The sense of flat-out fun is enhanced by the bone-shaking ride from that leaf sprung suspension and vintage-spec handling that makes every roundabout, junction and width-restricting chicane a real elbows-out affair, the light but fairly long-winded worm-and-roller steering feeling vague around the straight ahead and lacking any real self-centring.
Happily, the modern disc brakes are strong and surprisingly feelsome in their action.
Verdict
Yet none of this matters, because this car is about so much more than raw statistics and honed driving dynamics. For most of the day we rarely exceed 20mph and, well, that’s just fine. Instead we revel in the sense of occasion and, yes, the attention.
As we move past the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace the throngs of tourists turn their smartphones from the centuries-old attractions to the shrink-rayed Bentley.
Everytime you stop there’s a barrage of questions and big grins, which only get broader as you give them a blast of the car’s Toad of Toad Hall klaxon as a parting shot. As a feel-good mode of transport, the Blower is hard to beat.
Objectively of course, the LCC Bentley makes no sense. It offers meagre performance, a limited range and absolutely no protection from the weather.
And then there’s the thorny issue of price, because at £90,000 plus taxes this is one very expensive plaything – although with just 99 examples planned, exclusivity is guaranteed.
Yet anyone with the means could spend twenty times this sum on an unobtanium hypercar and not garner 10 percent of the attention or, crucially, the good will.
Wherever we went we were welcomed with open arms by pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers alike. Simply put, they love the baby Blower. And so do we.
Price: £90,000 (plus local taxes)
Motor: 48V electric motor
Transmission: 1spd reduction gear, rear-wheel drive
Power: 20bhp
Torque: 98lb ft
Drive battery: Lithium ion, 10.8kWh
Kerbweight: 550kg
0-62mph: N/A
Top speed: 45mph
Range (claimed): 65 miles