The first aluminum pistons appeared during World War I and were used in the aircraft engines of Sopwith Camel fighter planes. By October 1919 the chassis had been exhibited by the brothers at the London Motor Show. By December they had fitted it with an engine. Emboldened by their success, the brothers promised to deliver finished cars to customers by June 1920, but due to development problems, the first Bentley cars were not ready until September 1921.
By 1922 Bentley Motors was ready to compete with the biggest sharks in the business. In 1922 they entered the Indianapolis 500-mile race with driver Douglas Hawks. Despite the tremendous competition, Hawkes managed to get his Bentley into 13th place. After the end, in the same 1922 Bentley competed in the RAC Tourist Trophy.
1925 came rather quickly for Bentley and a gentleman named Wolf Barnato bought his first - a 3 liter Bentley. Being impressed with his new car, he raced at Brooklands. It was this unintentional marketing move that gave birth to the Bentley Boys culture, a group of rich people who became avid fans of the brand. Despite the successes, Bentley Motors had problems with a lack of funding and this inexorably led the company to bankruptcy. Realizing that the company was in pretty bad shape, the same Barnato invested over £100,000 to save the company and its employees from bankruptcy. This led Barnato to become the new chairman of Bentley Motors.
He immediately made a financial reorganization of the company, which allowed him to pay off all existing debts. He then decided to fund more money to grow the brand. 35,000 was invested in 1927; £40,000 in 1928; and £25,000 in 1929, allowing WO Bentley to begin developing the second generation of cars.
Bentley were on a roll and their newest car at the time had an 8-litre engine and was a huge success. However, after the stock market crash of 1929, Bentley began to sink and Barnato, the financial company that had financed Bentley all along, went bankrupt trying to pull Bentley out of the abyss of bankruptcy. By 1931, Barnato could no longer afford to keep the company afloat. On July 10 of that year, the court appointed a receiver for the company. An aerospace company called Napier & Son entered negotiations with the receiver to buy Bentley Motors. All was going well, and the deal was expected to be completed. However, competing in the bidding for the right to possess the company British Central Equitable Trust made an offer of £ 125,000, this amount exceeded that offered by Napier & Son.
The Continental line was launched back in 1952 and has since bred descendants over the years. Nevertheless, the new Continental lineup differs from its predecessors.
Since 2003, four new models have been added to the Continental series, including the Bentley Continental GT in 2003, the Flying Spur in 2005, the GTC in 2006 and the Supersports in 2009.
The Continental GT is the car that made Bentley popular all over the world. This car is in demand among Hollywood and domestic show business stars, this coupe, unlike other Bentley models, was specifically designed for mass production. Originally seen by the nation at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show and then Le Mans, the GT is the most popular car Bentley has ever made. It's a perfect combination of power and performance in a sleek body unlike any other sports car in the world.
The base model is powered by a twin-turbocharged six-liter W12 engine and a six-speed (ZF 6H026A) automatic transmission, a tiptronic. The car is not only quite powerful, but it is also the most luxurious car ever made. Do not forget to use Bentley VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.