bzp0hoka8pm magzus.org

100% ROLLS-ROYCE & BENTLEY

BENTLEY FLYING SPUR

GT POWER, LIMO LEGROOM: BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?

WE DRIVE TWO KEY MODELS BUILT 50 YEARS APART – DOES THE ROLLS-ROYCE DNA SURVIVE?

BENTLEY ARNAGE MEGA BUYING GUIDE

8-LITRE THUNDER BIGGEST, BOLDEST, BEST?

PLUS: MARKET UPDATES LATEST NEWS READERS’ CARS STAFF CAR REPORTS

GORGEOUS CORNICHE BANISH WINTER BLUES

Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL, United Kingdom +44 (0)1959 541444

Editorial

Editor Nigel Boothman, rrb.ed@kelsey.co.uk

Art Editor Mark Baker, mark_baker04@yahoo.co.uk

Contributors

Ade Brannan, Richard Gunn, Richard Holdsworth, Will Holman, Lewis Houghton, Steve Natale, Gregory Owain, David Watt

Advertisement

Talk Media Sales

Sales

CEO David Lerpiniere, david.lerpiniere@talkmediasales.co.uk

Sales Manager Laura Crawte, 01732 446725, laura.crawte@talkmediasales.co.uk

Advertising Production

Tandem Media Ltd

Production & Design Manager Neil Hepden

Artwork Enquiries 01233 220245, rrb@tandemmedia.co.uk

Management

Publisher Gareth Beesley

Chief Operating Officer Phil Weeden

Subscription Marketing Director Gill Lambert

Retail Director Steve Brown

Print Production Manager Georgina Harris

Print Production Controllers Kelly Orriss, Hayley Brown

Subs Marketing Managers Dave Sage, Claire Aspinall

Affiliate Marketing Kate Chamberlain

Subscriptions

Six issues of Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver are published per annum

UK annual subscription price £35.94

Europe annual subscription price £42.00

USA annual subscription price £42.00

Rest of World annual subscription price £45.00

UK subscription and back issue orderline: 01959 543 747

Overseas subscription orderline: 0044 (0) 1959 543 747

Toll free USA subscription orderline: 1-888-777-0275

UK customer service team: 01959 543 747

Customer service email address: subs@kelsey.co.uk

Customer service and subscription postal address:

Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver Customer Service Team Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL, United Kingdom

Find current subscription offers at shop.kelsey.co.uk/rrb

Buy back issues at shop.kelsey.co.uk/rrbback

Already a subscriber? Manage your subscription online at: shop.kelsey.co.uk/myaccount

Digital issues and subscriptions

See our website at shop.kelsey.co.uk/rrb

Distribution

Great Britain: Seymour Distribution Limited, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT Tel. 020 7429 4000, www.seymour.co.uk

Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland: Newspread, Tel: +353 23 886 3850

Dreams of summer

This issue goes to press at the end of a snowy January, so I make no apology for some unseasonably sunny photo shoots within. Who wouldn’t want to spend a golden day out in California, like the one Steve Natale enjoyed with the imposing Bentley 8-litre on page 26? Or even an afternoon in the Yorkshire countryside with the sun melting the tarmac, as it was when we sampled a lovely Rolls-Royce Corniche on page 38? Car magazines ought to offer a little escapism amongst the history, the personal stories and the practical advice.

Of the latter, we have a buying guide for the Bentley Arnage on page 70 that should help anyone who lingers over the small ads for these temptingly affordable luxury expresses. Selecting the right car is often more about choosing the specification that would suit you best – and understanding what that choice is – than it is about avoiding bad examples. But we’ll help you do that too! Just before, on page 66, is a road test of the car that overlapped the Arnage but never quite replaced it (that job went to the Mulsanne of 2010-2020), the Continental Flying Spur. Such a different car from the Arnage in the flesh, yet in theory, a close rival in the second-hand market: huge performance, generous accommodation, steep upkeep and that prestigious flying B. Comparing old and new models is taken to something of an extreme for our lead feature, as pictured on the cover – a lovely old 20hp Hooper saloon and a 1976 Silver Shadow. Two Rolls-Royces in one owner’s collection that should, by all logic, share nothing beyond the Spirit of Ecstasy. And yet… turn to page 12 to see how that long lineage makes itself felt. Finally, we have an excellent supporting cast with a detailed history of the Silver Wraith (p.52), and encounter with a 25/30 (p.50) and a deep-frozen episode of Staff Cars (p.86). Enjoy the issue.

Nigel Boothman

rrb.ed@kelsey.co.uk

Part of the Classics World Family www.classicsworld.co.uk

www.kelsey.co.uk

Kelsey Media takes your personal data very seriously. For more information on our privacy policy, please visit https://www.kelsey.co.uk/privacypolicy. If at any point you have any queries regarding Kelsey’s data policy, you can email our Data Protection Officer at dpo@kelsey.co.uk.

