Vickers Era Bentley Cars

1980 - 1998

Managing director of the time, David Plastow, promised members of the Bentley Drivers Club a Bentley resurgence; and so it was to prove. In 1980, Rolls-Royce merged with Vickers. Building up the Bentley marque was a key strategy to improving the company’s performance. The Bentley Mulsanne, launched in 1980, was another badge-engineered car – sharing much with the Silver Spirit – but at least the name, redolent of Bentley’s Le Mans history suggested better things to come.

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Bentley Models from 1980 - 1998

The renaissance proper began in 1982, when the Mulsanne Turbo was launched. This 140mph Bentley – nicknamed ‘Crewe’s Missile’ – accelerated faster than some Ferraris and yet still had all the refinement and civility one expected from a Bentley. Bentley sales were booming. Soon Bentley, not Rolls-Royce would become the dominant marque at Crewe, The Eight, which followed in 1984, had a chrome mesh radiator, like a racing ’20s Bentley, and used stiffened suspension.

The Mulsanne Turbo was replaced by the Turbo R (for Roadholding) in 1985 and was a defining moment in Bentley’s history – it was even faster and more refined but, most significantly, represented a breakthrough in dynamic handling. When launched in 1991, the Continental R became the first unique-to-Bentley coupé since the S3 Continental of 1965. This in turn spawned the Azure of 1995, the first all-new Bentley convertible for 30 years.

A year later saw the launch of the shorter, wider and faster Continental T coupé (derived from the R) with its 6.75-litre engine ultimately to develop 420 bhp and a claimed top speed of 170 mph. The all-new Arnage saloon was launched in 1998 and initially used a BMW-derived 4.5-litre twin turbo V8, although the Crewe-produced 6.75-litre V8 would remain in production in the Azure and Continental R and T models.