Transmission : Single dry-plate clutch; 4 speed gearbox
Chassis : Pressed-steel parallel girder with channel and tubular crossmembers
Dimensions : Wheelbase 124", Track front 56 1/4", Track rear 58"
Performance : 97 mph (156 km/h)
No. Made : 15 (11 of these fitted with a body)
Instead of the single Stromberg
carburettor of the Wraith, mixture for the Mark V was supplied
by two SU
carburettors.In addition,
it provided better roadholding and handling, because its chassis
was equipped with the independent
front suspension which followed the example
of the
American Packard.
The outbreak of the Second World
War meant a stop was put to the development of the new model.
Some thirty years went by before
the true number of Bentley Mark Vs was extracted from the
chassis cards.
At the outbreak of the war the Bentley
Mark V had fifteen chassis with engine completed;
six further cars were left unfinished,
but remained at one or another stage of production.
Eleven of the completed chassis
with engines were fitted with coachwork. they were pressed into
service as transport for high ranking
officials and military officers and were kept driveable
because parts were taken from the
six Mark Vs which had remained more or less unfinished.
In the same way three of the finished
Bentley Mark Vs which had not received bodies,
were cannibalized; the last one,
however, ended up as a victim to an air-raid at the premises of
James Young where it awaited bodying.
Some Bentley Mark Vs, the rarest
cars of the post Silver Ghost era at Rolls-Royce,
are known to have survived.