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Bentley R-Type James Young from 1953 - luxury glider for self-drivers

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Created on May 12, 2013

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

46

Archiv

33

Daniel Reinhard

46

Archiv

33

Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - imposing, not just because of its sheer size

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - befitting transportation in the fifties

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - made for long journeys

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - designed more for gliding than cornering

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - James Young clad only a few R-Types, at most a handful with two-door bodies

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - an elegant way to move away

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - not only looks high, it was high too

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - traveling in comfort and style

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - wonderfully pleasant to drive

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - little consideration, but the Bentley was also fast enough

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the two-tone paintwork emphasizes the shapes

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - elegant two-door body - close in style to the factory saloons

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - high window line provides safety

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - this is the kind of vehicle that a lord of the manor likes to have in front of the building

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - classic Bentley/Rolls-Royce contours

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the R-Type models had a larger trunk

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - ready for the driver

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - on the right, the typical starting equipment

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the dashboard also includes the front passenger

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the comfortable upholstery also allows the transportation of three people

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the gearshift is on the outside right, watch out when getting in

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - retractable transparent sun visors

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - you can stand it in the back too

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the practical storage shelf in the rear

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - beautiful mechanism for the storage shelf

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - almost too beautiful to use

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - perfect for a small laptop, but 60 years ago this would hardly have occurred to anyone

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - high up, the radiator grille

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the in-line six-cylinder engine with a displacement of 4.6 liters

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - nobody cared about the engine design back then

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - with the classic Bentley radiator

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the radiator grille in the wind

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - thin viewing slit to the rear

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - impressive cascade of headlights and ventilation grilles

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - A look in the rear-view mirror

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the Bentley-B can be found everywhere

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the Bentley radiator symbol

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the classic Bentley radiator grille

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - well in the wind, the Bentley radiator grille

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - bumpers finished down to the last detail

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the Bentley-B on the rear

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - carved-out fenders in traditional style

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the wheels look very elegant even without spokes

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - Bentley is also on wheels

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - the coachbuilder stamped the origin on the door sill

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Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupé (1947) - photographed in the 1980s

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Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupé (1947) - with convertible bodywork by Beutler (Thun) and 4.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine

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Bentley Mark VI (1947) - with bodywork by H. R. Mulliner Ltd.

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Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupé (1948) - photographed in the 1980s

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Bentley Mark VI (1949) - the in-line six-cylinder engine first came with a displacement of 4.25 and then 4.5 liters

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Bentley Mark VI (1949) - a very special car was on display at the Brussels Motor Show - the Rous company had built the convertible without the traditional radiator grille based on ideas from Prince Bernhard (Netherlands)

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Bentley Mark VI (1949) - a Sedanca body style demonstrated at the 1949 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Mk VI Graber (1947) - Bentley bodied by Graber in the style of the time - B138 BH could also have looked like this

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Bentley Sedanca Coupé Mark VI, Gurney Nutting Ltd. (1949) - as a 4.5 liter at the London Motor Show in 1949

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Bentley Mark VI Coupé Park Ward (1950) - at the 1950 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Mark VI Coupé Park Ward (1951) - elegant bodywork by Park Ward

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Bentley Mark VI Saloon James Young Ltd. (1951) - with fully equipped and carefully lined trunk

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Bentley Mk VI Graber (1951) - a body variant by Hermann Graber, shown at the 1951 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Mark VI 2-Door Saloon Mark VI, Hooper & Co. Ltd (1952) - with specially shaped angular roof structure

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Bentley Mark VI 2-Door Sports Saloon Mark VI, James Young Ltd. (1952) - for the self-driving Bentley owner

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Bentley Two Door All-Metal Saloon Mark VI (1952) - with a body by Mulliner

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Bentley Mark VI Saloon (1953) - as R-Type with enlarged trunk

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Bentley R Type 2-Door Sports Saloon (1953) - designed for the self-driver

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Bentley R Type Sports Saloon (1953) - at the 1953 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley R Type Sports Saloon (1953) - four-door saloon with bodywork by Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd.

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Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn (1953) - the sister model to the Bentley R-Type with bodywork by Rolls-Royce, the differences were minor and mainly visible on the radiator

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Bentley R Type Sports Saloon (1954) - produced by Bentley with an "essentially practical" design

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Bentley Mk VI (1948) - with elegant Franay convertible body - shown at the Paris Motor Show in October 1948

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Bentley R-Type (1955) - at the London Motor Show in 1955

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Bentley Mk VI Graber (1953) - a faux convertible with larger all-round glazing by Hermann Graber - at the Geneva Motor Show in 1953

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Bentley Mark VI Graber (1951) - the bodywork already points towards a pontoon shape - with six cylinders and 4566 cc

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Bentley Mk VI (1949) - with Farina bodywork at the Lucerne beauty contest in spring 1949

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Bentley Continental Graber (1955) - the typical Graber line of the mid-fifties - simple, elegant and beautifully shaped

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Bentley Continental R-Type Graber (1954) - at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Continental R-Type Graber (1954) - Graber Coupé at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Continental R-Type Graber DHC (1954) - on the Bentley stand at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley Continental R-Type Graber DHC (1955) - Hermann Graber again exhibits a Drophead Coupé at the 1955 Geneva Motor Show

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Bentley R-Type James Young Two Door Saloon (1953) - Johann, drive the car in front of you

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Summary

From 1952 to 1955, Bentley produced the R-Type, a luxury car that was closely based on the Mark VI, which had been discontinued. For people for whom a Bentley with a four-door saloon body from the factory was not exclusive enough despite exorbitant prices, coachbuilders such as James Young built individual special versions to the customer's specifications. This report portrays a two-door version of the Bentley R-Type from 1953 with a James Young body and goes into the history and characteristics of the post-war Bentleys, supplemented by a great deal of historical photographic material.

This article contains the following chapters

The Mark VI as the first post-war Bentley
Improvements lead to the R-Type
The best in its class
Body construction with almost a century of tradition
Body selection over tea and a cucumber sandwich
Value without quotation marks
For gravel roads and the ride to the picnic
Further information

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

"I'm driving myself today," the owner of the 1953 Bentley R-Type, with bodywork by James Young, may have said to Martin, his driver, 60 years ago, then climbed into the two-door saloon, started the engine with a cough and sped off across the gravel of the driveway. The car was hardly any good as a chauffeur-driven vehicle, as you couldn't really get into the rear compartment very elegantly. But it offered other qualities. With the Bentley Mark VI (and its Rolls-Royce brother Silver Wraith), the Bentley brand, managed by Rolls-Royce, presented the first post-war luxury car in 1946. And luxury the car certainly was. With the factory bodywork, the imposing car cost 52,700 francs in 1948, a sum that would have been enough to build an apartment building.

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