1939 Bentley Corniche brought back from the dead

Bentley has re-created a car thought to have been lost to history, after the original 1939 Corniche was destroyed in a bombing raid on Dieppe, in France, during the Second World War.

Described by automotive historians as one of the most important and pivotal vehicles in the manufacturer's history the '39 Corniche, created to be a high performance version of the MkV, was resurrected by the car-maker's Mulliner division.

Originally, the project to bring back the Corniche was started by volunteers from the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation and the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation but was brought in-house from February 2018.

Built to help celebrate Bentley's centenary Mulliner, a company that usually builds bespoke one-off creations for Bentley's wealthiest customers, was fortunate to have access to the Corniche's original technical drawings, which were donated by the family of the car's designer, George Paulin.

It also helped that the lost Bentley used MkV mechanicals, but the bespoke division still had to resort to remaking the body, mostly by hand, to ensure it was identical in every way to the original.

This meant Mulliner had to rely on its in-house coachbuilding skills, applying the same techniques employed back in the thirties to create its stunning streamlined body.

Helping in the task, Bentley had kept many of the parts to produce further Corniche models until the early 1970s before selling them off to specialists and enthusiasts.

These parts were used by the loyal band of enthusiasts who tried, initially, to recreate the Corniche themselves before the ailing project was rescued by the car maker.

The body was carefully hand-formed, under the supervision of a team of experts, while the paint laboratory spent countless hours trying to match the original car's Imperial Maroon.

Inside, the headaches continued for Bentley as the seats, door trims, wood and leather were all recreated from detailed historical research using period-correct techniques.

Luck struck for the Bentley workers when a roll of the Corniche's original carpet was found stored away on site at the Crewe factory.

Originally commissioned by Greek racer Andre Embiricos and built by French coachbuilder Pourtout, the reason the 1939 Corniche is so well regarded is it inspired both Bentley engineers and management to go ahead and create their own sportier version of the MkV sedan – hence why some enthusiasts – have labelled it as the 'missing link'.

Featuring a lightweight chassis, a tuned MkV engine and an overdrive on its transmission the 1939 Corniche topped 100mph (162km/h) in testing at the famous Brooklands race circuit, mainly thanks to its streamlined body.

The pillarless body, front and rear hinged doors and curvaceous front fenders all went on to be copied by numerous other car companies.

Originally, the Bentley Corniche was set to star at both the 1939 London and Paris motor show before first a car crash involving the car occurred in France. The repaired body was then destroyed by a bombing raid while it waited at the docks in Dieppe.