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Each sheet of veneer, once lasered into shape by in-house machinery, is glued together with insulating material and metal strengthening components before being pressed and conjoined with its corresponding wooden panel, of which the Mulsanne has 33. Careful alignment of the veneer leaves – 28 are used per car – also means the pattern on each panel is mirrored. Seven hours and several coats of lacquer later, and that’s one panel done. Hardly surprising then that Bentley’s woodshop is a recognized centre of excellence, and that’s equally true of the next stop on our tour: leather.
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The hundreds upon hundreds of hides currently surrounding us on wooden horses (all of which, at Bentley, are by-products of the meat industry just FYI) have come from cows bred in Southern Germany, where there’s less barbed wire than the UK and the temperatures are cooler. Both consequently make for a better quality of raw material, though as the wood shop has already demonstrated, this does not mean each hide is without its imperfections. Said flaws when spotted at the Bentley workbench are marked by hand, then cut out by more high-tech cutting equipment. The offcuts that will never see the inside of a Bentley cabin are once again distributed to other manufacturers throughout Europe. An incredible 17 hides are needed for just one Mulsanne.
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Like the paint, should a customer consider the 24 standard colours of leather insufficient, he or she can request one of their own making. The same is also true of the emblems embroidered on all four headrests, and a nearby display case shows some of the more popular designs: the Bentley emblem (obviously); a red English Rose; the Union Jack;even a customer’s name. While this certainly feeds on the spirit of the occasion, one does wonder what would happen should the customer decide to sell their Bentley later on: ‘To Sell (ideally to a person named Craig…)’.
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So far this afternoon our little group has worked its way along a myriad of tunnels and through numerous rooms, each more alive with activity than the last. And, unsurprisingly, I’m now hopelessly lost.
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Just as I’m stiffening the sinews and preparing myself for a night spent curled up on what seat piping I can find, a noise from the other side of a shuttered door shakes me from my musing. It’s the sound of a V8 firing into life, and a gateway to the Bentley engine bay. Our group hastens its way across to the other side, and it’s an awe-inspiring sight. Big, beefy V-multiple-numbered-powerplants line both sides of a room that simply disappears into the distance. John draws my attention to the rigorous piston tests taking place on our left, while Steve is particularly keen to show me the ‘knuckles and struts’ part of the gearbox amalgamation to my right. There’s still a long way to go though before these thirsty brutes are ‘wed’ to the chassis, if I’ve read the thoughtful nods from several green-shirted gentlemen currently eying computer screens correctly.
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Behind another set of doors is a miniature exhibition of the Bentley powerplant, and its 90-year evolution. The V8 engine for example may receive upgrades and improvements with each passing model, but its basic architecture can still be traced back to the 1960s. Proudly displayed are three engines spanning over 90 years of development, and after two hours of downtime, the crankandpiston Canon is once more unleashed.
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It turns out watching others sculpt this, tweak that and perfect those is exhausting, and by now even Steve and John have slowed their pace a bit. But there remains one part of the tour I’m assured cannot be missed. We’re back in the reception area now after another quick dash through the elements and quickly make our way through one last glass door (John’s security pass is working again) into the Lineage Showroom.
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Before me now is a rich history of Bentley as both a car manufacturer and an identity. Framed on the wall in front of me, for example, is an homage to eponymous Bentley founder Walter Owen, who before making what he termed ‘a fast car, a good car, and the best in its class’ actually started out as a railway engineer. Alongside him sit images of the Bentley Boys, the enthusiasts of Walter Owen’s privately produced sportscars who took victory at Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930. The large stack of racing slicks and a rear wing from its 2003 winning challenger to the right of this display provides an appropriate symmetry.
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The Lineage Showroom is an exhibit that changes it theme every eighteen months, the current motif being ‘Style’. That goes some way to explaining why the next display on the run is a full-size Continental GT made entirely from clay. When Bentley’s design team– or the ‘felt tip fairies’ as they are affectionately known – begins work on the next ‘big thing’, hundreds of designs are sketched out in meticulous detail, from which a number are selected. Again the process is repeated, whereupon miniature models are assembled. This example is one of two rejected designs for the Continental, losing out as it did to the final model.
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Moving further through the Showroom past numerous concept drawings mounted on the walls, we find a display dedicated to James Bond 007, the typically English MI5 agent who regularly drove a Bentley in Ian Fleming’s novels. There’s also a glass case in which nearly a dozen Bentley ‘wings’ emblems are laid out, each a development of the last: “did you know that there are actually 21 feathers on the Bentley wings, 10 on one side and 11 on the other?” I did not.
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The grandest site in the room though is this R-Type Continental from 1952. Owned by Bentley and even displaying a tax disc, this model remains one of the company’s proudest exhibits. Steve admits though that taking the sixty year old, 165-180hp machine out on the road for some much needed exercise is a nerve-wracking experience: “you do not want to get a scratch on this. You really don’t!”
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By remarkable good fortune, my visit to Crewe also coincides with another valuable exhibit’s arrival. It’s the one-off 4¼-Litre ‘Embiricos’ Special, a privately owned rarity that first turned a wheel in 1938. Named after the Greek entrepeneur who commissioned its build – André Embiricos – the Special later demonstrated its power by topping a remarkable 184kph when tested at the fearsome Brooklands circuit in Surrey, and is a stunning way to top off crankandpiston’s Bentley adventure.
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Tour concluded, I offer my thanks to both Steve and John and take my leave of Crewe. It’s still raining. As the afternoon has demonstrated, a lot can change in the space of 90 years, and continues to do so even to this day. I turn my collar up and button my jacket a little tighter. Some things on the other hand never do. Welcome home James!
– Selected shots courtesy of Bentley Motors. Our thanks to Steve Harvey, Jonathan Needham, Lisa Cooper and Jodie Davies
