Worth the visit: Bentley works

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Rick Nicolass recently paid a visit to ther Bentley works. Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Bentley factory in Crewe, UK. This was one of my things to do in life which I could tick off after the visit. 

After the welcome by Alan Powell, our host for the day, in the showroom we were driven with a strech limo version of the Bentley Mulsanne to the factory. Amazing to see that still traditional craftsmanship is very important for 'creating' a Bentley. The woodwork and leather division is very human professionalism. The human eye is an very important factor in these division. An apprentice takes 3 years to become a qualified member of these divisions.

Not one car coming of the line is the same. Every customer has their personal wishes. One GT convertible was standing outside the factory for shipment. The color was a dark pink color. Alan P. told us the story behind this car. A US lady ordered this car but couldn't decide which color she wanted so she told the dealer in the US to manufacture te car first and by the time it is assembled she would know the color she likes. Sorry lady, first the color then the assembling of the car. So she decided the fly to London, she wouldn't visit the factory and one of Alan's colleagues had to drive, 4 hours, from Crewe to London to visit the lady in the hotel and take the color back with him to the factory. The color she wanted was one of her many nail polish bottles. The colleague wanted to take the nail polish bottle with him but was not allowed. She would put the nail polish on all the fingers of one of his hands. So it happened and he drove back all the way to Crewe to the paint shop of Bentley to have the color analyzed for the right color for the car. He did not stop on the way back for a coffee. Wonder why.J
The visit was a full day with visits through almost the complete factory. One division we couldn't visit was the design studio.

To complete the visit we visited the small museum with some PreWar Bentley's among which this lesser known Mark V.
Worth the visit.

Words and pictures: Rick Nicolaas

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