Bentley the company - was founded by Walter Owen Bentley who was desperate to have his own automotive company, with a car branding his name and shortly after the first world war he accomplished his dream and registered Bentley Motors in August 1919 . By October 1919 at the London Motor show Walter exhibited his first chassis, though a dummy engine was in situ, an engine was developed and orders were taken, though production took longer than first anticipated he made delivery of the first Bentley motor in September 1921.

Always under funded Walter seeked financial assistance from the millionaire Woolf Barnato who became chairman in 1925 and in turn financed and kept Bentley afloat until the depression when the Bentley Motor car was considered to much of a luxury product to keep afloat. Barnato sold to Rolls-Royce in 1931.

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Thanks to the 'Bentley boys' the Bentley racing reputation grew, the 'boys' were affluent British motorists who kept the racing spirit alive and took Bentley to success with the 24 hours le Mans in 1927 and consecutive victories to 1930 their only competition was Bugatti, though deemed more fragile compared to the rugged, durable and reliable Bentley they couldn?t be beaten and thus the name above was fondly given.

Will the real James Bond step forward?  Yes even our iconic, licensed to kill hero from Ian Flemings books drove a Bentley (this was his proffered car) He drove a 4 ½ litre Bentley Blower not the Aston we know from the films.  So too for that english gent and secret agent John Steed another iconic character from the 60?s series The Avengers.

Rolls-Royce secretly purchased Bentley and to the day of purchase not even Walter knew to the identity of the new owner the transaction was done in the name of British Central Equitable Trust. On completion of the transaction the company was formed Bentley Motors 1931 Ltd retaining Walter as an employee until his contract was up for renewal in 1935 at which time he left and went to Lagonda. At this time Rolls-Royce packed up and sold the Cricklewood site and moved all production to Derby. But after world war II another relocation  was to Crewe in Cheshire, as time went on Bentley just became another Rolls without the grille or the badge and became the cheaper option in the 1970?s by the early ?80?s sales had dramatically fallen and production of Bentley accounted for less than 5%.

Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd was floated and bought by Vickers in 1980 the Bentley began to regain it's position and by 1986 the Bentley ? Rolls-Royce ratio had crept back up to 60/40 this was thought to be thanked to the Mulsanne model and by 1991 Rolls-Royce and Bentley were 50/50.

Purchased by the Volkswagen group from Vickers for the sum of £430 million in a bidding war with competitor BMW back in 1998 it unravelled into a complicated acquisition when it was discovered that the rights to the name 'Rolls-Royce' was owned by Rolls-Royce Plc  - the aero-engine co. who were linked with BMW's aero-nautical division, all sorts of complications lay ahead but all we know is that we have seen some fantastic models produced through all the German politics of this great heritage racing car and probably one of the most luxurious and prestigious cars made, listing just a few of the memorable models since 1998;

1998 - Arnage saloon
1999 - Hunaudieres Concept 
2003 - Continental GT coupé
2005 - Continental Flying Spur saloon
2006 - Azure convertible
2006 - Continental GT convertible
2007 - Continental GT Speed coupé
2008 - Bentley Brooklands coupé
2008 - Bentley Continental Flying Spur
2009 - Continental GTC
2009 - Arnage saloon,
2009 - Continental Supersports
2009 - Bentley Zagato GTZ 
2010 - Bentley Mulsanne