How The Bentley T-Series Brought Revolutionary Engineering to the Famed British Luxury Marque.

Introduced in 1965, the Bentley T-Series was luxury sedan range that was largely identical to the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, with the main difference being its distinctive Bentley grille.  

The T-Series was significant for being the first monocoque Bentley and was built in two generations, the T1 manufactured between 1965 and 1977, and the T2 between 1977 and 1980.

Bentley T series

Work on designing the first monocoque Bentley and Rolls-Royce models to replace the long-serving coach-built bodies underpinned by a separate chassis began in 1958.  

By 1962, John Blatchley – famous for styling the R-Type Continental – had completed a new exterior design for a steel and aluminium monocoque body. 

Stylish interior

The design improved on the passenger space of the preceding S3, but with the overall car now seven inches shorter, five inches lower and three-and-a-half inches narrower. 

Using the freshly developed 225 bhp, 6.23-litre V8 engine, seven prototypes undertook testing including endurance runs of over 100,000 miles. At the time the engine achieved the highest specific output by weight of any production car in the world of 2.7 lb/hp (1.2 kg/hp). 

The Flying B

Design innovations of the T-Series included separate sub frames to carry the engine and transmission, suspension, steering and rear axle assemblies, with ‘Vibrashock’ rubber sub frame mounts developed to isolate road noise and vibration. 

The Bentley T-Series was hailed as a clear example of revolutionary engineering given it was the first Bentley to move away from a separate chassis build, and its relatively lightweight construction gave impressive performance for a four-door sedan in 1965, with a maximum speed of 115 mph and 0-62 mph achieved in 10.9 seconds.

Rear end

Just 1,868 examples of the first-generation T-Series were produced, with a pre-tax list price in the UK of £5,425 and the majority being standard four-door saloons.

An imposing site on the road

by Mark Quinlan