We were asked to carry out this installation by one of our best customers, a Bentley main dealership. Initially, the brief was to install two large monitors in the upper part of the seat backs, together with a DVD changer and DAB TV. However, when the car finally appeared, we noted that picnic tables had been specified. Though we pointed out that seat back monitors and picnic tables weren’t really compatible, we were asked to come up with a solution.

Due to the presence of the picnic tables and the design of the seat back itself, we had to mount the screens fairly low down. We would, therefore, have to come up with a mechanism that would allow the screens to lie flush in the seat back, whilst being able to raise and angle the screens to a suitable position for viewing. To make the finished article more impressive we also took the decision to motorise the mechanism.

We had already agreed to use the superb Alpine 10.2” WVGA monitors. These are supplied to us as overhead mounted “drop down” screens and have to be carefully dismantled prior to use. Every part of the manufacturers housing is removed and a new housing fabricated from steel. This is then carefully finished before being trimmed in matching hide.

Next, came the task of designing the actual mechanism that would enable the monitor to move cleanly from it’s “at rest” position in the seat back, to a suitable viewing angle. Though the theory proved workable, the fine tuning took some considerable time before we were fully satisfied.

Whilst all this was going on, we were also making the wiring loom and mounting the other components, such as the DVD changer and the transmitter for the cordless IR headphones. As part of our standard Flying Spur installation (and provided the car is fitted with the factory TV tuner) we connect the audio and video outputs from the DVD to the front screen. This allows the driver to view the DVD image on the front screen whilst stationary and also allows for the DVD audio to play via the cars speakers at all times.

With this car, we also decided that rather than installing a separate aftermarket DAB TV tuner, we would try and connect the original factory “hybrid” digital tuner to the rear screens. Though this does mean that channel selection etc. has to be carried out via the Bentley Infotainment system controls, the picture quality is much better than anything that can be achieve with aftermarket antennas.

We had already carried out some preliminary research into how to accomplish this and were confident that, with a bit of trial and error, success would be ours. As with all our installations, we like to avoid “cutting into” any manufacturers looms, so we started with the Bentley TV tuner itself. Fortunately, the exercise was easier than we had envisaged and we were able to make the connection quite quickly. By way of an aside, we are currently working on a way of controlling the basic functions, volume and channel selection, from the rear of the car.

We had originally estimated a delivery time of some four weeks. Though the actual installation would not take up all this time, we had to allow for the fabrication of components. As with all “new projects”, there is a degree of research and development which is not something you can necessarily build in to the cost of a single installation. Once we have perfected a design, we will promote it to potential customers and hopefully recover these initial costs over time. Fortunately, in this case, we not only managed to keep to the agreed schedule, but have also since managed to duplicate the installation in a Rolls Royce Phantom, more of which later……..