good to hear that it was only postponed, good luck on the next hunt! :-)
Though I don't have the list of the Spanish release, I suppose that actually Altaya made it up from the very same fifty cars that it did in France. As I never missed any model of this, I'm afraid that the Spanish series won't bring me any new die-cast...
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