The Bentley Motors Ltd were founded in 1919. However, this is just the year in which the first prototype was finished by Walter Owen Bentley and his designer Burgess. Money started flowing only two years later when the company began selling cars which were strictly built according to customer`s wishes. From now on four cylinder engines with 3 - 6 litres cubic capacities and later suitable six-cylinder engines were developed and fitted into elegant, but relatively conventional cars. Already the average engine of the four cylinder series produced 74 kW (100 HP). The cars gained good reputation thanks to their reliability and propulsion, a mixture of elasticity and performance wich, for a few models, was considerably increased by compressor. Racing successes influenced sales figures but there never was more money in the purse than absolutely necessary.

The vehicles were processed excellently. Similar to Rolls Royce there was a hood ornament, in this case a flying "B". By the way, the logo was to be found at various places in the car. The period right after the stock market crash in 1929 is not without reason called "worldwide economical crisis". It caused hard times for all car producers. The Bentley company went bankrupt in 1931 and was taken over by Rolls Royce in a rather inscrutable way. Actually, RR had always been the main competitor of Walter Owen Bentley who had kept a certain kind of independancy until shortly after the Second World War. This however was given up more and more in favour of resemblance to RR models. The acceptance of the brand Bentley decreased until in 1998 it was sold to the VW group. Today that company is led by the former boss of Audi, maybe a recipe for success?

Vehicle-component

V8 turbo engine

Further informations

Bentley