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1949 Bentley Mark VI

After World War II, and as the world slowly reverted to a peacetime economy, Rolls-Royce moved its Motor Division out of Derby to a facility it had established at Crewe in Cheshire for the purpose of building Spitfire engines. Pyms Lane was to become the longest-ever serving home to the marque; its current location. The motor manufacturers of Great Britain were served a completely new and ultra-punitive taxation culture, as a direct consequence of the massive debt that the country had accrued to defeat fascism. Rolls-Royce faced this challenge with the introduction of the Bentley MK VI, a successful model that helped ensure sufficient breathing space for the parent company to re-establish its prestige and position.

The Bentley MKVI was introduced in 1946 and was the first post-war Bentley model. They featured a cruciform-braced chassis with independent front suspension and a leaf-sprung 'live' rear axle. Power was from a 4257cc overhead inlet side exhaust valve straight-six engine mated to a synchromesh four-speed manual gearbox (choice of either floor or column selection). With the Bentley 'standard steel saloon' coachwork, the MKVI was capable of over 100 mph. Braking was handled by hydraulic drum brakes in the front and mechanical actuation of the rear drums.

The Bentley MK VI was similar to the contemporary Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, primary differences were to the grille, trim, and badging. Mechanically the two were identical. Both shared the 4,257cc F-head straight-six engine and horsepower figures and output was never released but estimated at approximately 126-132 horsepower with induction handled by a pair of SU carburetors (Stromberg for LHD cars) and electrical components supplied by Lucas. It had seven main bearings, solid valve lifters, a cast iron block and aluminum heads.

The wheelbase measured 120 inches, had an overall length of 192 inches, stood 68 inches tall, and was 70 inches wide.

The Bentley Mark VI 'standard steel' Sport Saloon had seating for five passengers and was priced at around $10,000 (USD). The forward-looking design was a slab-sided stylistic departure from the previous bulging fender-styled coachwork. Additional coachwork was provided by independent coachbuilders, including H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward, Gurney Nutting, Hooper, Freestone & Webb, and James Young. H.J. Mulliner produced a two- and four-door Sport Saloon and a drophead coupe with prices in the neighborhood of $15,000 for the closed coachwork. Park Ward's catalog included a saloon, two-door coupe, and drophead coupe, and Gurney Nutting created a two-door Sedanca Coupe. James Young, Freestone & Webb, and Hooper also offered a two-door coupe. Freestone & Webb and Hooper offered a four-door saloon, and James Young a Sport Saloon.

Between 1946 and 1952, a total of 4,946 (as many as 5,208) Mk VI Bentley's left the works.

by Dan Vaughan

Sport Coupe by Vanvooren

Bentley's postwar production started with the Mark IV, the production line pushing out a new, luxury 4-door sedan and some rolling chassis for independent coachbuilders. Vanvooren was a Parisian coachbuilder, founded in 1918, which had had a strong relationship with Rolls-Royce prewar, resulting in many examples of their coachwork on Rolls-Royce chassis.

Bentley used an F-head, six-cylinder engine of 4257cc (in 1949) and four-speed all synchromesh transmission - on right hand drive cars the gear lever was to the right, on left hand drive, that is American and Continental European market cars, it was four-on-the-tree. These were, and are, strong, handsome and useful cars.

This beautifully restored, very rare, left-hand drive 4-speed column shift two door coupe. This car wears a one-of-a-kind body by Vanvooren of Paris. The restoration on this car today would cost over $300,000. It was sold new by the authorized Rolls-Royce dealer in Paris, Franco Britannic to Ortis Linarcs on April of 1949. After coming to the United States it was restored in 2000 for Eugene Sorbo of Massachusetts. It was then sold to Charles Crail before being acquired by its current owner in 2008.

Vanvooren, founded in 1918, had a strong relationship with Rolls-Royce in the 1930s, resulting in many Vanvooren bodies built on Rolls-Royce chassis.

Sport Saloon by Mulliner
Chassis number: B357LEW
Engine number: B428E

The Bentley Mark VI was introduced in 1946 and was the first post War Bentley of Rolls-Royce design. The first owner of the Mark VI took delivery of the car in September 1946. Power was from a new F-head engine featuring overhead intake and side mounted exhaust valves. The six-cylinder unit featured an aluminum alloy cylinder head and offered about 150 horsepower.

The Mark VI was the fist Bentley with standard factory-designed bodywork built by the Pressed Steel Company of Oxford with ex-Gurney Nutting Chief Designer John Blatchley applying the detailing. Custom coachwork remained as an option.

