Editing Bentley (section)

===Cricklewood (1919–1931)===
[[Image:1919 Bentley EXP2 Oldest Surviving Bentley.jpg|thumb|1919 Bentley EXP2 (Experimental nr. 2), the oldest surviving Bentley.]]
Before [[World War&nbsp;I]], [[W. O. Bentley|Walter Owen Bentley]] and his brother, Horace Millner Bentley, sold French [[Doriot, Flandrin & Parant|DFP]] cars in Cricklewood, North London, but W.O, as Walter was known, always wanted to design and build his own cars. At the DFP factory, in 1913, he noticed an [[aluminium]] paperweight and thought that aluminium might be a suitable replacement for cast iron to fabricate lighter pistons. The first Bentley aluminium pistons were fitted to [[Sopwith Camel]] aero engines during the First World War.

The same day that the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] to end [[World War I]] started, Walter Owen ("W.O.") Bentley founded Bentley Motors Limited, on 18 January 1919{{sfn|Stiefel|Clark|2019|p=}} and registered Bentley Motors Ltd. in August 1919.  In October he exhibited a car chassis (with a dummy engine) at the [[British International Motor Show|London Motor Show]].<ref name="Beaulieu">{{cite book |editor1-last=Georgano |editor1-first=Nick |title=Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile |date=1 October 2000 |edition=Hardcover, Reprint |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |isbn=1-57958-293-1}}</ref> Ex–[[Royal Flying Corps]] officer [[Clive Gallop]] designed an innovative [[multi-valve|four-valves-per-cylinder]] engine for the chassis. By December the engine was built and running. Delivery of the first cars was scheduled for June 1920, but development took longer than estimated so the date was extended to September 1921.<ref name="Beaulieu" /> The durability of the first Bentley cars earned widespread acclaim, and they competed in hill climbs and raced at [[Brooklands]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Bentley's racing heritage|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/classic/bentleys-racing-heritage/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/classic/bentleys-racing-heritage/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|agency=The Telegraph|date=5 October 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Bentley's first major event was the [[1922 Indianapolis 500]], a race dominated by specialized cars with [[Duesenberg]] racing chassis. They entered a modified road car driven by works driver [[Douglas Hawkes]], accompanied by riding mechanic H. S. "Bertie" Browning.<ref name="IndyBrits">{{cite book|last1= Wagstaff|first1= Ian|title= The British at Indianapolis=|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aczKjoVLQn8C|access-date= 11 October 2013|date= September 2010|publisher= Veloce Publishing|location= Dorchester, UK|isbn= 978-1-84584-246-8|pages= 26–27|chapter= 3: The Not-So-Roaring Twenties|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aczKjoVLQn8C&pg=PA26|quote= It was an event that was to prove a costly exercise for the Cricklewood-based company in sending both a professional driver and a mechanic with the car.|ref= IndyBrits|archive-date= 6 January 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240106192049/https://books.google.com/books?id=aczKjoVLQn8C|url-status= dead}}</ref> Hawkes completed the full {{convert|500|mi}} and finished 13th with an average speed of {{convert|74.95|mph}} after starting in 19th position.<ref name="AutocourseIndyTable">{{cite book|last1= Davidson|first1= Donald|last2= Schaffer|first2= Rick|title= Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CeCxyf0BpgUC|access-date= 9 October 2013|year= 2006|publisher= MBI Publishing|location= St. Paul, MN USA|isbn= 1-905334-20-6|page= 327|chapter= Official Box Scores 1911–2006|ref= AutocourseIndy}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The team was then rushed back to England to compete in the 1922 [[RAC Tourist Trophy]].<ref name="IndyBrits" /><ref name="AutocourseIndy60">[[#AutocourseIndy|Davidson, Donald, Schaffer, Rick, ''Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500'']], page 60</ref>

====Captain Woolf Barnato====
In an ironic reference to his [[heavyweight boxer]]'s stature, Captain [[Woolf Barnato]] was nicknamed "Babe". In 1925, he acquired his first Bentley, a 3-litre. With this car, he won numerous Brooklands races. Just a year later, he acquired the Bentley business itself.

