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1952 Bentley R Type ( MKVII ) B 20 RT - John Richardson - Victoria, Australia

In March 1994, I was fortunate to locate and purchase the 1952 Bentley Standard Steel Sports Saloon Chassis Number B.20.RT, which is the very First Big Bore, Long Boot Car Delivered by Bentley Motors (1931) Limited for the vehicles subsequently designated ‘R’-Type.
B.20.RT was ordered by Major Hubert Martineau as a replacement for his earlier Bentley Steel Saloon and was invoiced by the Factory to Franco-Britannic Autos Ltd on 3rd June 1952, as a “Bentley Mk.VII Chassis Std. Steel Saloon”. UK Registration Plates Number XAU 888 were issued and actual Delivery to Major Martineau occurred in France on 15th June 1952.

Major Martineau instructed Bentley Motors (1931) to deliver B.20.RT with a 12/41 Rear Axle, a Speedometer reading Kilometres, a Plain Radiator Cap without the Winged “B” and without Picnic Tables to the Front Seats, as he required “Special treatment to be paid to the comfort of the front seats, as he was most dissatisfied with the seats of his former Bentley Steel Saloon.”.
Subsequent to B.20.RT arriving in Australia, the Plain Radiator Cap was drilled out with a “Winged B” fitted to make its appearance similar to other Bentley cars and the Speedometer converted to read MPH. After several years searching for a New Original Equipment Plain Radiator Cap, my wife found two NOS during one of our visits to the Jack Barclay facility in London, thus enabling replacement of the later fitment “Winged B” Radiator Cap with a new Plain Radiator Cap as delivered. Inquiries still have not yet located a NOS Speedometer which reads in Kilometres and restoration of the Original to kilometres is contemplated. After some
13 years endeavour, I was able to purchase the Rights in Australia to the Registration Plates for Number XAU 888, which now compliment B.20.RT. Other modifications, which are Fully Reversible without damage to a Fine Crewe Conveyance, include Air-conditioning, Exhaust Headers/Extractors, Electronic Ignition, Solid State Contacts for the Fuel Pumps and Radial Tyres. B.20.RT is my Favourite Bentley, although my B.191.UL with Automatic Transmission is also delightful to drive.

There has been a lot of research on B.20.RT over the years because it is the First car of the Model delivered.

The document at the above is a copy of the Factory Invoicing for B.20.RT, which is of course now archived at the Hunt House (The RREC chose to publish the document as provided to you in an RREC Bulletin around 1997 - cannot readily locate the edition number but the page number is 87 and the ongoing topic was related to how/why the Mk.VII was subsequently renamed the 'R'-Type - HH Records show some 21 cars including B.20.RT were invoiced out as Mk.VII cars before the Factory recalled all the paperwork after Jaguar beat them to the Mk.VII Model release.)

Herewith is a copy of the Factory Invoicing Niumber 20263 on 03-06-52 which Barbara Westlake faxed to me on 16-10-95, either before, or after our visit around that time. Cannot remember what the second lot of invoicing is, as it is not relevant to the Original Invoicing Date/Details -Major Martineau upgraded to a Phantom in 1956 and this may be relevant to that transaction. Did not bother to include Barbara's Fax Header, as this does not affect the integrity of the copy invoice which is identical to the Original in the HH Archives.

The other pages are interesting, in that they relate to Delivery Dates for the First 10 Chassis Numbers of the RT series and RS Series. Both "Twenty Years of Crewe Bentleys 1946-1965" published by the the Bentley Drivers Club and "Bentley R-Type by Bernard L King, who spent many hours research at HH confirm B.20.RT as the First car of the Model Dlivered. I have various information ready to send to Bernard King to augment his comments on the Mk.VI/R-Type Naming Saga and in relation to Handbooks, as due to Jaguar beating Bentley to the Mk.VII Model designation, Bemrose had to reprint all the Handbooks to remove the Mk.VII Designation and Bernard King shows handbook XIII was not printed until around April 1954 - some 10 months after B.20.RT was delivered(Other early cars as well). Alll very interesting.

Peter Baines was kind enough to give me a copy of Ian Vetch's Handwritten Letter to the RREC explaing the Mk.VII Re-naming/Mk.VII Invoicing Saga - this, I can readily locate and it was published in RREC Bulletin Issue 222 May/June 1997 at page 75. (When I was younger, seems like a lifetime ago, I worked with a US vehicle manufacturer and well understand what the Factory had to achieve once Jaguar gazumpted Bentley to the Mk.VII Model Name)