The Complete History Book

The Complete Bentley, covering the history of Bentley, is now available. It’s surprising that it has never been published before. It’s truly an 'all-in-one' book.

text:Hiromi TAKEDA
Translation: Mako Ayabe and Michael Balderi

The book comprises two parts: a history of the Bentley company and a commentary on successive models, tracing the full history of the company up to 2008. At the start of the book, the founder W.O. Bentley introduces his relationship with the French automobile DFP, which he worked on as a tuner before setting up his own company. And finally, the latest models from 2008 are covered, allowing us to observe once again the glory that Bentley has achieved from the past to the present day.
The company history section begins with the birth of the founder, Walter Owen Bentley, known as ‘W.O.’ The history of how he became interested in automobiles, tuned racing cars and started his own company, Bentley Motors, is described in great detail. This is an extremely valuable document in terms of automotive history. Needless to say, it also tells the story of Bentley’s six victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition, the book contains a number of priceless photographs of Bentleys from all eras up to the current one, together with historical documents such as ‘period’ sales catalogues, providing a comprehensive and engaging look at the history of Bentley.
Meanwhile, in the ‘historical model’ section, there is a dazzling collection of models hitherto unseen by even the most serious Bentley fanatic, including not only production models, but also Le Mans winning models and racing cars from the Brooklands Speed Trials to one-off prototypes, all accompanied by stunning and rare photographs. More detailed literature already exists on the description of each individual car, but even so, this book, which provides everything in a single volume, is recommended for Bentley fans and not just Bentley enthusiasts.

The Complete Bentley
author:Eric Dymock
publisher:Publishing Limited
p320/English

This is a revised version of an article that appeared in Flying B No 002 (2009). The information provided here was accurate at the time of publication.