Send an email to rrb.ed@kelsey.co.uk or write to: The Editor, Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL
THE BENTLEY CORNICHE
We would like to clarify certain aspects of Richard Gunn’s article ‘The Spirit of Experimentation’ on the Bentley Corniche which appeared in the September/October 2023 issue. I write as a Trustee of the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation and have consulted in detail with Ken Lea, who was the instigator and leader of the Corniche project from its conception in 2001 and is familiar with the surviving original documentation about the Corniche in the Experimental Files and in the Evernden and Robotham papers. Ken is also the Chairman of the WOBMF.
Our first point concerns the origins of the Bentley 3½ Litre. Mr Gunn states that it was ‘based on thewarmed-over 20/25, as has sometimes been stated, but was developed as a separate model. It was based on a new chassis and lighter rear axle which had been designed for the cancelled ‘Peregrine’ Rolls-Royce (an abortive project for a smaller car in the 18 HP class), and the power source was an uprated and significantly redesigned version of the Japan 1 engine originally developed as a possible replacement for the 20/25’s engine. While the 3½ did use the 20/25’s gearbox, this was a matter of simple expediency because the new box with centre gear lever (together with a central handbrake) intended for the 3½ was not ready for production in time.
