Then, Lagonda famously hired W O Bentley away from Rolls Royce, after his firm was absorbed by Rolls Royce in 1931.
Bentley designed the 180 Hp V12 for Lagonda's large touring cars
Showing posts with label Bentley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bentley. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2026
Lagonda (you may not be familiar with it) was a pre WW1 British car that was became part of Aston Martin in '47, named for a Shawnee village in Ohio where the founder, former opera singer, William Gunn was from
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Vince McMahon, was 80 years old, driving a '24 Bentley doing 100 mph, getting trailed by a Connecticut state trooper, when he badly mistimed a pass and hit a car in the road ahead of him, last July. The day Hulk Hogan died
his wife, Linda, is now the U.S. education secretary, and there was absolutely no cover up of a drunk driving crash.
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Bentley hired Travis Pastrana for a mini Gymkhana-style video shot at the automaker’s factory in England.
Bentley also emptied its heritage vault for this video. Continental GT3 race cars, the Le Mans-winning Speed 8, Bentayga, and Continental GT Pikes Peak racers, and a convoy of 1920s Bentleys all make appearances.
All three previous Bentley Supersports appear, including an original 1925 3 Liter Super Sports (spelled as two words), of which just 18 were built.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Saturday, November 01, 2025
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Sunday, September 01, 2024
Friday, January 05, 2024
the host of Goodwood, was explaining on the Ford CEO podcast, that his grandfather dropped out of Oxford when his brother died in WW1, to the horror of his royal parents, to build Bentleys, and race motorcycles
He went to work at Bentley on the shop floor, known as Freddy, and didn't tell anyone that he was Lord Richmond.
He went onto design and race sports cars. He won at Brooklands. Some of his cars are still in the family collection.
He went on to establish an airfield on the family estate, then put a race track around it for the pilots.
The current host, Charles, left high school at 16, and didn't go to university, but instead, met up with some film school students in London going to National Film School, and one was Stanley Kubrick, and got a job working for Kubrick in pre production stills photography.
(I'd forgotten that I'd learned that and posted it in 2017 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/goodwood-festival-of-speed-and-goodwood.html)
I am surprised at how much I've posted about Stanley Kubrick https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=Kubrick
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
probably the best thing you'll see all week
Staff Sgt Butterworth has created his own version of the Bentley-themed ASMR video that has been doing the rounds on social media as of late.
Featuring a Humvee, the parody juxtaposes the ultra-luxurious, soft-touch surface-laden Bentley Mulsanne seen in the original footage with the Humvee’s absolutely bare-bones, very dated design that is largely absent of any creature comfort.
It's hilarious, tip of the hat to my favorite site of variety stuff, Daily Timewaster https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2023/08/us-army-staff-sergent-tyler-butterworth.html
there's more out there, like this Zastava https://www.tumblr.com/killdozerdidnothingwrong/725742367818350592?source=share
Zastava Automobiles was a Serbian international car manufacturer, which went bankrupt in May 2017.
Thursday, August 03, 2023
Sunday, April 09, 2023
After failing an MOT in 1968, the late owner James Young put his 1935 Bentley classic in his barn.
The vintage 1935 car was bought new by wealthy Australian tea merchant Philip Bushell.
He shipped it over to Australia, where it spent two decades before it returned to Britain in 1954.
The Bentley went up for sale at a garage in Shaftesbury, Dorset, where local farmer James Young paid £1,050 for it.
After the aforementioned MOT failure, it was then parked up in a barn from 1968 until a winter storm damaged the barn's roof last year.
Mr Young’s grandson, Roger, and his wife, Linda, feared it would only deteriorate further in the exposed condition, so they decided to put the car up for auction.
He shipped it over to Australia, where it spent two decades before it returned to Britain in 1954.
The Bentley went up for sale at a garage in Shaftesbury, Dorset, where local farmer James Young paid £1,050 for it.
After the aforementioned MOT failure, it was then parked up in a barn from 1968 until a winter storm damaged the barn's roof last year.
