Bentley T-series reborn: out of the Shadow

By Martin Buckley

| 10 Dec 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Bentley T-series reborn: out of the shadow

The success of the ‘Derby’ Bentley series, and the R-type and S-type Continentals, had shown that Rolls-Royce was not only a good custodian of the famous marque, but that the winged ‘B’ and the Spirit of Ecstasy made well-matched corporate bedfellows.

Like the partners in any healthy marriage, they each assimilated the best characteristics of the other for the joint benefit of the relationship.

Throughout the late 1940s and into the ’50s Bentley was much the dominant partner in terms of sales: the MkVI and R-type Standard Steel saloons far outnumbered the Silver Dawn and coachbuilt-only Silver Wraith.

Once abandoned at the back of a warehouse, the very first Bentley T-series has been brought back to life

There were several hundred more S1 Bentleys sold than Standard Steel Cloud Is from 1955-’59, too.

If something began to shift with the coming of the new V8 engine in 1959, it was probably more a societal change than an engineering one.

With the hardship of the Second World War and the subsequent austerity becoming fading memories, there was, perhaps, less reticence among the very wealthy in this new era of ‘never had it so good’ to be seen behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce.

In Silver Cloud form, the firm had by then established itself as a maker of pleasurable owner-driver cars rather than the enormous limousines you willingly paid somebody else to drive for you, in the manner of a pre-war Phantom.

Before the Bentley T-series reached production, a six-cylinder engine was mooted, but in the end it shared a V8 with its Rolls-Royce stablemate

Power assists had taken all the effort out of manoeuvring these cars: there was no manual transmission option any longer, yet the V8 had given even the Standard Steel saloons levels of performance previously reserved for the specialist coachbuilt Continental variants.

Another factor was exports: many American buyers didn’t then know what a Bentley was, so, with the marketing push firmly behind the Rolls-Royce badge, you can see how the scene was set for putting the winged ‘B’ very much on the back foot with the arrival of the Silver Shadow and T-series in the autumn of 1965.

When the project to build a Rolls-Royce using unitary construction had first been mooted in 1954 there had been an intention to make the Bentley – Project Burma – a smaller, higher-volume six-cylinder model with Project Tibet as the larger, V8-engined Rolls-Royce variant.

The reborn Bentley T-series has plush doorcards

Seven Bentley Burma prototypes were built (latterly with V8 power), reaching an elevated level of development until it became obvious that creating two separate new models was a financial commitment too far.

An additional element humming away in the background was, from 1962, the British Motor Corporation’s courtship of Rolls-Royce, which could have resulted in an ‘executive’-type Bentley based on the big Farina or Austin 1800/3 Litre bodyshells; the dismal failure of the Vanden Plas 4 litre R likely came as a relief to all concerned.

This Project Java was quietly dropped, but its existence almost certainly muddied the waters when the question of in which direction to take the Bentley name arose.

The Bentley T-series has neat hinged picnic tables for back-seat passengers

All the Tibet/Burma prototypes, in a project later rationalised under the ‘SY’ codename, had been run as Bentleys rather than Rolls-Royces and the decision was taken, quite late in the design process, to simply make the T-series an unashamed clone of the Silver Shadow.

It would feature a different-shaped grille and bonnet pressing, and appropriately identified hubcaps and instruments.

There would be no more coachbuilt Bentley Continentals on this new monocoque platform, with the specialist coupé and drop-top variants limited to the Mulliner Park Ward Two-Door Saloon and Convertible with a strong family likeness to the standard four-door.

Indeed, the S-type/Cloud-based coachbuilt models remained in the price lists for a further 12 months while these versions were prepared.

No head restraints in the Bentley T-series, but there’s plenty of space in the rear

Technical parity between the two marques completed the process of turning the new T-series saloon into nothing more or less than a badge-engineered Silver Shadow.

There was never any intention to drop the Bentley name, however, and a glance at the launch brochure suggests that the marketing team at Crewe was not entirely certain in which direction things were going to go: the T-series gets almost equal weight to the Silver Shadow in terms of illustrations in this joint Rolls-Royce and Bentley handout, dated September 1965.