In total, there were 4,949 Mark VIs produced through 1952.

This example is a left-hand drive and was first ordered through Jack Barclay, Ltd. and shipped to the United States via the SS Queen Mary about January 20, 1952. The original owner was Sir Duncan Orr-Lewis, a British nobleman, who used the Hotel Plaza New York City as the registered address at the time. The odometer currently reads 52,541 kilometers, is finished in blue with black fenders and red pin-striping.

In 2009, this car was offered for sale at the Vintage Motor Cars of Hershey presented by RM Auctions where it was estimated to sell for $30,000 - $50,000 and offered without reserve. The lot was sold for the sum of $66,000, including buyer's premium.

by Dan Vaughan

Sport Saloon by Pininfarina

This is a 1949 Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupe with coachwork by Pinin Farina. It is believed that Pinin Farina and Facel-Metallon created 17 of these cars. Nine are believed to have been prototypes.

Frenchman Jean Daninos owned Facel-Metallon, which, among their talents, was a company that produced special bodies for major car companies. The chief designer and stylish was Jean Daninos. Their list of clients included marque's such as Simca and Ford.

Daninos commissioned Pinin Farina to create a fastback, two-door, saloon atop a Bentley Mark VI chassis The prototype carried chassis number #B323CD. Once the prototype was completed, it was put into series production by the Facel-Metallon company.

by Dan Vaughan

Gurney Nutting Coupe by Gurney Nutting
Chassis number: B320LFV

This 1949 Bentley Sedanca de Ville has coachwork by Gurney Nutting and is one of four built with the 'C15' Sedanca de Ville coachwork. Most Bentleys of this era featured coachwork by H.J. Mulliner.

The car is powered by a water-cooled, F-head, 6-cylinder, overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves, 4257cc (4.25 Liter) engine, developing 130 horsepower. It is fitted with a U.S.-spec four-speed column-mounted manual transmission, and the 4,070 lb vehicle is capable of 100 mph.

This Bentley began life as a left-hand-drive example and was delivered in February 1950 to Edmond Meert of Belgium. It is believed to have worn a two-tone grey exterior to reduce cost-inducing import duties.

Some of the car's history is unknown; a Canadian serviceman brought it home with him to North America; in January 1995, it was offered for sale in The Flying Lady. Peter Harper acquired the car and it would spend some time in England during the early 2000s. By 2003, ownership passed to Edward Herbst of New York, who showed it in 2009 at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

The car wears an older restoration and a two-tone black and red livery. The interior features red leather with beige carpeting that is piped in red. It has twin fender-mounted mirrors, rear formal landau bars, red disc-type wheels, and a shuttered chrome grille with a radiator mascot. The interior houses an original radio and slide-out under-dash tool kit, and drinkware set.

Drophead Coupe by Mulliner
Chassis number: B87EW
Engine number: B293E

The Bentley Mark VI was the first Bentley with completely new postwar design. It was powered by a new F-head 4.3-liter engine featuring overhead intake, side exhaust valves and an aluminum cylinder head. The Mark VI was the first Bentley with standard factory-designed bodywork (built by Pressed Steel of Oxford), however, custom coachwork was still available. A total of 4,949 were produced through 1952. The H.J. Mulliner designs that followed were elegant, hand-built, and featured graceful Art Deco forms and details.

This example is one of those 12 dropheads produced and one of just five that feature the concealed-head design, internally designated 7121. It was originally ordered through John Croall & Sons for Eva S. Borthwick-Norton. The car was ordered with the family's preferred color, deep maroon, with grey upholstery and walnut woodwork. It was outfitted with ashtrays, Lucas mirrors, double-thickness floor mats, sun visors, a radio, and a suitcase.

This car, the last of the 12 built, was comleted in July of 1951 and delivered through John Croall & Sons to Eva S. Borthwick-Norton, one of the wealthiest landowners in Great Britain and a collector of significant old master paintings and Chippendale furniture. Along with her husband, Eva owned the village of Southwick near Portsmouth, England. Several years later, it became the property of Bolton politician A.L. Tillotson. In the early 1960s, it came to the United States and into the car of its current owner, a California resident. During the 1980s and 1990s, the car was given a restoration and later, a mechanical refurbishment.

