In 1944, Rolls-Royce executive W. A. Robotham anticipated limited post-war demand for traditional rolling chassis supplied to specialist coachbuilders, and negotiated a contract with the Pressed Steel Company for a general-purpose steel body to carry four passengers. The factory bodies, shaped by Gurney-Nutting-Blatchley, were made by Pressed Steel Ltd. of Cowley and sent to the Bentley works at Crewe for painting and fitting out with traditional wood and leather. Bodies featured rear-hinged "suicide" front doors with concealed hinges, a sliding sunroof, electric windscreen demisting, twin screen wipers, and a coolant-heated second heater under the left front seat. The Mark VI standard steel sports saloon shared its shorter-wheelbase chassis and engine with a variant that became the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn of 1949. In 1952, the standard steel body was modified to incorporate a boot approximately twice the original size, and the resulting car became known as the R-Type Bentley. Independent coachbuilders continued to produce four-door saloon, two-door saloon, and drophead coupe variants; of these, the 241 cars built by H. J. Mulliner are among the most sought-after today.
The Mark VI initially used an F-head straight-six engine of 4.3 L (4,257 cc), referred to as the 4¼-litre. The manufacturer declined to publish a horsepower figure; a 1950 Autocar road test noted flexibility down to 6 mph in top gear and the ability to climb a gradient of 1 in 9. In 1951 a 4.6 L (4,566 cc) version — the 4½-litre — was introduced by increasing the bore from 3½ inches to 3 5/8 inches. Carburation on right-hand-drive cars used two horizontal constant-vacuum SU carburettors (type H4 up to B81HP, then type H6); left-hand-drive cars used a single dual-downdraught Stromberg carburettor. A four-speed synchromesh manual transmission was fitted throughout production.
The chassis used leaf springs at the rear and independent coil springing at the front. A control on the steering wheel centre adjusted the hardness of the rear springing via hydraulic pressure diverted from the transmission. A pedal-operated Bijur-Girling central lubrication system allowed oil delivery to suspension moving parts. Drum brakes of 12.25 in (311 mm) were assisted by the traditional Rolls-Royce mechanical servo at the transmission.
A 4.6-litre factory-bodied car tested by The Motor magazine in 1951 recorded a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h), a 0–60 mph time of 15.0 seconds, and fuel consumption of 16.5 miles per imperial gallon. The test car cost £4,473 including taxes.
The Mark VI was introduced during a steel shortage across Europe and a corresponding shortage of new cars in the UK market. A 1951 used-car report noted that a three-year-old example originally retailing at £4,038 was being offered for £5,335. Total production comprised 4,000 units of the 4¼-litre (1946–1951, including 832 with coachbuilt bodies) and 1,202 units of the 4½-litre (1951–1952, including 180 with coachbuilt bodies). The Mark VI was replaced by the R-Type at the end of 1952.
A Mark VI chassis, referred to internally as Corniche II, was developed by Ivan Evernden and J. P. Blatchley in 1950 and 1951. It carried a larger engine with a higher compression ratio, modified fuel and exhaust systems, a close-ratio gearbox, and a much higher final drive ratio. Bodies were fitted by H. J. Mulliner and selected European coachbuilders, with the first car more than 10% lighter than the standard Mark VI and capable of a top speed above 120 mph — the world's fastest 4/5-seater saloon at the time. These chassis bear numbers BC1A to BC26A and were produced between June 1952 and April 1953, totalling 27 cars including the prototype.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.