In reality, though, from this point on Bentley sales began to fade away.

Between 1965 and 1977, a mere 1712 first-generation ‘T’ saloons were delivered, compared to an impressive 16,717 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows.

The Bentley’s 28 September 1965 build sheet reveals its spec and original purpose ‘For use as trials car’

At 2780 examples, even the specialist long-wheelbase Shadow outsold the standard T1, while winged ‘B’ versions of the Mulliner Park Ward and Corniche two-door coupés and convertibles sold in handfuls: just 279 Bentleys compared to almost 5500 Rolls-Royce-badged versions.

Meanwhile, with just nine produced, the LWB Bentley T is one of the rarest variants of all.

The arrival of the facelifted Shadow II and T2 in 1977 merely accelerated the decline of the Bentley name.

Just 558 standard T2s were produced, and this situation was not turned around until the arrival of the turbocharged Mulsanne-based cars in the early 1980s.

“I lifted the back of the tarp to see the plate: T1001. I knew we had to rescue it”

Although the Shadow range was one of the great Rolls-Royce commercial success stories of the post-war period, it tumbled down the food chain rapidly as its sheer ubiquity – along with its complexity and prohibitively expensive upkeep – kept values depressed.

The result is that really good examples are now very few and far between.

Full credit, then, goes to Wayne Bruce and Mike Sayer of the Bentley Motors PR team for recognising the significance of the 1965 Bentley T-series pictured here.

Having welcomed back the car from a P&A Wood restoration (the cost of which must have outweighed the car’s value several times over), they have saved for posterity not only the first Bentley T-type, but the very first Shadow-family vehicle to leave the production lines in 1965.

The Bentley’s 2022 strip-down showed the extent of the work that lay ahead for P&A Wood

“I had heard that there were lots of cars in storage in a warehouse near Crewe,” recalls Wayne, “and in October 2019, five months after I joined Bentley from McLaren, I finally found a helpful colleague who would let me in.

“It was just amazing, like an Aladdin’s Cave of Bentleys, some of which had clearly been there a while.

“I was drawn to a saloon-car shape in the corner under a tarpaulin with a wheeltrim visible that I recognised to be from a T-series.

“From the sorry state of it, clearly someone had attempted a restoration but given up.”

As found, the Bentley’s interior was little more than “an explosion of wiring”

“The body was rusty, some of the paint had been sanded and the interior was an explosion of wiring, old tyres and not much else,” he explains.

“I then lifted the back of the tarpaulin to see the US numberplate: T1001.

“The colleague with me remembered it was reputed to be the very first T ever built, and I knew we had to rescue it.”

The duo took boss Adrian Hallmark to see the warehouse.

“He was quite cross about the state of the car,” says Mike, “but that was one of the catalysts for rebuilding the Heritage fleet.”

This Bentley T1’s ‘Chippendale’ dashboard is superbly finished and set off by the handsome Blue Hide trim

It emerged that, in October 2016, a team of apprentices had embarked on an initial strip-down and assessment of the depressed-looking T1, but this had been put on hold while other commitments at Crewe took precedence.

“It needed a lot of work,” explains Mike, “so 18 months ago it was sent to P&A Wood, our partner for all of our Heritage rebuilds.”

There was certainly plenty to do, but it was not a complete restoration: “Amazingly, the engine didn’t need rebuilding; it started almost first time on a jerry can of fuel.”

“The body was rusty and some of the paint had been sanded”

The body was taken to bare metal, de-rusted and repainted in its original Shell Grey.

All the perishable mechanicals were replaced, and an all-new interior was put together in the original shade of blue, with a matching leather headliner.

A donor T1 was sourced so that some of the rare early parts could be secured.

“We are still digging into the history,” says Mike, “but we know for sure it has spent time in America, it is the very first T-series and was built before the first Shadow, so it really is the first of its kind.”

