Merlin by Graham Hoyland

Author:Graham Hoyland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-01T09:58:57+00:00

Times had been hard at the Bentley company. By July 1931 W. O. Bentley had worked through three fortunes, including his own, and Bentley Motors went into voluntary liquidation. Napier had conducted open and proper negotiations to buy the business, but Rolls-Royce, posing as the British Equitable Central Trust to avoid inflating the price, snatched the company away at the last minute. It was, as Setright tells us, ‘an unpleasantly furtive Rolls-Royce manoeuvre’, and once again it was to lead to bad blood between the aero-engine makers later when Napier was struggling to sell its Sabre engine. Rolls-Royce were powerful in Parliamentary lobbying too: they could summon the aid of 50 MPs, whereas it is doubtful whether Napier could call on even one. Again, Charles Rolls’s bequest of prestigious connections was proved beyond price. After acquiring Bentley in this way, Rolls-Royce then started to develop a new Derby-built Bentley 3½-litre car, ‘the silent sports car’.

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