1953 BENTLEY R TYPE
A very special H. J. Mulliner coach build Bently R Type from 1953. Beautiful lines and coach work from a bygone era of elegance, charm, hope and happiness.
By 1953, these coach built motor cars were a dying breed. Most R Types were bodied by Bentley themselves as standard steel bodied saloons. For the lucky few there was still the opportunity to take your rolling chassis to one of the (now much reduced) number of coach builders, of which probably less than 10 now existied.
Of the 2323 R Types built only approximately 10% were coach built. While we have not been able to determine precise numbers, this suggests that Mulliner probably bodied less than 70 cars. How many of these are left after 70 years is anyone's guess.
THE CAR
The Bentley R Type is the second series of post-war Bentley automobiles, produced from 1952 to 1955 as the successor to the Mark VI. Essentially a larger-boot version of the Mk VI, the R type is regarded by some as a stop-gap before the introduction of the S series cars in 1955. As with its predecessor, a standard body was available as well as coachbuilt versions by firms including H. J. Mulliner & Co., Park Ward, Harold Radford, Freestone and Webb, Carrosserie Worblaufen and others.
During development it was referred to as the Bentley Mark VII; the chassis cards for these cars describe them as Bentley 7. The R Type name which is now usually applied stems from chassis series RT. The front of the saloon model was identical to the Mark VI, but the boot was almost doubled in capacity. The engine displacement was approximately 4½ litres, as fitted to later versions of the Mark VI. An automatic choke was fitted to the R-type's carburettor. The attachment of the rear springs to the chassis was altered in detail between the Mark VI and the R Type.
For buyers looking for a more distinctive car, a decreasing number had custom coachwork available from the dwindling number of UK coachbuilders. These ranged from the grand flowing lines of Freestone and Webb's conservative, almost prewar shapes, to the practical conversions of Harold Radford which including a clamshell style tailgate and folding rear seats.
All R Type models use an iron-block/aluminium-head straight-six engine fed by twin SU Type H6 carburettors. The basic engine displaced 4,566 cc (278.6 cu in) with a 92 mm (3.62 in) bore and 114.3 mm (4.50 in) stroke. A four-speed manual transmission was standard with a four-speed automatic option becoming standard on later cars.
As of 2017, it remains the last car by Bentley to be sold which has manual transmission.
The suspension was independent at the front using coil springs with semi elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The brakes used 12.25 in (311 mm) drums all round and were operated hydraulically at the front and mechanically at the rear via a gearbox driven servo.
OUR CAR
The first example is the standard steel saloon built by Bentley, but a number of customers, like the one who first ordered our car, opted for a bare chassis which was taken to a coachbuilder of their choice. In this case H. J. Mulliner.
When the R-Type replaced the Mk VI in 1952 you might have struggled to see what had changed.
But if you walked right around it, you’d notice that the boot had doubled in size, not only boosting luggage capacity but giving the car a more balanced appearance.
Underneath, it still used a chassis that sensibly blended old and new features, including the Mk VI’s straight-six engine with valves arranged in inlet-over-exhaust format. That engine had grown from 4.2 to 4.6-litres in 1951 and would later expand to 4.9-litres in the very special R-type Continental variant that now sells for up to £1million.
Any R-Type saloon – especially in manual gearbox form – was a fast car for its day. For their combination of performance, comfort, space, engineering heritage and prestige, they remain impressive and desirable vehicles.
In total, just 2,323 R-Types were built, of which only around 10% were coach built, making our car very rare.
Our car has ‘Razor-Edged Sports Saloon’ coachwork by H.J. Mulliner (design number 7220), and that was a very rare thing even in 1953 when it was delivered new to its first owner, reportedly a director of the major Yorkshire textile manufacturer, Stroud, Riley & Co. It has the 4.6 litre engine and a manual gearbox.
The car wears ‘Pearl Black’ over ‘Tudor Grey’ paintwork and is thought to be one of only two cars to feature glass draught excluders at the top of all four windows.
The previous owner owned the car for over 30 years and was just the 5th owner in the car’s long history.
During his curation the front and rear flashing amber direction indicators were installed (1993), the radio was converted to FM (2008), the rear seats were completely re-upholstered in identical colour-matched leather (1995), an additional electric cooling fan was fitted in front of the radiator (2011), and a new petrol tank was manufactured and fitted (2007).
At some early point in its life, it went to live in sunny California, returning to these shores in, we think, 1990.
A VIDEO OF THIS CAR AS WE BOUGHT IT - Click here
A SIMILAR CAR IN ACTION