The car is thought to be the one used for the dealership launch alongside a Regal Red Silver Shadow, registered 100 LG: “It was retained as a ‘trials car’ and we think it was used for the press photography in 1965.”

This Bentley’s Shell Grey paintwork is immaculate once again

“I can’t say for sure that it was used for the motor show,” says Wayne, “but we know it was completed on 28 September 1965 and the UK motor show was in October, so it could have been on the stand.

“It was originally registered 85 TU – a plate we don’t own today, although it’s for sale – but 1900 TU has been transferred between many cars and was used as a photo plate in period.

“We had it on retention and thought it natural to reapply it to this car.”

This T-series Bentley’s monocoque body was restored by specialist P&A Wood

“Legend has it that Richard Charlesworth, my predecessor’s predecessor, bought the car from an elderly woman in Beverly Hills,” adds Wayne.

“Yes,” concludes Mike, “we have spent more on it than you would ever pay for a T-series, but it is a special car and hugely significant as the first monocoque Bentley – although there’s no denying it really is just a Rolls-Royce with a Bentley badge on it.

“Even the seat buckles say ‘RR’: they didn’t bother changing the logo!”

The Bentley’s elegant lines look almost discreet today

“We feel it’s an important part of our history, and it’s important to Wayne and me personally because of all the work we have done with the collection,” continues Mike.

“I’ve been looking forward to getting it back and parking it in its spot in the garage, so people can see how the design DNA evolved.”

Now as when new, the T1 is a handsome and unpretentious-looking car, and an amazingly petite and narrow one compared to its modern brethren – or even the voluptuous S3 alongside.

It was always the intention that the Shadow/T-series should be a more manageably sized car for increasingly crowded 1960s roads.

Years in storage took its toll on the first Bentley T-series

It has been taken back to its original spec – including no door or wing mirrors, never mind air conditioning.

The rear-view mirror is tiny and the pushbutton radio doesn’t even have an FM setting.

Under the bonnet, the all-alloy V8 is still running a dynamo.

Mike says the engine has a slight knock: “We’ll see how we get on – it seems to be quietening down.”

The complex braking system and four-speed transmission needed work, but the other main mechanicals were in surprisingly good condition.

The Bentley’s whispering L-series V8 started life at 6230cc, upped to 6750cc in 1971

Inside, there is new leather and veneers, the early non-recessed doorhandles and the beautiful Chippendale dash with its ‘Texas flap’ – a hinged piece of veneer in the middle of the fascia, designed to emit ambient air.

“It’s a curious thing to drive, but fun,” says Mike, sitting on a front seat that’s far slimmer than those of the later cars.

“It is quite keen off the mark and the brakes are surprisingly good, but the steering is comical until you get used to it – a bit like stirring a pot of paint.”

This Bentley’s chassis plate confirmed it was first Shadow variant

For me, it’s great to see the once-unloved T-series getting its share of the limelight at last.

Mike agrees: “There was a gap in the Bentley Heritage line-up and this car was the trigger for rejuvenating the classic fleet.

“Wayne and I came across it separately but had the same reaction: the T1 was an awkward moment in our past, but you can’t hide from history.

“We knew it needed to be saved.”

Images: Mark Riccioni

Factfile

Bentley T-series

Sold/number built 1965-’77/1712
Construction steel monocoque, with aluminium bonnet, boot and doors
Engine all-alloy, ohv 6230cc 90° V8, twin SU HD8 carburettors
Max power not disclosed
Max torque not disclosed
Transmission four-speed automatic with fluid flywheel, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones, anti-roll bar rear trailing arms; coil springs, telescopic dampers, automatic height control f/r
Steering Saginaw power-assisted recirculating ball
Brakes powered Girling discs, twin calipers at front, with three independent circuits
Length 16ft 11½in (5169mm)
Width 5ft 11in (1803mm)
Height 4ft 11¾in (1518mm)
Wheelbase 9ft 11½in (3035mm)
Weight 4660lb (2067kg)
Mpg 12
0-60mph 10.9 secs
Top speed 115mph
Price new £6496 (1965)
Price now £10-35,000*