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Ask anyone what a 1934 Bentley looks
like and you're likely to get a variety of answers.
Perhaps the irony of this is that they
all left the Derby factory in almost identical guise: That would be
as a chassis form with just the bonnet and radiator attached.
From there it was off to a body builder
who would complete the body to the customer's requirements. About 50 per cent of the cars went to
Park Ward coach builders to have sporty
saloon or, more rarely, drop head coupe bodies fitted. Which is where out featured car fits
in. It's a magnificent 1934 Bentley fitted
with a Park Ward drop head coupe body.
There were 2422 Bentleys produced
between 1933 and 1939 and they are all known as the `Derby Bentley's'
after the Rolls-Royce factory in which they were built. Bentley has a
proud tradition of producing elegant, yet extremely fast luxury cars.
Think of them as a Rolls-Royce on steroids.
The company was formed in 1912 when
W.O. Bentley and his brother H.M. Purchased the French auto maker,
Lecoq and Fernie. They re-named it Bentley and Bentley, with
headquarters where else but Mayfair.
In 1919 after manufacturing aircraft
engines for WW1 the firm was renamed Bentley Motors. They produced
their first production car in 1921 which boasted the famous Flying B
bonnet emblem.
That year saw Bentley get it's first
win at Brooklands. Throughout the 1920's Bentley engines grew larger
and larger. A 4.5 litre, a 6.5 litre, a supercharged Speed Six and an
8 litre which weighed 2.5 tonnes came out of the Cricklewood factory.
Bentley insisted on quality and
beautiful cars. This guaranteed two things. Magnificent automobiles
and insolvency. By 1931 Rolls-Royce bought the company and two years
later the first product was introduced. In reality it was a sporting
variant of the Rolls-Royce 20/25 on a shorter chassis.
It used a more powerful variant of the
Rolls-Royce six cylinder engine using a crossflow cylinder head and
cam shaft, twin SU carburettors and twin fuel pumps. The engine
was linked to a four speed transmission. It was advertised as the
`Silent Sportscar' in reference to the car's refinement. In 1935 W.O.
Bentley left the firm to go to Lagonda. In 1939 the Bentley factory
at Crewe opened. The relationship between
Rolls-Royce and Bentley was at best stormy. Somehow it lasted 67
years, but it was far from a happy marriage.
For years Rolls-Royce and Bentley were
built side-by-side at Crewe and for every Roller there was Bentley
clone. The reality of this was that Bentley lost it's identity. It was a far cry from the manufacturer
that won Le Mans in 1924 then took four successive top podium
finishes between 1927-1930. Bentley's turn-around came in 1982 with
the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo, named after the straight at Le
Mans. Two years later the Bentley Corniche was renamed the
Continental, once again looking at Bentley's heritage. In 1995
Rolls-Royce entered into a deal with BMW for engine supply for both
Rolls and Bentley.
Volkswagen bought Rolls-Royce in 1998
in a deal than included Bentley, but in
2002 BMW bought the Rolls-Royce name. This meant at last Bentley was
on its own. VW has since invested a small fortune in Bentley which
has to a great extent returned to its roots as a maker of
high-quality, high-performance marques.
The 1934 car pictured may have been
built by Rolls-Royce, but the coachwork gives some idea to
traditional Bentley quality. The car was purchased by an English
gentleman as a wedding gift for his daughter, who married a naval
officer. After the war the family moved to
the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and the car was later sold. In 1990
it started a 10 year ground-up restoration and still features the
original Park Ward body.
Park Ward was purchased by Rolls-Royce
just prior to World War 2, and later merged with another top coach
builder, H.J. Mulliner.
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