Hello everyone, and welcome to this month’s edition of Right Car. This year, as you can tell from the title, is the 100th anniversary of Bentley. In this month’s edition, I will talk you through all the significant events that have happened to bentley during the last 100 years. Also, I appologise for not posting last month, I was very busy studying for my end of year exams, but now that they are over, I will be going back to monthly posts. Also, any cars that I mention I will put a picture of at the bottom of the post.
Bentley was founded in 1919 by 2 brothers, Walter Owen Bentley and Horace Millner Bentley, in Cricklewood, North London. After registering the company in August of 1919, The Walter Owen Bentley, or W.O as he was better known, built a chassis with a dummy engine to exhibit at the 1919 London Motor Show in October of that year. Using his connections with the Royal Flying Corps, he was able to have an engine designed, built and running by that December. First deliveries were planned to take place in June 1920, but due to development issues, first deliveries took place about a year later in September of 1921. Soon after deliveries, Bentley’s became widely acclaimed for their durability.
Bentley’s racing pedigree started out in the 1922 Indie 500 when they entered a modified car driven by Douglas Hawkes, accompanied by mechanic H.S Brownie. Over this 500 mile (800 km) race, Douglas gained 6 places, starting 19th on the grid and finishing in 13th with an average speed of 75 mph (121 km/h). After this race, Bentley experienced a huge am0unt of success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning 5 races over 7 years. Their first win in 1924 was in the hands of John Duff and Frank Clement in a Bentley 3-Litre. Then, from 1927 to 1930, Bentley won all 4 24 Hours of Le Mans races. The 1927 win was in a Bentley 3-Litre, the 1928 win in a Bentley 4 1/2 Litre and the wins in 1929 and 1930 were in Bentley Speed Sixes. After this race, Bentley announced they would stop racing as they had learnt enough about speed and reliability.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression bought demand for the expensive Bentley’s to an almost complete standstill. This lack of demand resulted in niether the company or the guarantor being able to pay the 2 mortage payments owed in June 1931. This resulted in them being acquired by Rolls-Royce on 10th June 1931. When Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley, they did many things. These things included trademarking the winged B on behalf of Bentley and selling the Cricklewood Assembly Plant. Bentley also stopped production for 2 years until 1934 while they transfered all their resources and machinery into Rolls-Royce’s Derby facility. They also confirmed that they would be continuing to race under financial support of Rolls-Royce. W.O Bentley was unhappy with the role he was given in Rolls-Royce so when he contract ended at the end of April 1935, He left Bentley for Lagonda, the luxury subdivision of Aston Martin.
The cars that Bentley produced under the ruling of Rolls-Royce from 1931 until 1998 were either sporty versions of Rolls-Royce’s, like the Bentley 3 1/2 Litre, or shared chassis parts with Rolls-Royces. In fact, the Bentley 3 1/2 Litre was marketed as “the silent sports car”. The fact that this slogan was used until the 1950’s shows the uncanny similarities between Bentley’s and Rolls-Royce’s over 30 years.
From the 1950’s till 1998 and in a new assembly plant, Rolls-Royce started producing Bentleys that looking completly different to the cars Rolls-Royce were making. These cars include the original Bentley Continental, built between the 1950’s and 1960’s and the Bentley R-Type. Under the Leadership of Vickers from the 1980’s till 1998, Bentley sales had taken a turn for the worst. To combat this, Bentley turned back to their roots and made a high performance, four door called the Mulsanne. Over 30 years of Mulsanne production, their have been at least a dozen different variations but the essence has remained the same. During the 80’s and 90’s, Bentley also made another version of the Continental that took the Right-hand drive market by storm.
In 1998, Bentley was acquired by the Volkswagen group and have been producing the same models of cars for 20 years. The Mulsanne lives on after 30 years, the spirit of the Continental of the 1950’s and 60’s still lives on after originally taking the grand-touring car market by storm over 60 years ago and they have produced something never seen before in Bentley Assembly plants. This has come in the form of an ultra-luxury SUV, called the Bentayga.
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Such beautiful cars with a long and interesting history. I loved reading all about the Bentley.
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