Bentley Blower Junior is retro, road-legal EV for £90,000

Bentley and miniature vehicle specialist The Little Car Company (LCC) have partnered to create an 85%-scale electric replica of the fabled Bentley Blower from 1929 – which will be sold as a road-legal, ultra-luxurious rival to the Citroën Ami.

The Blower ‘Junior’ has been developed by LCC with full technical support from Bentley, and is the first road-legal car to be produced by the Bicester-based firm.

It has been developed with extensive access to Bentley’s heritage fleet Blower Team Car No 2, and an initial run of 99 First Edition cars will be specified to match that model, with the same colour scheme, Union flag motifs, doorplates and other details.

While the original Blower, which competed at Le Mans in 1930, uses a 4.5-litre supercharged engine producing 240bhp, the Blower Jr uses a more humble rear-mounted 48V electric motor producing 20bhp.

It is classified as an L7e quadricycle, allowing for a top speed of 45mph in the UK, and it will have a range of around 65 miles. The machine is built in two sections, with the lightweight rear using carbonfibre in place of the ash wood of the original. The batteries and electronics are mounted in an undertray.

The LCC Blower is 3700mm long – making it around the same length as a Hyundai i10 – and 1500mm wide. LCC commercial chief Duncan Grey said the 85% scale was chosen for usability: “The aim was to make a true mini-Blower. It’s not an exact replica, but we wanted to create something that could be used everyday.”

As with the original Blower, the Junior version is a two-seater, although due to the size it adopts a tandem layout with the passenger behind the driver. Concessions to road-legality include Brembo disc brakes, modern seat belts, indicators and lights.

The cockpit and dashboard are closely modelled on the original, although the fuel pressure pump is now the drive mode selector, and the gear selector is based on the original’s ignition advance control.

In another modern concession, the Blower Jr features a USB charging port and a dual-function display with a built-in Garmin sat nav and reversing camera.

The Blower Jr First Edition will launch in 2024, priced at £90,000 excluding VAT and shipping. That is substantially more than the £7695 Ami, although it does significantly undercut the likely cost of buying an original Blower: Bentley’s is currently insured for £25 million.