Somewhere in Motor Racing Heaven W.O. Bentley must be smiling, because, after more than half a century, the company 
that carries his name (and his brother’s) has been liberated from Rolls-Royce. Of course, neither popular British marque is independent. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Volkswagen is the caretaker of the Bentley brand, but there is no doubt that W.O. would have a preference that circumstance to the previous administration in which Bentleys were little more than Rolls-Royces without the famed radiator shell. Read more . . .
By an odd coincidence, both Henry Royce and Walter O. Bentley (see photo, middle) , two of Britain’s most vaunted automotive names, began 
their careers as railway apprentices. Many years later, in the 1920s, the two men competed for the title of best English car maker- Bentley with his hell-for-leather quasi-racing machines and Royce with his elegantly refined Rolls-Royce models. When the Depression strike and Bentley’s business collapsed, Royce was right there to pick up the pieces, acquiring the rights to the Bentley brand in a way that had to stick in W.O.’s craw, and the two names have been connected uncomfortably ever since. Read more . . .