Villiers Superchargers

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A new publishing venture, Motormedia Publications, The Studio, Cleremont Avenue, Esher, Surrey, run by Eoin Young and Charles Pocklington, has issued a facsimile of a booklet prepared by Amherst Villiers for distribution at the 1929 Olympia Show. It deals with his superchargers and the story goes that he wrapped up the copies, took them to Olympia, went to the Bentley stand, discovered that his nameplate did not appear on the blower casing of the supercharged 4,1/2-litre, walked out of the Show, and never distributed these booklets. If this be true and not legend none of you will have seen the pamphlet, which contains much interesting information about Villiers Roots blowers in general and their application to the 4.1/2-litre Bentley in particular. I confess I learnt new items about the subject from this booklet, notably that when Villiers supercharged a Phantom Rolls-Royce he drove the blower with a separate engine which was not an adapted Austin 7 unit as contemporary reports had it, but his own 625-c.c. o.h.c. power unit of advanced design. The mods. to the R-R engine are also detailed. The softcover book also deals with the Mays’ Brescia Bugattis tuned by Villiers and the Villiers Vauxhall Supercharged Special, so is good value for 0.70. There is a contemporary profile of Villiers, and pictures of the internal components of the blower-4.1/2 Bentley engine which will interest the BDC.—W.B.