The 1947 Bentley Mark VI was a rare and impressive find, with its original components and impressive engine size. The car's cooling system was particularly noteworthy, featuring electric water pumps that augmented the mechanical pump to keep the massive 27L engine cool. The engine itself was a marvel, producing a tremendous amount of heat that required effective cooling systems.

The Allison automatic transmission was another notable feature, providing a smooth and reliable driving experience. The drum brakes had been replaced with disc brakes hidden in the drums, adding an extra layer of safety to the car's performance. The massive oil tank held 17 gallons of oil, and the blower was actually an oil cooler that helped keep the engine temperature under control.

The modern alternator provided power to the various systems on board, including electric power steering and the water outlets that went all the way back to the engine compartment. Despite its size, the car's engine was surprisingly efficient, producing 650-700 horsepower when needed. The engine was also undressed in terms of supercharging or turbocharging, relying instead on displacement to achieve high performance.

As Jeremy Clarkson noted, the car's driving experience was unlike anything else on the road. With its massive torque and smooth transmission, it felt like flying an airplane. Even though Jeremy had only driven the car on a test track, he fell in love with its unique character and performance capabilities. When taken out on public roads, the Mark VI proved to be a joy to drive, with its impressive torque providing a sense of excitement and energy.

The Bentley's controls were also noteworthy, featuring a modern fuel injection system and a plug-in amp meter for accurate monitoring of engine performance. The horn was paired with high and low beams, as well as turn signals, and the dashboard lights could be turned on and off at will. Even the rearview mirror had an altimeter built into it, providing a unique perspective on the car's performance.

One of the most impressive features of the Mark VI was its ability to handle heavy loads without faltering. With its massive engine and smooth transmission, it could easily handle three tons with ease. This made it a joy to drive on long distances, as it provided a sense of comfort and confidence behind the wheel. Despite its size and weight, the car's dynamics were surprisingly agile, making it feel like "square dancing" with a fat lady.

As Jeremy Clarkson noted, one of the main problems with the Mark VI was that everyone else seemed to be driving too slowly compared to its capabilities. The engine was designed to run efficiently at high speeds, but in everyday traffic, the car often found itself struggling to keep up. However, on the freeway or test track, the Mark VI shone in its ability to accelerate quickly and smoothly, making it a true joy to drive.

In conclusion, the 1947 Bentley Mark VI was an impressive and unique vehicle that showcased the engineering prowess of its time. With its massive engine, smooth transmission, and advanced cooling system, it was truly one of a kind. Whether driven on public roads or test tracks, the Mark VI proved itself to be a joy to drive and experience, with its incredible torque and performance making it a true gem in the world of classic cars.

