Bentley Arnage
The Bentley caught in a tug of war between BMW and Volkswagen.
The story
The Arnage and its Rolls-Royce twin, the Silver Seraph, were the first all-new cars from Crewe since 1980. Within months Volkswagen had bought the factory and BMW had bought the Rolls-Royce name. VW soon brought back the old 6.75-litre V8.
Inside
It takes about two weeks to trim one, using the hides of a dozen or more cattle and veneer cut from a single tree so that the grain matches.
In period colours
Tap a colour to respray the drawing.
It is named after a corner on the Le Mans circuit, where Bentley won five times in the 1920s.
Meanwhile, in 1998
The Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland.
Best-selling single of 1998: Believe by Cher
Before you buy a 1990s car
- On petrol engines, check the cooling system and any sign of head gasket trouble.
- Ask when the timing belt was last changed, where fitted.
- Parts for mass-market cars are widely available; specialist and low-volume models can be hard to find.
General notes, not specific to this model. Check the model's own history before buying.
Rivals of its day
Picked automatically: cars on sale at the same time with similar size, speed and price.
See the real thing
These open in a new tab: the car on Wikimedia Commons, the interior and the badge as Google image searches.
Today's money: the launch price adjusted for inflation to 2026, using the Office for National Statistics price index.