Background
The Mk VI four-door standard steel sports saloon was the first post-war luxury car from Bentley. Announced in May 1946 and produced from 1946 to 1952 this very expensive car was a big success for the company. it was also the first car from Rolls-Royce with all-steel coachwork and the first car to be completely assembled and finished at their factory.
In 1952 both Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn and Bentley Mk. VI standard steel bodies were modified to incorporate a boot of about twice the size and the result became known as the R-Type Bentley. Mk VI engines and chassis were modified to provide higher performance and sold to be bodied by selected coachbuilders as the first Bentley Continentals.
The decision to offer a complete car with 'in house' bodywork had been dictated by harsh economic reality and 'export or die' was the mantra of British industry in the post-war period.
Arguably, the person most responsible for this vital incursion into foreign automobile markets was Government Minister Sir Stafford Cripps, who told British car manufacturers that unless they could guarantee to export 30% (soon rising to 50%) of their products, the government would refuse to supply them with steel.
Despite the misgivings of traditionalists, exports rose steadily and, when the home market stabilised, the classically styled 'standard steel' bodywork proved to be entirely acceptable to most potential buyers, making up 80% of total production of this first post-war Bentley.
The Mk Vl used the same six-cylinder B60 4 ¼-litre ‘F-head’ straight-six engine as the pre-war Mk V.
A four-speed syncromesh manual transmission was fitted to the Bentley version, with the floor-mounted gear stick sitting to the right of the driver.
In Ian Fleming’s early novels, Bond's one true love was his 1933 Bentley 4½ Litre. After this was destroyed during a chase sequence with the villainous Drax in Moonraker, he used his gambling winnings to buy a Bentley Mk VI.
So, there you go.
