James Young bought J. K. Hunter's business in 1863. It built a full range of high quality carriages including landaus but was most famous in James Young's time for its lightweight Bromley Brougham.[1]
Their first car body was made in 1908 on a Wolseley chassis for the local Member of Parliament.[2][3] During the First World War they made ambulances, lorries and armoured cars on Darracq and Hudson chassis.[1] In the 1920s and early 1930s standardised bodies were built for Sunbeam and Talbot along with individual commissions often on Bentley and Rolls-Royce chassis.
In 1937 James Young was bought by London Rolls-Royce dealer Jack Barclay and he persuaded Scotsman A. F. McNeil[6] (1891–1965), 'Mac', to leave J Gurney Nutting & Co to become James Young's chief designer.[1] These two events combined with the end of the depression to produce a sharp rise in James Young's sales.
Earls Court motor show 1948
During the Second World War James Young built aircraft components, mobile canteens and canvas covers. The factory was destroyed and all records were lost in 1941, the second year of the Blitz. Rebuilt, it was hit again, this time by a V-1 flying bomb but production continued.[1]
Coachbuilding resumed after the war and a stand was taken at the 1948 Motor Show.[3] By the early 1960s 50 or 60 new bodies were being built each year mostly for export. By that time the only Bentley bodies were for Continentals, the last S3 Continental went to its owner in early 1966. Mac McNeil died in 1965.[4]
James Young version
Mulliner Park Ward version
Some thirty-five Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (and 15 Bentley T) fixed head coupés were created in 1966 and 1967 by removing rear doors from standard unitary construction production cars and extending the front doors. Lacking McNeil's touch the Rolls-Royce subsidiary Mulliner Park Ward with more technical information cornered the market .[4][7]
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Bentley has been a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and consolidated under VW's premium brand arm Audi since 2022.
Coupé de ville—also known as town car or sedanca de ville—is a car body style produced from 1908 to 1939 with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. Although the different terms may have once had specific meanings for certain car manufacturers or countries, the terms are often used interchangeably.
The Rolls-Royce 100 EX and the 101 EX, with 'EX' standing for experimental models, are two related concept cars developed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and first shown at the Geneva International Auto Show in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is a luxury automobile produced by Rolls-Royce Limited from April 1955 to March 1966. It was the core model of the Rolls-Royce range during that period. The Silver Cloud replaced the Silver Dawn and was, in turn, replaced by the Silver Shadow. The John P. Blatchley design was a major change from the pre-war models and the highly derivative Silver Dawn. As part of a range rationalisation, the Bentley S1 was made essentially identical, apart from its radiator grille and badging.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a full-size luxury car produced by British automaker Rolls-Royce in various forms from 1965 to 1980. It was the first of the marque to use unitary body and chassis construction.
The Bentley S1 was a luxury car produced by Bentley Motors Limited from 1955 until 1959. The S1 was derived from Rolls-Royce's complete redesign of its standard production car after World War II, the Silver Cloud. Each was its maker's last standard production car with an independent chassis. The S-series Bentley was given the Rolls-Royce - Bentley L Series V8 engine in late 1959 and named the S2. Twin headlamps and a facelift to the front arrived in late 1962, resulting in the S3. In late 1965, the S3 was replaced by the new unitary construction Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow-derived T series.
The Bentley Mark VI is an automobile from Bentley which was produced from 1946 until 1952.
The Bentley R Type is the second series of post-war Bentley automobiles, produced from 1952 to 1955 as the successor the Mark VI. Essentially a larger-boot version of the Mk VI, the R type is regarded by some as a stop-gap before the introduction of the S series cars in 1955. As with its predecessor, a standard body was available as well as coachbuilt versions by firms including H. J. Mulliner & Co., Park Ward, Harold Radford, Freestone and Webb, Carrosserie Worblaufen and others.
The Bentley S2 is a luxury car produced by Bentley from 1959 until 1962. The successor to the S1, it featured the new Rolls-Royce–Bentley L-series V8 engine and improved air conditioning made possible by that engine's increased output. Power steering was also standard, and a new dashboard and steering wheel were introduced. Some early S2s were built with the earlier S1 dashboard.
The Bentley S3 is a four-door luxury car produced by Bentley from late 1962 until 1965, as the successor of the Bentley S2.
The Rolls-Royce Corniche is a two-door, front-engine, rear wheel drive luxury car produced by Rolls-Royce Motors as a hardtop coupé and as a convertible.
The Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were rolling chassis produced by Bentley from 1926 to 1930. The Speed Six, introduced in 1928, became the most successful racing Bentley. Two Bentley Speed Sixes became known as the Blue Train Bentleys after their owner Woolf Barnato raced the Blue Train in 1930.
The Bentley Mark V was Rolls-Royce's second Bentley model. Intended for announcement at the Earl's Court Motor Show set down for late October 1939 it had much in common with its predecessor. War was declared on 3 September 1939 and a few days later Bentley announced it had ceased production of civilian items.
Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded in 1919 which operated from Willesden in North London. In the 1930s, backed by Rolls-Royce Limited, it made technical advances which enabled the building of all-steel bodies to Rolls-Royce's high standards. Bought by Rolls-Royce in 1939, it merged with H. J. Mulliner & Co. in 1961 to form Mulliner Park Ward.
The Grose was an English automobile built between 1898 and 1901, Grose also built bodies for cars, buses, ambulances and commercial vehicles until the late 1950s.
Hooper & Co. was a British coachbuilding business for many years based in Westminster London. From 1805 to 1959 it was a notably successful maker, to special order, of luxury carriages, both horse-drawn and motor-powered.
John Polwhele Blatchley was a London-born car designer known for his work with J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited and Rolls-Royce Limited. He began his career as designer with Gurney Nutting in 1935, moving up to Chief Designer before leaving in 1940 to join Rolls-Royce. There he served as a draughtsman (1940–43), stylist in the car division (1943–55), and chief styling engineer (1955–69).
The Sunbeam-Talbot 90 is an automobile which was produced and built by Sunbeam-Talbot from 1948 to 1954 and continued as the Sunbeam Mk III from 1954 to 1957.
J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited was an English firm of bespoke coachbuilders specialising in sporting bodies founded in 1918 as a new enterprise by a Croydon firm of builders and joiners of the same name. The senior partner was John (Jack) Gurney Nutting (1871–1946).
The Carlton Carriage Company was a London coachbuilder that provided bespoke coachwork for some of the finest car makers of the 1920s and 1930s. They are best known for their drophead coupes which are archetypal designs of the British Jazz Era.
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