Yesteryear Collection - 1930 Bentley 4½ litre

In 1928 "Tim" Birkin one of the "Bentley Boys" thought of super charging the 4½ lt. Bentley. Birkin obtained the financial backing from the Hon. Dorothy Paget and despite W.O. Bentley's disapproval, four supercharged cars were built in 1929.
Birkin convinced Woolf Barnato, a major shareholder of Bentley Motors, to enter the 4½ supercharged car in the 1930 Le Mans. Birkin set a lap record of 6 mins 48 secs. a speed of 89.696 mph (144.32 kmp) on the 10.153 mile (16.33 km) circuit. It did not finish, but its speed in the earlier hours of the race helped Bentley to bear off the challenge of the 7lt. Mercedes Benz.
Due to its power and charisma the 4½ lt. S/C Bentley has become the epitome of the British sports car.

The Bentley 4½ Liter is a sports car from the British car brand Bentley. The car won the 24 Hours Le Mans in 1928. A total of 720 of these cars were built, 55 of which had a supercharger.
Today, this original Birkin Blower Bentley can be seen in the National Motor Museum (originally the Montagu Motor Museum), and still has a maximum speed of over 120 m.p.h. with acceleration to match.

The (Y2-4) 1930 4½ Litre Bentley was introduced in 1985 and was the first model to test a new type nylon compound on the mudguards (fenders).

Variations/Rarities: All issues have black tonneau.
First releases were in dark green and some of these have either riveted or press fit axles with a chromed plastic grille, headlights and windscreen frame.
The sides sported union jack decals with brown or light brown interior and bonnet straps. The steering wheel and tyres were black plastic.
* The next recolour was to a dark blue. It was first released in the USA as one of the "Great Motor Cars of the Century" promotion. These were issued in the P-type plain white box. These early blue models were released without threaded screw holes and are difficult to find.
The radiator shell was brass and now sported a '7' on a black front grille but factory errors resulted in some dark blue models not having the white '7'. These are negative variations.
Production was then moved to China where another dark blue version was issued followed by the last colour run which was in a Burgundy colour and the baseplate inscription now stated 'Made in China' instead of Macau.

Total production of the lighter green Bentley (Macau) was 5 079 and the dark blue Bentley was 24 444.

Unsold stock from the 1991 (Issues 8 & 9) production run was included in the "Grand Classics Collection" promotion launched in 1994 by Matchbox Collectibles.

Chinese-six: In 1991 a short run of the blue Bentley (Issue 10) was made at the new factory in China as one of the "Chinese six".


Dark green body & chassis; sporting Union Jack	Dark blue body & chassis	Burgandy body & chassis	With threaded screw hole	* P-type plain white box & without threaded screw hole

Information as from "The Yesteryear Book 1956-2002"
Issue	Year of Release	Colour	Tonneau	Dasboard	Seats	Bonnet Straps	Steering Wheel	Plated Parts	Mudguards	Radiator Shell	Grille	Union Flag	White 7	Threaded Screw Hole	Wheels	Axles	Baseplate	Rarity	Box
1	1985	Dark green body and chassis	Black	Mid brown	Mid brown	Mid brown	Black	Chrome	Dark muddy green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Dark green 24 spoke	Riveted	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
2		Dark green body and chassis	Black	Mid brown	Mid brown	Mid brown	Black	Chrome	Dark green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Dark green 24 spoke	Riveted	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
3		Dark green body and chassis	Black	Light brown	Light brown	Light brown	Black	Chrome	Dark green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Dark green 24 spoke	Riveted	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
4	1988	Lighter green body and chassis	Black	Light brown	Light brown	Light brown	Black	Chrome	Dark muddy green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Light green 24 spoke	Riveted	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU	R	J1
5		Lighter green body and chassis	Black	Light brown	Light brown	Light brown	Black	Chrome	Dark muddy green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Light green 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU	D	J1
6		Lighter green body and chassis	Black	Light brown	Light brown	Light brown	Black	Chrome	Dark green	Chrome	Chrome	Yes	No	No	Light green 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU	D	J1
7	1989	Dark blue body and chassis	Black	Black	Black	Black	Tan, black spokes	Chrome	Dark blue	Brass	Gloss black	Yes	Yes	No	Dark blue 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU	S	P
8	1990	Dark blue body and chassis	Black	Black	Black	Black	Olive green, black spokes	Chrome	Dark blue	Brass	Gloss black	Yes	Yes	Yes	Dark blue 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU		N
9		Dark blue body and chassis	Black	Black	Black	Black	Tan, black spokes	Chrome	Dark blue	Brass	Gloss black	Yes	Yes	Yes	Dark blue 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 MACAU		N
10	1991	Dark blue body and chassis	Black	Black	Black	Black	Tan, black spokes	Chrome	Dark blue	Brass	Gloss black	Yes	Yes	Yes	Dark blue 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 CHINA	S	N2 (J2)
11	1991	Burgandy body and chassis	Black	Black	Mid brown	Black	Tan, black spokes	Chrome	Black	Chrome	Gloss black	No	No	Yes	Chrome 24 spoke	Press fit	MATCHBOX © 1985 CHINA		N1
Rarity: D - Difficult; S - Scarce; R - Rare; VR - Very Rare; ER - Extremely Rare
Box: J - Red 'Made in England' with clear panel; J1 - Red 'Made in Macau' with clear panel; J2 - Red 'Made in China' with clear panel; N - Red 'Made in Macau' with card diorama; N1 - Red 'Made in China' with card diorama; N2 - Red 'Made in China' with card diorama and with 'Matchbox Collectibles' details; P - White with black printing only