Photo: Bentley
Back in 1939, the Bentley Mark V was about to be launched on the market. To properly pave the way for the car - in vain, as it turned out - Bentley created a high-performance version of it called Corniche.
Only one unit was ever built, and it got lost in France when the war broke out. Not because of the war per se, but because of a crash during testing.
Countless decades later, Bentley’s Mulliner division revealed the recreated original Corniche, after an effort that lasted several years. Initiated by volunteers from the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation and the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation, the project got Mulliner’s backing last year, just in time to have it ready for the carmaker’s 100th anniversary.
The team used only the original technical drawings to recreate the car, and it was built using original Corniche and MkV mechanical components that somehow Bentley seems to have had all this time, just laying around the Crewe facility or elsewhere.
“The 1939 Corniche was a clear step in Bentley’s design language which is evident when set aside the later and now iconic R Type Continental,” said in a statement Adrian Hallmark, Bentley CEO.
“Mulliner’s stunning recreation of the Corniche clearly demonstrates our skill in restoring the greats from Bentley’s back catalogue as well as making beautiful personalised modern Bentleys.”
The revived 1939 Bentley Corniche will be shown for the first time publicly at the Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace in September. After that, it will join the Heritage fleet and tour the world’s auto events.
As a side note, the Corniche name was later tied to Rolls-Royce as well, who produced cars named this way from 1966 to 1995. The Bentley variant of the car became the Continental in 1984.
The full details on how the car was recreated, from scratch, can be found in the document attached below.
Countless decades later, Bentley’s Mulliner division revealed the recreated original Corniche, after an effort that lasted several years. Initiated by volunteers from the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation and the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation, the project got Mulliner’s backing last year, just in time to have it ready for the carmaker’s 100th anniversary.
The team used only the original technical drawings to recreate the car, and it was built using original Corniche and MkV mechanical components that somehow Bentley seems to have had all this time, just laying around the Crewe facility or elsewhere.
“The 1939 Corniche was a clear step in Bentley’s design language which is evident when set aside the later and now iconic R Type Continental,” said in a statement Adrian Hallmark, Bentley CEO.
“Mulliner’s stunning recreation of the Corniche clearly demonstrates our skill in restoring the greats from Bentley’s back catalogue as well as making beautiful personalised modern Bentleys.”
The revived 1939 Bentley Corniche will be shown for the first time publicly at the Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace in September. After that, it will join the Heritage fleet and tour the world’s auto events.
As a side note, the Corniche name was later tied to Rolls-Royce as well, who produced cars named this way from 1966 to 1995. The Bentley variant of the car became the Continental in 1984.
The full details on how the car was recreated, from scratch, can be found in the document attached below.
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