Jay Leno's Twin Turbo Bentley
Written by Keith Fudge

It is always a pleasure to visit with Jay Leno and take a walk through his garage!  Recently, Dennis had the chance to drop in on Jay.  As always, he wasn’t disappointed!  This visit was all about the legendary cars from Bentley, and Jay gave us the opportunity to see a few of these beautiful and historic vehicles.

To begin, Jay showed Dennis a Bentley Lagonda.  This car was designed by W.O. Bentley for LeMans and was produced in 1938 and 1939.  It sports a 4.4 liter, OHC V-12 engine.  Jay went on to tell Dennis a bit of Bentley history, saying that Bentley in England was a lot like Duesenberg in America in that there was great engineering within the company, but they were simply bad in business.  Jay added that a main point in the decline of both companies was the fact that they simply overbuilt their cars and made them too expensive.  Jay said that the company went on until 1931, the year that it produced an 8-liter engine that was a real dynamo!  At that time, Bentley was purchased by Rolls Royce because it was afraid of the success of the 8-liter car.  Rolls Royce was so scared that when it obtained Bentley, they destroyed the molds for the 8-liter engine.  Jay noted that Bentley produced 100 of these 8-liter marvels, and it just so happens that he has a couple of them!  One “fun” Bentley that Jay showed Dennis was what he called a “British hot rod.”  It was originally a 6.5-liter Bentley.  However, now it is an 8-lilter car as well.  The coolest car that Jay has with the Bentley name is one that he has tinkered with just a little bit.  This 1924 Bentley roadster was originally a 3-liter car, and he converted it to a 4.5-liter vehicle.  You know that Jay has so many hills around his house that he needs a bit more power, so he had an 8-liter engine installed, complete with twin turbochargers!  Several modifications were made in order for the car to handle this massive engine and to “shut her down” safely as well.  Mechanically everything except the brakes and the turbochargers is all Bentley!  Jay also restored the dash (with a bit of fabrication) and replaced the gauges…all except for the original Bentley clock that still works!  Jay said that the car took 18 months to complete and that it is really fast!  In fact, he suggested that they take it out for a drive.  First he had another surprise.  After all, it was lunchtime!  Jay took Dennis and the crew to a corner of his garage that he had renovated into a gourmet kitchen.  Jay is a great cook!  After some tasty Italian cuisine, Jay and Dennis hit the California freeways in the awesome turbo-powered Bentley.  After a while, Dennis got behind the wheel for the return trip and commented on the awesome power of this custom classic ride! 

As always, our time with Jay was more fun than ever, and we can’t wait to go back again!  That’s it from Jay’s garage.  So until our next visit, “Honor the timeless classics.  Happy Motoring!”