The 1939 Bentley Corniche: A Lost Masterpiece Reborn by Mulliner

Recently showcased in the Tour d’Elegance at Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week 2025, the 1939 Bentley Mark V Corniche is a breathtaking resurrection of a car once thought lost forever.

Originally conceived as a streamlined, high-performance version of the Bentley MkV, the Corniche was a bold leap forward in both design and engineering. Its flowing, aerodynamic bodywork, crafted by Parisian coachbuilder Vanvooren and designed by Georges Paulin, paved the way for post-war icons like the R Type Continental.

In August 1939, test driver Percy Rose crashed the only Corniche prototype in France, severely damaging the bodywork. The repaired body was sent to Dieppe for shipping back to the UK, but it was destroyed in a wartime bombing raid, leaving behind only technical drawings and fragments.

Eight decades later, Bentley’s bespoke division Mulliner undertook the extraordinary challenge of recreating the car entirely from scratch. Using original and newly manufactured parts, archival plans and painstaking hand craftsmanship, the team rebuilt the car in stunning Imperial Maroon and Heather Grey, complete with a meticulously re-created interior finished in Connolly Vaumol hide and burr walnut veneer.

The result is not just a restoration, but a revival of a missing link in Bentley’s design lineage, a one-of-one time capsule that bridges the marque’s storied past with its modern mastery of craftsmanship.

All images: Bentley Motors

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