Bentley and its Mulliner division have begun producing the 12 Speed Six cars scheduled for production as part of the previously announced Continuation series. Here are some photos showing how the car’s engine, chassis and bodywork were made by hand.

The original Speed Six was released in the late 1920s and proceeded to attain a legendary status in the company’s lineup. Fast-forward a century, and Bentley decided to produce another dozen of these cars for collectors. They have already been sold out via preorders.

Like its ancestor, the modern Speed Six is being made based on the original blueprints and technologies from more than nine decades ago. To maximize the historical semblance, the project team turned for help to British restoration shops and vintage car specialists. The metal chassis, the wooden body frame and the retro headlamps have all been supplied by different companies.

As for the 6.5-liter, six-cylinder engine under the hood, it required fabricating over 600 new components from scratch. The original Speed Six boasted a rather sophisticated powertrain design by the standards of the time and delivered roughly 200 horsepower to the wheels. Its modern counterpart yielded 205 PS (202 hp / 152 kW) on the dyno. Bentley commented that using modern materials would let the engineers raise the output considerably, but the emphasis was on keeping it as authentic and period-correct as possible.

The Bentley Speed Six was produced from 1928 until 1930. It scored two victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and made a name for itself as it competed with the Blue Train in France. The locomotive raced the car piloted by Woolf Barnato, Bentley General Manager himself, from Cannes to Calais.

The Continuation Project was announced in the summer of 2022. The production only began now because the company needed time to decide on the technologies to use, as well as to build a prototype and test it. The so-called Car Zero (see video) underwent 40 hours of continuous engine tests and 10,000 km (6,213 miles) of road tests before the series was greenlit into production. It was also tested for the top speed and was able to hit a remarkable 293 km/h (182 mph).