The Bentley Experience

by Andrew Marsden, January Issue, 2008

Several months ago, I realised I was having trouble getting copy for this Magazine, so I joined the Bentley Company Media Website officially in my capacity as Editor. I now get downloads of information about the latest models and events from the company. I was intending to visit the UK in November for an Old Londoner's Medical School Re-Union Dinner, and decided I would travel up to the Midlands, stay with relatives, and try and organize a tour of the Bentley Factory. I sent an email to the Company, and within hours had a reply from the PR department at the Factory. I am grateful to Jennifer Elliott for organizing my special tour of the Factory and indeed to Nigel Lofkin, the Team Leader for the "Bentley Experience", who actually showed me around on the day. I had asked if my Uncle could come along (car and transport tragic/anorak from way back) and he was made most welcome too.

The tour started with coffee and biscuits in a reception room, before we went through the heritage halls. Here the Company keeps various famous Le Mans era Bentleys (Old No 2) and Birkin Specials. There was a stunning "Thunderbolt" Special with an aero-engine mounted on a Speed Six Chassis…awesome. There was, of course, the winning car from a recent Le Mans 24 hour race, taking the Company back to the winners podium (and several other place positions as well…) for this extra-ordinary race. The vehicle is low and bulging with power and aero-dynamics, but is also covered in squashed French flies and midges, which the cleaners for the area are advised not to clean off the car…insect patina! It was an interesting juxtapostion to see the late 1920's brute force machines, alongside the low aero-dynamics of the 2005 car.

Our next stop was to go into the sales area, where there was a brand new Bentley Continental GTC (soft-top coupe) next to an old 1920s 4.5litre car…there were displays of Bentley caps, jackets and umbrellas, as well as fountain pens sets, Breitling Watches, and a "lady's laptop" computer in a bound Bentley logo'd case. If you were concerned about shares and preferred to keep your wealth as cash in a safe, there was a Bentley logo'd, cabinet sized safe, with beautiful veneer work over stainless steel, in which to hide it all.

Indeed, at this stage, Nigel explained that the Company has begun to feel a slight chill in the financial winds over the last month or so, as various credit squeezes, and bank failures have started to affect their biggest customer base, the USA, leading to some reduced factory shifts. This current world financial situation is bound to affect this type of high end luxury product, but the orders are still out there, and for special bespoke cars too. Nigel described the Company's willingness to comply with special orders, including colours, interiors, materials to suit particular expensive tastes. A prospective buyer wanted a particular colour for his car, and left, at the factory, an old MixMaster food processor with a particular orange enameled panel…"that's the colour, I'd like my car!" Similarly, a lady visited and advised that she would like her car to be the colour of her current nail varnish, an apparently lurid pink-lilac, and so she was asked to leave part of a (false) nail, and the car was duly produced. There was a certain amount of wincing from the workers as the car went down the line…but that's what she wanted… Another customer wanted his white Continental GT to have flames in red and orange billowing down the sides of the car, but this particular colour scheme was not considered an appropriate Factory option, and of course, he was welcome to do with the car what he will, after delivery. (There is a code, don't y'know!…)

We moved into the main factory area, and were both struck by the light and airy atmosphere, and extra-ordinary cleanliness, with lots of yellow support columns, but pristine painted floors. As we walked past the final inspection bays, there was a squeaking behind us. I looked around and a Continental was right behind us, driving under its own power, but quite silent. The driver had just tweaked the steering wheel, knowing that the tyres would squeak on the painted floor, as a warning of his approach…eerily quiet engines!

In the inspection area, the final inspectors were going through several cars inch by inch, leaving small pieces of sticky tape labeling the smallest perceived imperfection for management. We looked at one such sticky, and it was for a slight 10mm long bulge of sealant around a rear window surround, bulging perhaps 1-2mm…"That will have to be fixed…" said Nigel.

