1952 Bentley R-Type by Freestone & Webb; Sporting elegance in a harmonious package.(Escape Roads)

Byline: JOHN F. KATZ

The grim economy of postwar Great Britain led even Rolls-Royce and Bentley to rely increasingly on common components and standardized bodies. Custom and even semi-custom coachwork grew increasingly rare.

Bentley standardized first, Rolls followed. The Bentley Mk VI of 1946 was essentially a prewar Mk V powered by the F-head six developed during the war and sharing a chassis with the similarly updated Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. But while every Wraith wore custom coachwork, four out of five Bentleys were sold with Standard Steel Saloon bodies from Pressed Steel in Oxford. In 1949, Rolls put its own radiator on the Standard Steel Saloon and called it the Silver Dawn. Yet the twins were not identical, as the more sporting Bentley came with a high-lift cam and twin SUs in place of a single Stromberg.

Engine displacement for both models grew in mid-'51, from 4257 cc to 4566 cc. In June '52, an extended frame allowed for a top-opening trunk and more graceful lines. The Silver Dawn kept its name, but the stretched Bentley became the R-Type, because its serial-number suffix had progressed to ``R'' that year.

The Standard Steel Saloon still represented about 80 percent of Bentley production, but 303 R-Types were delivered as chassis only. Twenty-nine of those were bodied by Freestone & Webb, the Northwest London coachworks that had created the archetype ``razor edge'' Bentley for the London Motor Show in 1935. V.F. Freestone and A.J. Webb opened their shop in 1923, and originally specialized in sporting styles, supplying bodies for S-Type Mercedes as well as 230 Bentleys from the era preceding Rolls' ownership. By the mid-1930s the firm had reorganized; its new focus was on sedans and limousines.

John Bandfield acquired this 1952 right-hand-drive example more than 20 years ago, still painted its original dark blue with black fenders. ``It looked ominous, like something the Addams Family would drive,'' he chuckled. He restored the interior to its original off-white, but painted the outside a more harmonious light green and beige.

Narrow doors hamper access for those wide of girth or long of foot, but the appointments inside are opulent, even dazzling. The woodwork is (of course) fabulous, and folding ...