The company shortly thereafter was bought out by the British Central
Equitable Trust, essentially now owned by competitor Rolls-Royce. This
sparked a shift in the company, where soon original owner and then
designer Walter Bentley left the company where he then worked for
Lagonda. The original factory in Cricklewood, England was then shut down
and production halted from 1932-1934. Models of Bentley produced from
1931- 2004 are described by some were rebranded Rolls-Royces. Often
sharing or using old Rolls-Royce chassis, and slightly altered Royce
engines only with the Bentley brand attached.
In 1946, the Bentley Mark VI became the first car produced by the joint
companies that included a ready-to-drive package for the car. The need
to have the chassis bought and then taken to a coach builder specialist
was no longer a necessity, a standard pressed steel body was added and
then rolled out. The need for coach builder was eventually phased out by
1965, and replace by the chassis-less monocoque, T series.
The Bentley and Roll-Royce company faced more sales and financial
struggles during the late 60's and into the 70's, until the auto
divisions were eventually bought out by Vickers plc. The Vickers company
work to regain the identity of both Rolls-Royce and Bentley and was able
to recover the sales and reputation of Bentley. Vickers later went on to
sell the companies to Volkswagen in 1998. And in the early 2000's made
large investments to upgrade facilities, increase production, redesign
the vehicles and again revive the Bentley name. All of which coming to
fruition when demand for production continued to increase throughout the
100's and eventually turning profits for the Volkswagen company.
Click here to see if you qualify for the 1961 Bentley S2 Continental H.J Mulliner
Call us at 1-800-USA-1965, or fill out our online application form.