Bentley Mark VI DHC By Park Ward (Design 99)

The Mark VI 4-door standard sports sedan was the first postwar Bentley. It was announced in May 1946 and produced from 1946 to 1952.

It was also the first car after the acquisition of Bentley by Rolls-Royce with an all-steel body and the first complete car to be assembled and finished in their factory. These very expensive cars were a real success.

In 1944, Rolls-Royce executive W. A. Robotham saw that there would be limited postwar demand for a Rolls-Royce or Bentley with a body by a specialized coachbuilder. So he negotiated a contract with the Pressed Steel Company for a general purpose body to carry four people in comfort on their postwar chassis. Although he expanded demand to 2,000 vehicles a year, independent coachbuilders still continued to produce two-door saloon and drophead coupe models.

Park Ward was founded in 1919 by William MacDonald Park and Charles Ward; following Rolls-Royce’s acquisition of Bentley in 1931, Rolls-Royce took a stake in Park Ward, and in 1939 Rolls-Royce completed its acquisition of the company. Rolls-Royce bought the company in 1939 and in 1961 merged with H.J. Mulliner & Co. to form Mulliner Park Ward.

Records show that Park Ward produced a total of 167 bodies during the Mark VI’s production years, including dropheads as well as coupes and saloons. Since Park Ward had been a specialist in drophead bodies since its founding in 1919, it is safe to say that most of the Mark VI Bentleys with Park Ward badges were open bodies. Of these 167 bodies, 57 were made of what was known as “design 99.”

We are proud to present our Bentley Mark VI Drophead coupe Park Ward design 99! This was delivered on March 28, 1951 to G.J.W. Wareing, its first owner as a standard 4 doors saloon. The original English registration number was GNV 491, still present on the vehicle.

In May 1975, Sir Robert Boyd bought the Bentley Mark VI. He was the 6th owner at the time. Sir Robert Boyd was the father of British space science and forged vital links between Nasa and the European space agency.

In addition to this Mark VI, Sir Robert Boyd had another Mark VI with a Park Ward Drophead coupe design 99 with chassis number B186LJ. However, the chassis was in poor condition. Therefore, Sir Robert Boyd undertook the project to save and rebuild the beautiful body (Source: Bentley Mark VI – A Complete Classics Publication by Bernard L. King, page 340). The rest is history…

The owner history, as well as maintenance on the car, was kept up nicely.

In 2015, the car was thoroughly restored. The works were detailed by numerous invoices for a total of 80,000€.

Today the car is in beautiful condition and starts and drives perfectly!

Come see this gem of automotive history and be charmed by its beautiful shapes!