In 2011, the car was offered for sale at the Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was estimated to sell for $75,000 - $100,000 and offered without reserve. As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $104,500 including buyer's premium.

by Dan Vaughan

Drophead Coupe by Park Ward & Co.
Chassis number: B452LEY or B226E

This Bentley was hand-built by the Park Ward Company of Willesden, England, for Mr. and Mrs. Robert deGraff and was the only Park Ward dual-side mount left-hand post war Bentley ever produced. It was delivered on June 16th of 1949 in Holland and the deGraffs toured with it for several months in Europe and then shipped it to their home in the United States. The interior is finished in scarlet red hides and has a metallic gray exterior. Mechanically it starts right-up at the touch of the starter button and the famous in-line six run whisper quiet. The transmission is actuated through a column mounted four-speed that shifts smoothly in all gears and has synchromesh on second through fourth gears.

Sedanca Coupe by Hooper
Chassis number: B175CD

This Bentley MK VI was ordered by Iraq's Prince Regent 'Abd al-Ilah. It was given Sedanca Coupe coachwork by Hooper & Co. The chassis had been intended for a Swiss doctor, but was redistributed for the prince regent's order. The work was completed in 1949 and then shipped to him in Baghdad. It returned to Hooper in September of 1950 and first registered in Britain during February 1951. It was acquired by Lawrence W. (later to become Sir Lawrence) Robson in 1958 and then later passed on to his son, from whom Ron Rezek acquired it in 2011. A mechanical recommissioning and cosmetic restoration followed. The original engine bay, upholstery, and interior wood was left untouched.

Power is from a 4257 cc F-Head inline 6-cylinder engine fitted with Twin SU carburetors and delivering 130 horsepower. There is a 4-speed manual gearbox and 4-wheel Servo-Assisted drum brakes.

Three-Position Drophead Coupe by Worblaufen

This car appeared on the Rolls-Royce & Bentley stand at the 1950 Geneva Auto Show. This three-position drophead coupe is one of maybe two that has coachwork designed by Worblaufen of Geneva, Switzerland, mounted on a Bentley Mark VI chassis for the 1950 show. Fritz Ramseier was the designer. It traveled through France in the years immediately after the show. In the early 1960s it was acquired by a California owner and then to Jean Pierre who sold it to the current owners in 1978.

The Mark VI chassis consists of X-braced channel steel, front independent suspension by coil springs and wishbones, rear suspension by semi-elliptic leaf spring and 4-wheel drum brakes. The car is powered by a water-cooled F-head, 6-cylinder engine with overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves, 4,257 cc, developing 130 horsepower and coupled to a 4-speed manual transmission. It has a top speed of 100 miles per hour. The present owner purchased the car in the mid-1970s and recently had it re-restored.

Coupe by Mulliner

This is one of three lightweight prototypes built by H.J. Mulliner on the Mark VI chassis. The Mark VI was the first postwar Bentley built by Rolls-Royce, and the first model available with either a standard factory-built body or in bare chassis form for bespoke coachwork to be added. Mulliner was chosen for the coachwork on this chassis as it had perfected a lightweight method of coachbuilding, much needed for this postwar engine and chassis combination. The coupe body was designed by Mulliner's chief designer Stanley Watts, who had tested the design in the Rolls-Royce wind tunnel. This prototype is recognizable as the predecessor of the R-Type Continental prototype named 'Olga,' with its large split windshield and sloping rear window, a radical departure from Bentley's previous models.

Coupe by Pininfarina
Chassis number: B466DA
Engine number: B233D

Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina clothed five Bentley Mark VIs and this coupe design is referred to in the build cards and subsequent records as a 'Cresta.' Design cues include a blind-quarter, a notchback roofline, a sharply vee'd windshield, and headlamps mounted lower on more rounded fenders. The interior has Art Moderne chrome touches and the upholstery and dashboard are done in leather.

It is believed that this Bentley was ordered by Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealer, Garage de l'Athénée, for Baron H. de Elonay. By 1963, the car was in the United States where it was listed as being in the care of longtime Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance MC, Dr. Paul M. Woudenberg of Long Beach. In 1976, it was purchased by Jean Pierre of Glendale, then in 1979 to Russell Head of Burlingame, CA.

The car appears to have been refinished many years ago. It has its numbers-matching engine and factory chassis number on the frame rail. The green leather interior is either original or a nearly factory-era replacement.

by Dan Vaughan

Sport Saloon
Chassis number: B399BZ
Engine number: B449D

Most of the Bentley Mark VI factory saloon bodies were formed from steel, with five examples believed to have been clothed with aluminum coachwork. This particular example is one of those five and was acquired new by W.B.G. Henderson, Esq. through The Clyde Automobile Co. Ltd of Renfrew Street in Glasgow, Scotland. It remained in Scotland with W.B. MacKay of Aberdeen before being sold to Lejeune Wilson of Dallas, Texas in 1972. Mr. Wilson brought the MkVI to the RROC Texas Region's Spring Meet in 1974 where it won the award for 'Best MkVI.' After the show, the car was put into storage, eventually receiving a six-year restoration. The work was completed in 2004, after which it was shown at another RROC Texas Region Spring Meet where it won 'Most Exotic Car.'

