Rolls-Royce and Bentley: Sixty Years at Crewe

By: Malcolm Bobbitt

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Synopsis: In 1998 Rolls-Royce celebrated the 60th anniversary of the opening of its Crewe factory, the home of the company's car production since World War II. This illustrated history celebrates Rolls Royce and Bentley cars and the company that produced them. Motoring writer Malcolm Bobbitt has brought together a varied collection of photos to create this visual account. The text explains the move of the company's car production from Derby to Crewe just after the war and takes the story through the successful 1950s and 1960s. He recalls the near bankruptcy of the company in the 1970s and its subsequent recovery, and finishes with a description of the company and its cars today in light of the 1998 sale to Volkswagen and the acquisition of the Rolls-Royce name by BMW. The author concentrates on the evolution of the characteristic models - the Bentley Mk VI and the R-Types, the Silver Wraith and Silver Dawn, the Silver Cloud and Silver Shadow and Silver Spirit - and he looks at the recent revival of the Bentley marque which recaptures the spirit of the cars' pre-war sporting history. The book also remembers the notable individuals who played a vital part in the creation of these famous vehicles, and it describes the company's organization and its meticulous methods of design, testing and construction.