The Bentley enterprise was always underfunded, but inspired by the 1924 Le Mans win by [[John Duff]] and [[Frank Clement (racing driver)|Frank Clement]], Barnato agreed to finance Bentley's business. Barnato had incorporated Baromans Ltd in 1922, which existed as his finance and investment vehicle. Via Baromans, Barnato initially invested in excess of £100,000, saving the business and its workforce. A financial reorganisation of the original Bentley company was carried out and all existing creditors paid off for £75,000. Existing shares were devalued from £1 each to just 1 shilling, or 5% of their original value. Barnato held 149,500 of the new shares giving him control of the company and he became chairman. Barnato injected further cash into the business: £35,000 secured by [[debenture]] in July 1927; £40,000 in 1928; £25,000 in 1929. With renewed financial input, W. O. Bentley was able to design another generation of cars.

====The Bentley Boys====
{{Main|Bentley Boys|Blue Train Races}}
[[File:1929 Bentley front 34 right.jpg|thumb|1929 Blower Bentley]]
The [[Bentley Boys]] were a group of British motoring enthusiasts that included Barnato, [[Henry Birkin|Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin]], [[steeplechase (horse racing)|steeple chaser]] George Duller, [[aviator]] [[Glen Kidston]], automotive journalist [[S.C.H. "Sammy" Davis]], and [[Dudley Benjafield]]. The [[Bentley Boys]] favoured Bentley cars. Many were independently wealthy and many had a military background.  They kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive; Bentley was noted for its four consecutive victories at the [[24 Hours of Le Mans]], from 1927 to 1930.

Birkin developed the 4½-litre, lightweight [[Blower Bentley]] at Welwyn Garden City in 1929 and produced five racing specials, starting with [[Bentley Blower No.1]] which was optimised for the Brooklands racing circuit. Birkin overruled Bentley and put the model on the market before it was fully developed. As a result, it was unreliable.

During the March 1930 [[Blue Train Races]], Barnato raised the stakes on [[Rover Company|Rover]] and its [[Rover Light Six]], having raced and beaten ''[[Le Train Bleu]]'' for the first time, to better that record with his 6½-litre [[Bentley Speed Six]] on a bet of £100. He drove against the train from [[Cannes]] to [[Calais]], then by ferry to [[Dover]], and finally London, travelling on public highways, and won.

Barnato drove his [[H.J. Mulliner & Co.|H.J. Mulliner]]–bodied [[sedan (automobile)|formal saloon]] in the race against the Blue Train. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a Speed Six with streamlined fastback "sportsman coupé" by [[J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited|Gurney Nutting]]. Both cars became known as the "[[Blue Train Bentley]]s"; the latter is regularly mistaken for, or erroneously referred to as being, the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1698/Bentley-Speed-Six--Blue-Train-Special-.html |title=Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special' |last=Melissen |first=Wouter |date=12 January 2004 |publisher=UltimateCarPage |access-date=4 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://autoaficionado.net/issue/0101-38.html |title=The Slippery Shape of Power |last=Burgess-Wise |first=David |date=1 January 2006 |work=Auto Aficionado |access-date=4 November 2008|url-status= usurped|archive-date= 24 March 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090324025849/http://autoaficionado.net/issue/0101-38.html}}</ref> A painting by [[Terence Cuneo]] depicts the Gurney Nutting coupé racing along a road parallel to the Blue Train, which scenario never occurred as the road and railway did not follow the same route.