The engine is a 4,257cc OHV inline 6-cylinder unit with a single Twin-Choke carburetor and produces 130 horsepower. There is a four-speed manual transmission, a live rear axle, an independent front suspension, and four-wheel drum brakes.

by Dan Vaughan

Drophead Coupe by Park Ward & Co.
Chassis number: B452LEY or B226E

This Bentley Mark VI wears fully convertible coachwork built by British house Park Ward, to their Design No. 100. The car's first owner was Robert F. de Graff, who sold it to Dale Powers, remaining in his care until the early 1990s. The new caretaker treated the car to a concours-level restoration. When the work was completed, it was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in 2012, receiving an Amelia Award in the Bentley class.

The Bentley is powered by a 4,257cc overhead valve inline 6-cylinder engine with a single Twin-Choke carburetor and delivers approximately 130 horsepower. There is a four-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel drum brakes, and an independent front suspension.

by Dan Vaughan

Sport Saloon

The 1949 Bentley Mark VI is a quintessential example of post-war British luxury, showcasing the elegance and craftsmanship of Bentley's renowned design. As the first Bentley model to be produced in the company's new factory after World War II, the Mark VI featured a refined, streamlined body and a robust 4.3-liter inline six-cylinder engine, delivering a smooth and powerful driving experience. Its bespoke nature allowed for a wide range of customizations, from opulent interiors to personalized exterior finishes, making each car unique. Today, the 1949 Bentley Mark VI is celebrated by collectors for its classic luxury, exquisite craftsmanship, and its role in Bentley's storied history.

In 1946 Bentley introduced the Mark VI which stayed in production until 1952 with just over 5200 examples being produced. The Mark VI's were large and impressive four-door automobiles. This marked the first automobile completely constructed by Rolls Royce and signified their desire to move towards a 'standardized' body construction. Prior to this, Rolls Royce and Bentley provided a rolling chassis to coachbuilders. The vehicle was then outfitted, often under the direction of the individual buyer. This meant that the specifications often varied and each creation was a unique design.

The Standard Steel Saloon body was produced at Pressed Steel's factory and delivered as a shell to the Rolls Royce factory. The body was then fitted to the chassis. It then received paint, lights, and chrome. The headlamps were no longer separate units but were integrated into the front wings. The interior was the final step in the build. It was outfitted in leather from Connolly and walnut veneer. Prior to 1949, all models were right hand drive and right side floor shift, which suited the British market. From 1949, the Bentley Mark VI was equivalent to the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. Their biggest difference was in their performance, with the Bentley the clear champion.

A sunroof and rear wheel spats were optional equipment. Later, the sunroof became standard on all Bentley Mark VI models.

The Bentley Mark VI saw very few changes during its six year production life span. The most significant change was the adaptation of an enlarged engine which was introduced in 1951. The 4566 cc (4.5 liter) engine did improve the performance of the vehicle.

Four thousand of the Mark VI's were outfitted with a F-Head 4257 cc (4.25 liter) inline-six cylinder engine with twin SU carburetors, and aluminum cylinder head. Power was sent to the rear wheels courtesy of a four-speed manual gearbox with single plate clutch. Top speed was achieved around 94 mph. Servo assisted Drum brakes provided the stopping power and the suspension were independent with coil springs.

Around 1000 of the Bentley Mark VI's were sent to individual coachbuilders. Some of the notable coachbuilders were H.J. Mulliner, James Young, Pinin Farina, Franay, Park Ward, Saoutchik and Facel. Their designs included custom sedans and convertible, also referred to as dropheads.

These rare creations were given additional attention to detail to satisfy their exclusive clientele. In modern times, they are highly sought after.

Four thousand Bentley Mark VI's were created with the 4257 cc engine with 832 examples being outfitted by coachbuilders. 1202 Bentley Mark VI's were created with the 4566 cc engine with 180 examples being outfitted by coachbuilders.

The Mark VI was succeeded by the R-Type Bentley. Many of the Bentley Mark VI's have not survived, this is mostly attributed to their poor steel quality of the early postwar years which results in rust.

by Dan Vaughan