Bentley had come from a sporting background, and the first post-war model, the Mark VI was promoted as the 'Silent Sports Car' so might be one of the early contenders. The R-Series was simply the Bentley Sports Saloon. Both of these cars had a right hand gear shift just near the door. Speaking of the Austin A90/95/105, their four speed column shift was anything but crisp, so their Nuffield counterparts, the Riley Pathfinder, Series II Morris Isis and Series II Wolseley 6/90 went with the same idea as the Bentley. I'm not sure how easy the shifts were in any of these - maybe some can enlighten us. For their export markets of course it was a left hand shift. One wonders why not just do a central shift, but a look at these artwork brochure pics, they obviously were intended to give an impression of roominess and as the Wolseley marketers pointed out is 'greatly favoured by lady drivers'. Men with wide bottomed trouser legs complained of getting caught in the shift as they got out. Dig the jazzy vinyl interior of the later Morris Isis.