CarBrandLogos archive · Bentley · 1946

BentleyMark VI

The first you could buy with a factory body, and the first built at Crewe.

Photo: allen watkin from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Bentley history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Bentley Mark VI, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1949 Bentley Mark VI Park Ward Drop Head Coupe - svl

Origins

The war reshaped the business. Rolls-Royce, which had owned Bentley since 1931, had built aero engines at a shadow factory at Crewe in Cheshire; when peace came it turned the plant over to cars, and the Mark VI of 1946 was the first product of the arrangement.

1949 Bentley Mark VI Park Ward Drop Head Coupe - svl · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

1949 Bentley Mark VI Pininfarina Drophead - fvl

Design and engineering

Its innovation was commercial rather than mechanical. For the first time a Bentley could be bought complete, with a standard steel saloon body built by Pressed Steel and fitted at the works, instead of as a bare chassis awaiting a coachbuilder. Customers who wanted bespoke coachwork could still have it, and plenty did, but the standard car made the marque available to a much wider group of buyers and made it possible to build them at a sensible rate.

1949 Bentley Mark VI Pininfarina Drophead - fvl · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

1948 Bentley Mark VI James Young Sport Saloon - rvl

In production

Mechanically it used an inlet-over-exhaust straight-six of 4,257 cc, enlarged to 4,566 cc in 1951, with a four-speed manual gearbox. 5,208 were built to 1952, more Bentleys than had left the factory in all the pre-war years combined. The R Type that followed was essentially the same car with a longer boot.

1948 Bentley Mark VI James Young Sport Saloon - rvl · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1946–1952

Units built

5208

Engine

frac

Body

4-door saloon

Technical specification

The Mark VI, in detail.

Production: 1946–1952; 5208 produced
Class: Full-size luxury car
Body style: 4-door saloon ; 2-door saloon ; 2-door drophead coupe ; chassis only (for coachbuilt bodies)
Layout: FR layout
Engine: frac; 4; 1; 4-litre 4.3 L I6; frac; 4; 1; 2-litre 4.6 L I6
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Assembly: United Kingdom: Crewe, England (Bentley Crewe)
Manufacturer: Bentley Motors (1931) Limited, Crewe Cheshire