Bentley Mark VI car, 1950

Bentley Mark VI motor car, 1950. Made at Rolls-Royce Crewe works. 'Standard steel' body designed by Ivan Evernden and made by Pressed Steel with assembly at Crewe works. It has a 4.25-litre, straight six cylinder engine with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves.

Up until the Second World War, luxury cars were predominantly sold by car manufacturers as a rolling chassis (chassis and powertrain etc. but no body). Customers would then choose their preferred coachbuilder to build the car’s body for them. When Rolls-Royce (who bought Bentley in 1931) returned to car manufacturing after WW2, engineering chief W A Robotham realised that post-war austerity meant that the mode of production would need to change if the Rolls-Royce and Bentley marques were to survive. The Bentley Mark VI was the first car to be sold by Rolls-Royce/Bentley as a complete car, already assembled with a ‘standard steel’ body designed by Ivan Evernden and made by Pressed Steel. 80% of Bentley Mk VIs produced were complete cars, while the other 20% were still available as ‘chassis only’. The Bentley Mk VI was produced at Crewe from 1946-1952.

Although cheaper cars aimed at the mass market, for example the Model T Ford, were already using mass production techniques, the post-war Bentley Mk VI represents a distinct shift in the production of luxury cars. The end of WW2 marked a sharp decline in specialist coachbuilding companies, who traced the lineage of their skilled craftsmanship back to the construction of horse-drawn carriages and coaches.