What’s Bentley, and when did it start making cars?
Bentley makes some of the most luxurious cars in the world, competing with carmakers like Rolls-Royce to meet the needs of the wealthiest drivers. No budget hatches or family crossovers here – if there’s no billionaire in the back and a chauffeur at the wheel, it’s probably not a Bentley. Unless it’s being timed…
The company was founded by Walter Owen Bentley in 1919. Preferring to be called WO, his journey began as a nine-year-old when he bought and then dismantled a bicycle, just to see how it worked. An apprenticeship with Great Northern Railway followed, and when World War One broke out, WO used his know-how to great effect in the Royal Naval Air Service, fitting fighter plane engines with aluminium pistons to greatly improve their power and reliability.
When the war
