Join Shmee150 and discover the Bentley Heritage Garage

Welcome to the Bentley channel, I'm Shmee150 and today we are in for a treat. We're here in Crewe, England, discovering the Bentley Heritage Garage with some of the most extraordinary cars from Bentley's over 100 year history. In fact, we'll begin with the eldest surviving Bentley, the 1919 EXP2. Beside it, the car right here is the most famous and most valuable Bentley car ever, the 1929 4.5-litre Blower. This is the Tim Birkin car, the number 2 of 50, the car that raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1930. We have cars that were driven and owned by W.O. Bentley himself, we have cars that represent each different period and era of the Bentley history, including cars that were the very last off the production line, or if we come all the way round to the 2016 Bentley Bentayga, that was actually the very first production car that came off the line. It is an extraordinary history and there's so much to discover, but let's rewind back to where it began, over a century ago in 1919, in fact with the EXP1. Now that car no longer survives, but it's believed that parts from it found their way the same year into the car right here, over 100 years old, the EXP2 3.0-litre. It's hard to believe that that car is sitting right here beside me at the moment, but that is really, you could say, in terms of the cars here, where it all began, the very first year of Bentley Motors. We head from there though to this, the awe-inspiring Bentley Blower, the 1929 4.5-litre. There were 50 cars, but this is the very one that competed at Le Mans in 1930. It is the car that has given rise to the Continuation Series that we see from Mulliner. It is the car that really means so much to the world of Bentley. If I look around this, we've got a plaque that showcases the different events and races it's competed in. You can see the weathered look all around the car itself. It is just fabulous to be in the presence of a car that arguably is priceless. This is the most significant Bentley of all time. We move from the 4.5-litre Blower to the 8.0-litre from 1930. This was, in fact, W.O. Bentley's personal car for the first two years back then, 8.0-litres of engine within a car with a completely different appearance and presence to the Blower, which was, of course, for motorsport. But then, let's fast forward. This is something a bit different, the 1949 Mark VI, the car that was the first to be produced here in Crewe, the new home of Bentley, having moved from Cricklewood to Derby, and the first car to enter production after the Second World War. From 1949, we jump ahead here to 1963. This is the S3. This car has the 6.2-litre V8, really the start of the V8s that have found their way through numerous different models that have followed since. We jump ahead to the next chapter. This is a 1991, but it's the 1986 introduced Turbo R. It is the car that really set Bentley off on their own sporting pedigree, setting them off on their own path. Before we get to the Arnage Red label, now what's interesting about the Arnage Red label is that's the first car that was introduced when Bentley became part of the Volkswagen group, really kick-starting new things, the 6.75-litre engine, the V8 that we find on a number of different models that have come since, produced in pretty limited numbers as well. Next to that, we've got the Continental R. This is, in fact, the very last one that was made before one of the most significant changes, the introduction of the Continental GT, the first-generation Continental GT, and this, from 2003, is actually the very first production car that they made. Who would have known back then how significant that was going to be? Now two years after the original Continental GT, we move to the 2005 Flying Spur, specced absolutely identically because, again, the first-ever production version of the Flying Spur in its first generation. It's amazing to be in the presence of these cars, but we head on to a trio of Bentleys again from this era, that fantastic engine, but in the Azur, the Arnage, and the Brooklands. Technically, three different derivatives of the same platform, the two-door convertible, we have the four-door saloon, and we have the two-door luxury coupe. Glorious, glorious cars, but really, beginning the end of an era, the end of the V8, before we have the Mulsanne, height of luxury, alongside something with much more sporty pedigree, the Continental GT Supersports, and in fact, the very final one of the first generation of the Continental GT. But of course, the Continental GT and its siblings have gone through a number of different derivatives, and we head next to a lovely example of the final special version, you could say, of the second-generation Flying Spur, the W12S. The lineup does continue though, because we then have a lovely example again of the Continental GT V8 S, the final version of the V8-powered second-generation Continental GT, before we get to the Bentley Bentayga, a car that has sold in countless numbers, this being the very first production car again, having been launched back in 2016. And it's amazing to think that we're here with this history, with the Bentaygas, the Continental GTs, the Flying Spurs, but rewinding it all the way back to the 4.5-litre blower, to the EXP2, to where this company began, you know, these were separated by ten years, it was a very small company at the time, but with WO Bentley keen to go and race, that's what this was about, about motorsports, about setting the bar, about competing, and this, it's hard to believe it's right here, it's a car I've read about, seen so much about, and now I'm standing right beside it. The incredible thing is these are less than half of the cars from the Bentley Heritage Garage. These are cars that tell a story as we walk through them, but far from the entire collection. What an opportunity to be here at the Bentley HQ in Crewe, to be able to have a look around at the Heritage Garage. Thanks for watching.