The bodies come into the factory already painted, and join a hanging line, where the doors are removed and follow the car in racks, and are separately fitted out with cappings liners and handles etc. The main body is fitted with wiring looms and dash board fittings, and the ingenious fuel tank, up behind the rear seats. The engines, front subframe and rear subframe assembly are moving down a parallel line, and come together in one dramatic movement. It looks just like the old days of a separate chassis assembly, and the body is lowered down on to it. Everything then lifts up, and 18 vertical bolts per side are tightened up, and the body is then mated with the whole lower engine and transmission unit. The cars move on through the system, having wheels, headlights and seating all fitted. The doors are reapplied, and essentially the cars roll off the line.

We were then taken to the veneering area, in a separate building. Here the old craft skills still abound. The base plates are formed cast aluminium sections, the door cappings, the center console pieces, but then various customer requested veneers are applied, lacquered and flatted off to produce the rich deep lacquer effects. Options include different forms of marketry, matching paired veneers, or for the Diamond Jubilee cars, aligning the veneers in a diamond pattern. The whorls and loops of the bird's eye maple and other veneers are applied with great skill. We were shown the dash board for a left hand drive Arnage, where the glove box lid had an eerie skull like form in the whorls of the veneer, which was not spotted until the car was some way down the line. It was considered wise to remove the dashboard and start again (although the car could probably have been sold to a "bikie gang" leader, who was appropriately cashed up!!!) The lacquer, some six coats, was sprayed on in a rotating turret system using a robot arm. It was one of the few robot systems found in the plant, and was an example of the money spent on some of the processes as modernization by the Volkswagen Group.

Leatherwork and trimming was dear to the heart of our guide, who had spent more than 20 years as a trimmer, following his father into the factory, and grandfather before him. He said that "our kid also works here…", a classical Midlands expression referring to a younger brother. Hand stitched steering wheel covers and the most exquisite leather for the seats was a feature in this area. A £2000.00 option was to have all the seat and upholstery seams over cross stitched with a Kevlar thread. This process would take one operator sewing by hand for a whole week of work, some 37 hours, and although it looked nice, I felt it made the seam a little abrasive.

The highlight for me was to realize that the engines are built up from bare machined blocks on site at Crewe. They do not come over from Germany in a crate, to be bolted in. There were about 20 mechanics, working in a large room, and the engines start at one end and progress up through several stations, cross over and come down the other side. Apparently, each of the mechanics could probably build an individual engine from start to finish, but they elect to share the jobs. The Continental GT engine has two blocks each of which has six cylinders in a tight V, and they run on a common crankshaft, as a W12 engine. The engine is remarkably short from front to back being only some 25 inches. The venerable 6.75 litre Rolls-Royce/Bentley V8 engine is also built up in the same large room. Each engine is test run, with every few engines given an extended run, and every 25 engines given an exhaustive test run, with some dismantling to check for wear etc. So the message is that the engines are assembled or built at Crewe, in the factory, by craftsmen mechanics…

Our tour came to an end with a visit to the "Mulliner/ParkWard" Specialist Division areas, where there were strictly no cameras…this is the area where much more bespoke assembly and special leather interiors was undertaken. Here cars could be possibly identified in terms of potential celebrity ownership, hence the no pictures, and the area was also building special government (and potentially vulnerable customers) security cars, with steel armour plating, special wheels and tyres, 25-30mmm thick glass all round and other anti attack features. The Company can make a vehicle which looks like an Arnage, but is on a truck chassis, with steel panels, and 100mm plus glass, and can weigh up to 7 tonnes fully kitted out. Those vehicles are for very vulnerable people, and "if I told you any more about their design and fittings, I'd have to kill you…"said Nigel. It was interesting to see a standard baby seat ready for fitting, which had a beautiful Bentley leather cover and the famous footballer's child's name embossed on the seat leather. The car had a Mulliner Name plate in the driver's door, with a separate plate, which said "Happy Birthday ------, Love from ------, or was it Happy Christmas -------", but I couldn't tell you who it was for… a gift from someone very posh, no doubt!

So my thanks must go to the Team Leader for The Bentley Experience, Nigel Lofkin, for showing us both around over two and a half hours, and to Jennifer Elliott for coordinating the visit, and also to the various workers to whom we stopped and chatted, all of whom were keen, cheerful and individually, enthusiastic ambassadors for their Marque. My uncle was simply blown away… What a fantastic day for a Motoring Enthusiast!

Andrew Marsden