====Cricklewood Bentleys====
[[File:Bentley 8 Litre limousine by Mulliner 1930 side.jpg|thumb|[[Bentley 8 Litre]] 4-door sports saloon]]
* 1921–1929 [[Bentley 3 Litre|3-litre]]
* 1926–1930 [[Bentley 4½ Litre|4½-litre & "Blower Bentley"]]
* 1926–1930 [[Bentley Speed Six|6½-litre]]
* 1928–1930 [[Bentley Speed Six|6½-litre Speed Six]]
* 1930–1931 [[Bentley 8 Litre|8-litre]]
* 1931 [[Bentley 4 Litre|4-litre]]

The original model was the three-litre, but as customers put heavier bodies on the chassis, a larger 4½-litre model followed. Perhaps the most iconic model of the period is the 4½-litre "Blower Bentley", with its distinctive [[supercharger]] projecting forward from the bottom of the grille. Uncharacteristically fragile for a Bentley it was not the racing workhorse the 6½-litre was, though in 1930 Birkin remarkably finished second in the [[1930 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix at Pau]] in a stripped-down racing version of the Blower Bentley, behind [[Philippe Etancelin]] in a [[Bugatti Type 35]].

The 4½-litre model later became famous in popular media as the vehicle of choice of [[James Bond]] in the original [[Ian Fleming|novels]], but this has been seen only briefly in the [[James Bond film series|films]]. [[John Steed]] in the television series ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' also drove a Bentley.

The new eight-litre was such a success that when Barnato's money seemed to run out in 1931 and Napier was planning to buy Bentley's business, Rolls-Royce purchased Bentley Motors to prevent it from competing with their most expensive model, the Phantom&nbsp;II.

====Performance at Le Mans====

====[[24 hours of Le Mans]] Grand Prix d'Endurance====
[[File:Rétromobile 2017 - Bentley speed six - 1930 - 001.jpg|thumb|[[Bentley Speed Six]]]]
* ''[[1923 24 Hours of Le Mans|1923]] 4th (private entry)'' (3-Litre)
* [[1924 24 Hours of Le Mans|1924]] 1st (3-Litre)
* ''[[1925 24 Hours of Le Mans|1925]] did not finish''
* ''[[1926 24 Hours of Le Mans|1926]] did not finish''
* [[1927 24 Hours of Le Mans|1927]] 1st 15th 17th (3-Litre)
* [[1928 24 Hours of Le Mans|1928]] 1st 5th (4½-litre)
* [[1929 24 Hours of Le Mans|1929]] 1st (Speed Six); 2nd 3rd 4th: (4½-litre)
* [[1930 24 Hours of Le Mans|1930]] 1st 2nd (Speed Six)

Bentley withdrew from motor racing just after winning at Le Mans in 1930, claiming that they had learned enough about speed and reliability.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bentley Motors To Give Up Racing |work=Evening Telegraph |location= Angus, Scotland|date=1 July 1930 |access-date=23 July 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19300701/068/0005| via = British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

====Liquidation====
The [[Wall Street crash of 1929]] and the resulting [[Great Depression]] throttled the demand for Bentley's expensive motor cars. In July 1931 two mortgage payments were due which neither the company nor Barnato, the guarantor, were able to meet. On 10 July 1931 a [[receivership|receiver]] was appointed.<ref>"Receiver Appointed of Bentley Motors Limited Re Bentley Motors Limited; London Life Association Limited v. Bentley Motors Limited, And Woolf Barnato". ''The Times'', Saturday, 11 July 1931; p. 4; Issue 45872</ref>

[[D. Napier & Son|Napier]] offered to buy Bentley with the purchase to be final in November 1931. Instead, British Central Equitable Trust made a winning sealed bid of £125,000.<ref name="BentleyDNA">{{cite book |last=Feast |first=Richard |title=The DNA of Bentley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5l0PBEg9Ta0C |access-date=26 March 2012 |year=2004 |publisher=[[MotorBooks International]] |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=978-0-7603-1946-8 |pages=64–65 |chapter=When Barnato bought Bentley |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5l0PBEg9Ta0C&pg=PA64|ref=BentleyDNA }}</ref> British Central Equitable Trust later proved to be a [[Front organization|front]] for [[Rolls-Royce Limited]]. Not even Bentley himself knew the identity of the purchaser until the deal was completed.<ref name=Beaulieu/>

Barnato received £42,000 for his shares in Bentley Motors. In 1934 he was appointed to the board of the new Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd. In the same year Bentley confirmed that it would continue racing.