Mr Young’s grandson, Roger, and his wife, Linda, feared it would only deteriorate further in the exposed condition, so they decided to put the car up for auction.
Monday, May 16, 2022
Prior to India gaining its independence from Great Britain (post WW2 in 1947), the country comprised more than 600 kingdoms, that's a lot of car collectors, as any google search of Maharaja's cars will show. It was a Maharaja who bought the very first car in India in 1892
English dancer Stella Mudge was dancing in the legendary Paris troupe, the Folies Bergère, when she met her prince charming: a certain Paramjit Singh, from faraway India, a scion of the royal family from the state of Kapurthala, in the Punjab.
Kapurthala was already famous for its architectural monuments and beautiful gardens. Once called the Paris of Punjab, it was not unusual for the heir apparent of Kapurthala—the Tika Raja to be in Paris.
Tika Raja Paramjit Singh was already married to a princess from the royal family of Jubbal, Brinda Devi, and they were the toast of Paris, the ‘jewels in the crown’ of French society, mingling with deposed European crowned heads, including King Alphonso of Spain and Queen Marie of Rumania.
However, Tika Raja obviously couldn’t resist to the charm of the glamorous English beauty, Stella Mudge. And thus began an intense relationship that lasted some 15 years before the Tika Raja (eventually the Maharani when her husband became the Maharaja in 1949) decided to marry Stella in 1937, making her his third wife, and as a wedding gift, gifting Narinder Kaur neé Stella Mudge, not just any old car, but one of the most astoundingly beautiful cars on sale then, in 1937: this Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS sports coupe. (now in the Nethercutt collection)
Sometime in 1939 Stella de Kapurthala (as she was often called) decided to unload her wedding gift. Luigi Chinetti, the famous Italian American racer and importer of exotic cars, arranged to have the Talbot-Lago sold to a wealthy Southern Californian playboy called Tommy Lee.
1949 Bentley MkVI chassis built for the Maharaja of Mysore, bodied by Hooper to its elegant 8111 saloon design
The maharajas of Mysore were keen motorists and had a huge fleet of luxury cars which included several Rolls-Royces, the last of the Wodeyar dynasty, which ruled Mysore in south-west India from 1399 to the country's unification in 1947, was one of the world's wealthiest men, being worth the equivalent of £35billion at his death in 1940
From the collection of the Maharaja Gaj Singh Ji of Jodhpur. Barker bodied Torpedo Tourer
A one-off 1934 Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental ‘All-Weather Convertible’, custom made for the then Maharaja of Rajkot, Thakore Sahib Dharmendrasinhji Lakhajiraj, in 1934
The car features saffron-colored paintwork symbolizing the purity of Hinduism. The fenders and hood are a brilliant polished aluminum to reflect the intense Indian heat. Etched into each door, the hood, and the glass of the side windows is the crest of Rajkot
1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost ‘Throne’ car of the Nizam of Hyderabad
1919 Daimler 45 HP of Sir Seth Hukumchand Family, with the trim pieces gold plated, and the paint was a special gold color
The gold plated bell as a radiator mascot has its own story. It was supposed to be unholy to horn at the holy cow! Hence gold bell was put in place as a radiator mascot with the string attached and pulled by the driver should the path of the car be blocked by a holy cow
The Maharaja Sir Manmathanath Roy Choudhary of Santosh, next to his Chenard et Walcker.
"However, before its completion, Mehboob Ali Khan passed away in 1911. It was delivered in 1912 to the VII Nizam, who used it only for ceremonial occasions. It was maintained by the Hyderabad State Railway at its garage. During his career of 26 years in Hyderabad, the Nizam travelled in the car sparingly, which is why it had run only 356 miles," Kishan Rao said.