If you enjoyed this article, please go to YouTube and look up Jeremy Clarkson driving this thing on the Dunford test track. It's a lot of fun to watch him behind the wheel, and he had a great time with the car as well. We'll see you guys next week, thanks for watching bye-bye!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to another episode of Jay lon's garage today we're featuring my 1930 Bentley well sort of a 1930 Bentley you know W Bentley liked big engines uh 3 l 4 and 1/2 L 6 and 1/2 L 8 l he stopped at 8 L this one's got a 27 L Merlin aircraft engine this is the engine that won the air War for Great Britain shooting down countless Nazi planes enough cannot be said about the brave men who flew these magnificent machines Winston churel said it best never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so you I was fortunate enough to get a ride in a P-51 Mustang that had a Merlin aircraft engine and got to feel what this thing was like in the air just magnificent you may have seen this car on the English uh version of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson he raced against a V12 46 L BMW uh that also had an arrow engine in it um it's hard to give you an idea how big this car is um I'll tell you what let me bring in a car just for proportion sake George come out here with that Fiat you all know how big a Fiat abar is George come on pull us right next to you there you go I mean it it doesn't even I mean look at look at the uh it's probably three of these at least he go all right George put it back just kind to give you an idea I'm I'm just about 6 feet tall so look at the windshield is right here on me um it it's a massive thing this car was built by Bob Peterson Peterson engineering over in England he just does beautiful beautiful work and I was thrilled to see the car on Top Gear well here let me show you an example of some of the cars he's built over the years pretty cool here are some pictures of this car under construction starting with the basic chassis there's the wood framing there it took a lot of work to get this car tractable and rotable it's got modern fuel injection in it it's got an Allison automatic transmission it's got electric power steering all kinds of trick stuff to make it drive and handle like a reasonably modern car it weighs three tons a little over three tons uh it's just a massive thing about 650 700 horsepower but loads and loads of torque as you can see it seats four people so you can take the family out if you like um Jeremy Clarkson was quite smitten with this car he really seemed to like it a lot I watched him on the show and he was torn between this and some other kind of superc cars when I talk about more money than brains this is what we're talking about Ladi and gentlemen all the little details are just beautifully done it really is a fantastic car to drive and it certainly uh raises eyebrows when people see it like a plus-size model it carries its weight very well um you don't realize how big it is and look at the booty on this thing massive gas tank uh hilarious I mean everything is just oversized look at big giant biller tank here hello hello more gas more gas locked that thing down dual exhaust look how big they are and it's a proper four-seater car so honey I got it for the family we can take the kids out it's not a two-seater car it stops and handles much better than has any right to but the real beauty of this car is the workmanship that Bob did beautiful leather what Bentley used to do was you'd have a wood frame with stretch leather you'd stretch the leather very tightly and you put pieces of rubber between the wood to keep from squeaking and you'd make these lightweight bodies lightweight bodies the car weighs over 3 tons but you try to keep it as light as you can we're going to put it up on the lift in just a minute I'll show you the undercarriage uh the dashboard is beautifully laid out but we'll show you that while we're doing the drive let's open the hood and show you what it looks like under there see you've got metal guards in there to keep the heat from burning through the leather oh and it makes a lot of heat this engine weighs the engine alone weighs probably 3500 lb as you can see it's nicely done oil filler is right here modern fuel injection beautiful headers beautiful stainless steel headers on it um overflow tank here you know you could probably get 1,000 horsepower of this if you want it but 650 700 see I live in a hilly area and this is just enough to get me over those so it works out okay but uh it's it's really a lot of fun to drive it's just you know there's nothing on this that would fit a normal Bentley except maybe the headlights because everything is a Bentley plus about another third or a half all the panels are big oversized radiator shell we really haven't had to do much to it because Bob did a nice job on it doesn't overheat runs pretty well um haven't had any problems with it at all it's a just a nice Road car I'll tell you what I'll put it up on the leftt and show you some of the interesting engineering that uh Bob did on this thing looks like an original piece from the 30s a big rare end back there this is kind of interesting these are cooling fins all along here and we've got electric water pumps back here an engine like this makes a tremendous amount of heat it's 27 l so it makes all kinds of heat so you need to cool it and uh these electric pumps augment the mechanical pump and then you've got these these cool as well the tubes have these rings on them and these obviously uh help cool the water too there's your big Allison automatic transmission in there um it's a nice mix of old and new what looks to be uh vintage drum brakes are actually a huge disc brakes hidden in the drums as well um they everything's all dirty because we drive this thing a lot we put a lot of miles on it and of course your massive engine up here this thing holds about 17 gallons of oil some crazy thing like that this is looks to be looks like a blower it's not it's an oil cooler and then you've got a modern alternator down here as well here's your water Outlets that go all the way back there we've got electric power steering in it that helps uh as well um it's pretty bulletproof actually it's you know this was built to be somewhat under stress it wasn't going from Maximum horsepower you could probably get 1,000 horsepower out of this engine if you want it it's about 650 700 horsepower now something like that moving three tons but it's great fun to drive and the thing that makes it really nice is Bob's workmanship in here everything is nicely done all the fittings it doesn't seem to be any cut Corners anywhere it just drinks a lot of gas man it drinks a lot of gas it's getting late or you're almost done Mr Leno be closing up but look how nice and clean everything stays in here let's take it down and we'll take you for a ride you don't realize how big this car is until you see it in relation to other cars on the road thing that makes of all the little airplane touches like the uh the light from the Lancaster bomber and all the other Arrow switches in it you feel like you're flying in the Battle of Britain every time you drive this thing oh the oil hasn't got anywhere near warm yet takes a while to heat up 17 gallons you see why Jeremy fell in love with this thing but I don't know if you ever got to drive it on public roads I think you only drove it on the test track you really got to drive this thing on the street and see it in relationship to other cars that's where the fun is and oh my God the torque it rides a lot better than it has any right to but you really do feel like you're flying an airplane I really think W Bentley would have approved of this car there was no replacement for displacement you know whenever he wanted more power he didn't go to supercharging or turbocharging he just went to a big engine and a 27 L Merlin you can't get much bigger than that at 60 you're turning about 1100 RPM oh this thing is so much fun to drive the torque just it's like a steam end he just pushes you forward let's take it up on the freeway see how it goes but let's put the camera inside here and we'll show you some of the controls as we're driving this is a turn your dash lights on and off this is for your modern fuel injection your plug in amp meter Horn high beam low beam turn signals oil temperature fan engine temperature it's not as bad as it seems that's at the hottest spot oil light oil pressure Speedo course Tack and fuel twin Magneto here and your lights and your engine start over here most of these fittings are all aircraft even got an altimeter here in the rear viiew mirror temperature 80° main problem with this car is everybody else is going too slow and the engine is so undressed in this application that you never wear it out engine starting to get some heat in it now it doesn't handle bad I mean it's true you can't beat physics it's a heavy car but it's like square dancing with a fat lady the fact that it does it at all is unbelievable you know the fun thing about this car is the engine is so undressed I take on the freeway I go a couple hundred miles and it's it's like the engine's idling all the way anyway that's our 20 7 ler Bentley for you hey if you enjoyed this episode go to YouTube and look up Jeremy Clarkson driving this thing on around the Dunford test track it's a lot of fun he had a lot of fun with it almost as much fun as I had so we'll see you guys next week thanks bye-bye but\n"