A famous 1930s Bentley is being sold for €500,000, but it's not real (18 photos)
The Bentley Blue Train is up for auction at RM Sotheby's. This car is associated with one of the most remarkable episodes in the brand's history in the first half of the last century—a race between a car and a luxury train. The rarity is expected to fetch up to €500,000, but it's a replica. The original Blue Train is in a private collection, so other fans of the brand must make do with the few replicas built by Racing Green Engineering. 
The Blue Train was the name given to a Bentley Speed Six with a custom body by Gurney Nutting in the 1930s, owned by Woolf Barnato, the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and then-CEO of the company. It was named after the luxury passenger express train Le Train Bleu, which Barnato once overtook on the route from Cannes to Calais, reaching not only Calais but also London.
The replica was built in 2018 and meticulously reproduces the design of the original Blue Train, using contemporary technology. It is based on the more recent Bentley Mark IV chassis and is equipped with a 5.7-liter inline-eight with four carburetors—one of the engines offered for this model.
The Blue Train was built for an American collector, who sold the rarity to its current owner in Germany in 2020. The road-legal vintage car has covered less than 3,000 kilometers. 