Sunday, March 06, 2022
Friday, December 31, 2021
I just learned that Terence Cuneo didn't just paint trains, he also painted racing cars, a bulldozer, and airplanes
I posted about his terrific train paintings a while ago https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/something-to-get-kick-out-of-mouse.html
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185149872706?hash=item2b1bcada42:g:bAwAAOSwwC9hfST9
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/7551136192/
And I just learned that there is a Facebook page of his art! https://www.facebook.com/CuneoFineArts/
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Bentley's Advanced Deer Alert System (ADAS) software uses a thermal infrared imager to detect objects the human eye can't in darkness, and helps Santa locate missing prized reindeer (two vids total for coffee and donuts enjoyment)
awwww, that's just an adorable commercial
Bentley receives urgent request from North Pole to help locate missing prized reindeer
Bentaygas deployed to assist using Advanced Deer Alert System (ADAS) - fitted to nearly two thirds of customer cars
ADAS uses thermal imaging sensor to identify people, animals and elves
Night Vision system has sensitivity to detect shiny noses 140m in front of the vehicle in temperatures from -40 to +80°C.
Driver Instrument Panel displays sightings with color coding for proximity
and since I want to share my respect for attempting a wonderful commercial (a tiny bit clunky and in need of some better acting, but they earn more effort for trying than for smashing expectations) here is another terrific video from Bentley, where Bentley apprentices display extraordinary craftsmanship and ingenuity in order to save this year's festive celebrations by creating one of a kind sustainable tree decorations overnight. Better known as the “Sustainabaubles”, these are hand crafted and sustainably sourced decorations
Right in the feels! Makes me wish I worked at a place this cool. I never have worked anywhere that even tried.
“This ad is effective in that, despite only showing one of their cars for a brief moment, it's a clever opportunity for Bentley to showcase its bespoke approach to building its vehicles,” said David Undercoffler, editor in chief at Autolist.com, San Francisco.
see close ups of each ornament at https://motor.ru/news/sustainabaubles-09-12-2021.htm
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/bentley-flaunts-deer-avoidance-system-in-parallel-universe-of-christmas-car-commercials-176266.html
And Bentley has a record number of open jobs they are hiring for, 113. https://justbritish.com/record-recruitment-for-bentley/
In January 2021, Bentley was again recognized for the tenth consecutive year as a Top Employer by the internationally-acclaimed Top Employers Institute – the only car brand to feature on the elite list.
The Institute recognizes employers globally who make every effort to continuously improve colleague experiences through digital transformation, enhance recruitment processes, as well as nurturing and develop talent.
happy Monday morning, friends and readers, it's nearly Christmas and though I doubt I'll find a better set of car commercials, I want you to know that it certainly isn't for trying, or wanting.
Saturday, July 10, 2021
Friday, March 05, 2021
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Jumbo Goddard bought the Le-mans winning Jaguar OKV1 (the prototype XK SS) screwed a windscreen to it, and chopped the fuel tank in half to make space for his picnic basket (thanks Paul!)
His favorite car was the Jaguar works Le Mans D Type OKV1 that came second in 1954 and driven by Duncan Hamilton. 
After Le Mans, Hamilton bought the D type from Jaguar and it was tidied up and displayed at the Paris motor show on the Jaguar display, but after the show it was being driven back to Calais and was wrecked.
Hamilton recovered the damaged Jag and set it aside in his workshop. Enter Jumbo Goddard...
In 1956, He heard of the car awaiting its fate and approached Hamilton to buy it off him.
Hamilton was going to part it out, a deal was done and OKV1 changed hands, part of the deal was Hamilton repair OKV1 as a touring car.
The damaged fin was left off, a windshield was fitted, a luggage rack bolted to the rear, the fuel tank was cut in half so a picnic basket would fit, and a passenger door and seat installed.
this guy was into living a legend life...
in 1957 the now 50 year old Goddard signed on as an Ordinary Seaman for the voyage of the Mayflower II on a 56 day voyage from Plymouth Devon to Plymouth Massachusetts.But what sealed his legendary status was fitting an 8 liter Bentley engine he'd found in an junkyard ambulance during the war to another Bentley he'd bought in 1928 and with his personal touch of twin turbo chargers from Garrett, who in 1954 had only just went into business, and succeeded in creating what was for some time, the fastest Bentley in the world.
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