by: Michael Teo Van Runkle
Many of the world’s most stunning collectible cars truly blur the line between automobile and artwork. The incredible creations from Hedley Studios, formerly known as The Little Car Company, add another component: child’s playtoy. If that seems anathema to the immaculate pictures of highly faithful recreations, bear in mind that TLCC originally launched with an homage to Ettore Bugatti’s own gift to his son Roland of a half-scale Type 35 racecar back in 1926.
TLCC then added a tiny Ferrari Testa Rossa and Aston Martin DB5 to the lineup, and these 75% scale electric cars actually rip around with impressive performance to match the impeccable build quality apparent even in minuscule form. But the more recent transition to Hedley Studios name came about because the latest model, a Bentley Blower Jnr, clocks in at 85% scale and is fully road legal in addition to a fun revival of an iconic road and racing car.
The complications of actually achieving road legality for the Blower Jnr sound intense, and also dictated many of the driving characteristics. Hedley Studios needed to navigate the unique requirements of UK and European L7E regulations, which essentially categorize the car as a quadricycle, as well as the US, where the choice between homologating as either a low-speed vehicle or a true replica caused many conundrums. The resulting Venn diagram of considerations included power output, top speed, even headlight designs and rapid tire deflation safety tests, among others.
Qualifying as a replica in the US better matches the EU’s quadricycle legislation, allowing for a top speed around 50 miles per hour. That may happen eventually, but for now, the Blower Jnr crosses the pond only as an LSV with a top speed of 25 mph for public roads. So when I hopped into a UK-prepped car at Hedley’s HQ in Bicester Motion, about an hour’s drive northwest of London, I got a taste of the full possibilities that may arrive in America eventually.
Hedley added two new buildings since I last visited Bicester, and can now boast sales of over 500 cars to 60 countries globally. The first run of 99 Blower Jnrs sold out, too, all of which will come in a quintessential British green with dark green Lustrana leather upholstery to match Bentley Mulliner’s continuation series. And remember, though the Blower Jnr is a Hedley Studios creation, the perfect hood emblem indicates these scaled-down EVs still count officially as a Bentley, too.
The next run of cars offers a broader choice of five standard color palettes: blue, green, grey, white, or red. And of course, extensive personalization options start from there, including plenty of Union Jack flags. My rich red tester stood out nicely in the low sunlight of a British winter morning – I got lucky with the weather on this day given the previous few week of rain, though in reality, the prospect of any owners driving in sub-freezing winter temps seems quite unlikely. And yet, despite the crisp arctic blast, I couldn’t help but smile the whole time.
The Blower Junior is just so fun. The open cockpit and teensy tiny windscreen might provide minimal weather protection, but I enjoyed an excellent view over the narrow hood of the tall tires spinning. All around me, drivers in modern hatchbacks turned to stare, unsure of what their eyes beheld. And even in our pastoral setting, pedestrians regularly pulled out smartphones to snap pictures as I rolled past in silence.
The 85% scale probably lends to some of the attention, given that most people probably don’t realize the actual size of an original Bentley Blower. I fit comfortably into the small chassis at six-foot-one, with the top of the seatback reaching around my mid to upper torso. The more sensitive pedestrians might have noticed the lack of a burbling internal-combustion engine, as I accelerated away from stoplights at a brisk pace. Turns out 15 kilowatts of electric power, or about 20 horsepower, serves just fine for keeping up with traffic in a 1,212-pound EV.
That’s a far cry from the prodigious 240 horsepower that an original Bentley Blower’s supercharged 4.5-liter inline-four engine cranked out back in 1929. But that marvel, for the era, also weighed nearer to 4,000 pounds. Still, I obviously kept the Blower Jr’s drive mode in Sport the whole time on public roads to unlock every last kilowatt, which provided plenty of pep on the way up to the top speed of around 50 miles per hour. Once there, the electric motor just sort of petered out, not appearing to run out of juice but rather hitting the wall of a rev limiter.
Given the narrow vintage-style tires legal for road use in the UK as an L7E, the Blower Junior even overwhelmed rear tire grip easily on such a cold morning after days of heavy rain. Luckily, the surprisingly communicative steering, unassisted yet not too heavily weighted via the thin rim, provided plenty of feel while pushing through turns. The brakes took a bit more muscle than expected, though, perhaps because Hedley Studios limits max regen via the electric motor to just 3.5 kilowatts.
Depending on driving style, the Blower Junior should manage about 50 miles of real-world range from a 10.8 kilowatt-hour battery that contributes just over 200 pounds to the total curb weight. Potentially achieving nearer to the claimed 65 miles might be manageable in stop-and-go traffic where electric motor efficiency works best. That’s plenty of distance for an afternoon cruise, or ripping around a makeshift racetrack with friends, or popping a golf bag into the backseat for a drive down to the range.
My time behind the wheel took me straight back to chasing vintage Alfa Romeos and yes, Bugattis, through the Tuscan countryside while racing in the Mille Miglia last year, as those drivers hauled through corners noticeably helping by leaning over to use as much body weight as possible, four-wheel drifting with the courage of Juan Manuel Fangio or Sterling Moss back in the early days of motor racing.
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So engaging and tactile, right down to the turn signal and gear selector switchgear or the leather hood straps, the metal handbrake lever, even the hilariously perfect horn trumpet, the Blower Junior nonetheless reveals a few hints at modernity. Namely, the little digital display with analog gauges and lights for battery state of charge and drive mode, as well as some carbon fiber visible in the underhood storage area. An internal debate about potentially releasing a carbon-fiber exterior package seems, to me at least, somewhat anathema to the whole aesthetic. Real wood grains and leathers and machined metals fit better, as on the faux hand-crank starter cover that hides a CCS charge port at the nose.
The suspension, which lacks modern shocks in favor of period-correct Andre Hartford friction-disc style dampers, could also ride slightly smoother to help drown out some of the British B roads’ famous chop. Luckily this prehistoric system allows for manual adjustment to five preset graduations with a torque wrench, which might also eliminate a few of the creaks and rattles that mostly seemed to emanate from the metal hinges of the hood panels—otherwise, some lithium spray might help, too. On mine, I might even figure out how to remove the mandated three-point seatbelt stalks and go with a lap belt only. Dubious legality aside, how many cops will want to write a ticket rather than asking for a ride?
Hedley Studios limited the Blower Jnr to just 349 units, with at least that first run of 99 confirmed as already sold out. Figure anyone who owns a real Bentley Blower needs one, plus the 12 lucky buyers of Bentley’s Continuation Series announced back in 2019 – each of which reportedly cost $2 million, rendering the Blower Jnr’s roughly $121,000 starting price something of a pittance.
For anyone else on the fence wondering about this project, rest assured the Blower Jnr far exceeds driving expectations, effectively toeing a fine line between car, toy, and art piece while equally at home on the road, in the backyard, or on display in the living room.
Images: Michael Teo Van Runkle
