The highly celebrated 1930's Bentley Embiricos is visiting Crewe

The Embiricos was recently featured in Louis Vuitton Classic Serenissima Run, held in Venice as part of the Bentley lineup. The glorious car will call the Lineage Showroom at Bentley’s Pyms Lane factory home till September.

Throughout the 1930s Bentley Motors who were then owned by Rolls-Royce, were producing fast, refined Grand Tourers from its Derby factory. When most customers sent their chassis to traditional coachbuilders, one Bentley enthusiast had an idea for an aerodynamically streamlined high-performance Bentley. With support from the factory, the most famous Bentley of the Derby era was conceived.

Walter Sleator, Bentley’s agent for Paris introduced Andre Embiricos, a wealthy Greek racing driver living in Paris to Georges Paulin, a designer working for coachbuilders Pourtout Carrossier. Under Paulin’s guidance Pourtout produced a sleek, aerodynamic body powered by a 4¼-litre powertrain suitable for high-speed touring and setting new track records. The fastback was crafted in Duralumin, an aluminium alloy to keep the car light.

The ‘Embiricos’ Bentley was a perfect high performance grand tourer, clocking a top speed of 184.5 km/h at Brooklands, despite being suitable for everyday driving. Embiricos sold his exclusive Bentley in late 1939 to H.S.F. Hay who raced it in three post-war Le Mans 24-hour races, achieving a commendable
6th place in 1949.

The Embiricos encouraged the company to explore into streamlined styling for future production models. A sleek Mark V prototype called Corniche was produced but was later destroyed during a World War Two bombing raid. Post-war, the Embiricos has inspired design cues for cars from the 1952 R Type Continental till today’s Continental GT coupe.

Richard Charlesworth, Director of Royal and VIP Relations and Head of the Bentley Heritage Collection, comments, “It is an honour for Bentley to exhibit this unique Bentley for the first time, thanks to the generosity of its esteemed owner. Its sleek form was extremely advanced for the time, and its DNA can still be seen in modern Bentley coupes today. We are looking forward to showing the Embiricos to our factory visitors, and to the public at the upcoming Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance.”