Bentley Mark VI
| Bentley Mark VI | |
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1947 standard steel sports saloon
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Bentley Motors (1931) Limited, Crewe Cheshire |
| Production | 1946–1952 5208 produced |
| Assembly | Crewe, England |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Full-size luxury car |
| Body style | 4-door saloon 2-door saloon 2-door drophead coupe chassis only (for coachbuilt bodies) |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Related | Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine |
4 1⁄4-litre 4.3 L I6 4 1⁄2-litre 4.6 L I6 |
| Transmission | 4-speed manual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 120 in (3,048 mm) |
| Length | 192 in (4,877 mm) |
| Width | 70 in (1,778 mm) |
| Height | 64.5 in (1,638 mm) |
| Kerb weight | 4,078 lb (1,850 kg) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Mark V |
| Successor | R Type |
The Bentley Mark VI is an automobile from Bentley which was produced from 1946 to 1952.
The Mark VI 4-door standard steel sports saloon was the first post-war luxury car from Bentley. Announced in May 1946 and produced from 1946 to 1952 it was also both the first car from Rolls-Royce with all-steel coachwork and the first complete car assembled and finished at their factory. These very expensive cars were a genuine success, long-term their weakness lay in the inferior steels forced on them by government's post-war controls.Chassis continued to be supplied to independent coachbuilders. Four-door Saloon, two-door saloon and drophead coupe models with bodies by external companies were listed by Bentley along with the Bentley-bodied saloon.
This Bentley factory finished car was given the name Bentley Mark VI standard steel sports saloon. This shorter wheelbase chassis and engine was a variant of the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith of 1946 and, with the same standard steel body and a larger boot became the cautiously introduced Silver Dawn of 1949. The same extended-boot modification was made to the Mark VI body in 1952 and the result became known as the R type Bentley.
Mark VI engines and chassis were modified to provide higher performance and sold to be bodied by selected coachbuilders as the first Bentley Continentals, the most expensive production cars in the world and the world's fastest 4/5-seater saloons.
The Mark VI 4 1⁄4-litre used an F-head straight-6 engine 4.3 L (4,257 cc/259 cu in) in size. The manufacturer refused to disclose a horse power value for the car (other than Tax Horsepower of 29.4 hp according to the old RAC formula) but an Magazine road test reproduced in 1950 reported that top gear provided "flexibility down to 6 mph (10 km/h)" and the ability to "climb a hill of 1 in 9 maximum gradient, complicated by bends", all of which supported the manufacturer's contention that power, along with low speed torque, were adequate.
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