Bleary eyed and half dazed, this afternoon I found myself standing in front of the Bentley Motors Factory in Crewe, England staring at a couple dozen new Continental GT’s as they rolled down the street for their ‘road tests’. As I noted in the blog roughly a week or two ago, I had previously caught up with several Bentley exes in Napa for the unveiling of the new Continental GT convertible (otherwise known as the GTC) and today I spent the afternoon supplementing those interviews by shooting exteriors of the Bentley Factory.

As automotive plants go the Crewe location for Bentley has a certain kind of spirit. A spunk really. The kind of layered history that that begs to be heard and witnessed first hand. The place simply speaks. Battered bricks that have countless stories to tell - yet admits all this backwards time travel stands the modernity of today. Cars that, while not personal points of passion for myself, certainly have to be acknowledged for their well thought out designs and engineering. In some respects for an automotive fan it’s a semi-surreal experience. You stand there witnessing the everyday, yet that average daily ritual is completely beyond the scope of the quote ‘normal’ brands we associate with the US. The workers here act less like small pieces in giant multinational cogs (though they are part of a multinational conglomerate), but rather as if each detail they act on is the most important part of the process. It’s a very different way to look at what some would consider merely a mode of transportation. The folks here treat each bit as if it were their own child. It’s well beyond simply a job for them. And as you watch the way these folks interact you quickly realize that what they do and who they are actually intertwined. It’s quite clear that the car you purchase - if you can afford it that is - will never actually be yours. It will forever be their piece of art. Their work. Their glory. There’s something amazingly wonderful about that. Something that goes well beyond manufacturing and enters into a realm that’s usually reserved for acts of singular achievement - yet here it’s a group effort. A combination of hundreds of traits and characteristics that achieve a single purpose. Watching this machine move in action is to behold an act that simply does not seem possible in today’s automotive landscape. Certainly not the one I’m accustomed to…

My favorite photo of the day however was after our visit to the factory… You don’t see this everyday in the States…

More photos after the jump…