Bentley’s fabled 6¾-litre V8 engine finally reached the end of its handcrafted manufacturing run. 36,000 of them were built over 61 years, powering all manner of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces over the decades, and most recently in Bentley’s Mulsanne flagship (pictured), which also ended production at the same time. You might think manufacturers come up with new engines all the time, and the longevity of this engine is rare.

In fact, although they are updated very often, many engines continue in their original basic form years and sometimes decades after the cars they first appeared in went out of production. What follows are the more spectacular examples, and you can see where the Bentley V8 stands: