Bentley Speed Six

Information

Bentley 6½-Liter Mulliner Saloon Blue Train Special
This car was delivered new to Bentley Motors Chairman Woolf Barnato in June of 1929. This H. J. Mulliner bodied Speed Six saloon was a favorite of Barnato's and is intimately connected to the famous Blue Train story.
In March 1930, Barnato bet he could beat the Blue Train from Cannes to Calais. He was victorious and gained much acclaim for navigating this demanding route so quickly. Being a spontaneous event there was no press coverage, thus leaving the exact Speed Six Barnato drove unknown until April 1967 when an article crowned a Gurney Nutting Speed Six, chassis HM2855 as the car used. By 1980 HM2855 had become known as the 'Blue Train Bentley'. This was accepted as fact until 1999 when noted expert Clare Hay discovered that HM2855 had not been completed by the time of the race. Later evidence led experts to conclude that this was in fact the real 'Blue Train Bentley'. Barnato sold the car in May of 1930. Eventually the saloon body was replaced with a Le Mans touring body. The current owner acquired the car in 1999 and found the original body on a different 6.5 liter chassis. It was acquired and the original Mulliner body was reunited with the proper chassis.