Kelsey Media 2023 © all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the original must be the original work of the author and not previously published. Where photographs are included, which are not the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all letters and emails received. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Media accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties.

Kelsey Media uses a multi-layered privacy notice, giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information. For full details, visit www.kelsey.co.uk , or call 01959 543524.

If you have any questions, please ask as submitting your details indicates your consent, until you choose otherwise, that we and our partners may contact you about products and services that will be of relevance to you via direct mail, phone, email or SMS. You can opt out at ANY time via email: data. controller@kelsey.co.uk or 01959 543524.

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

12 SILVER SHADOW & ‘TWENTY’

Two cars with the same owner give us a rare chance to compare Rolls-Royces constructed 50 years apart – will they share anything, beyond the name?

REGULARS

6 UP FRONT

All the latest Rolls-Royce and Bentley news

22 MARKET WATCH

The under-rated, the unusual and the plain desirable!

34 YOUR SHOUT

Your letters to RR&BD

62 FROM THE CLUBHOUSE

All the latest news from the RREC and BDC

78 PERSONAL CHOICE

Royal car memories from two readers

86 STAFF CAR REPORTS

Ankle-deep snow makes for a chilly session

66

70

The

A road test of the fastest four-door around

“The 8-litre ‘Dead-Silent 100mph Car’ was W.O. Bentley’s masterpiece”

UP FRONT NEWS AND VIEWS

ROLLS-ROYCE AND BENTLEY SALES SURGE AHEAD

Both Rolls-Royce and Bentley set new sales records in 2022, with Bentley surpassing 15,000 cars in a year for the first time ever, and Rolls-Royce breaking the 6000-car mark, also for first time. In addition, Rolls-Royce revealed that the average price of each new car they

sell has now topped €500,000. This astonishing figure is driven by the rapid increase in the proportion of Rolls-Royces sold with bespoke customisation, which can see the standard base prices for the models in the range (between roughly £240,000 and £440,000) rise steeply with handtailored alterations. Bentley has also

seen a rise in bespoke commissions through their Mulliner personalisation programme, which have increased five-fold in the last five years. The company’s biggest rises have been in the proportions of their cars to feature hybrid technology, which is proving particularly popular in the home market. For instance, hybrids now account for one in three Flying Spur sales, and that figure rises to two in three in the UK.

Rolls-Royce chose a different path, eschewing hybrid technology in favour of a move to fully electric propulsion, which they are to begin delivering later this year in the form of the Spectre. Though claiming an order book that ‘has exceeded the company’s most ambitious expectations’, Rolls-Royce declined to put a figure on the numbers of orders taken for this electric super-coupé, likely to cost in excess of £300,000.

For both firms, SUV models are the best sellers, with the Cullinan outperforming other Rolls-Royce models in all markets apart from Asia. For Bentley, the Bentayga remains the company’s

most popular model, taking 42% of total Bentley production in 2022, with the remaining 58% split evenly between the two-door Continental GT and GTC, and the four-door Flying Spur.

DRIVEN OVERSEAS

For Rolls-Royce, three key markets have driven the growth that has defied the challenges of the global pandemic and the conflict in Europe. America, still the largest market for either firm, is joined in significance by China (by far the biggest part of the Asia-Pacific market) and the Middle East, which has been especially significant for Rolls-Royce. It’s the company’s largest market for Bespoke commissions and in 2022, Rolls-Royce opened a Private Office in Dubai, the first outside Goodwood. Demand for Goodwood cars has leapt in the Americas, which account for 35% of Rolls-Royce production. Sales in China dipped by single-digit

percentages because of the impact on trade of coronavirus lockdowns, but the country still accounts for 25% of Rolls-Royce volumes.

For Bentley, sales in the United States were flat and those in China dipped by 9%. The rest of Asia was strong, up 23%, as was Britain, up 12% year-on-year and accounting for one in ten Bentley sales. Indeed, mainland Europe remains Bentley’s third most important market with 2809 cars sold in 2022, up 11% from 2021.

GOOD FOR GOODWOOD – AND CREWE

Both firms have been recruiting new staff to join their production facilities, bringing Bentley’s total to around 4000 employees in Crewe, while another 150 added to RollsRoyce’s team in Sussex brings the company’s total to around 2500, plus another 100 apprentices and graduate

trainees, and 100 more internships.

It was exactly 20 years ago in January that the Goodwood plant began production, offering only one model (the then-new Phantom VII) and producing just one car a day – a rate of production that has now multiplied 18 times. Rolls-Royce has acquired land adjacent to the Goodwood site to permit expansion, as would seem to be necessary after so much growth.

Job security should be improved by strong sales and increasing orders, with Bentley looking forward to even more Bentayga sales as orders for the Hybrid and new Extended Wheelbase variants ramp up. The results marked a major achievement by two of the leading luxury brands in any sector, and bucked the trend of hard times suffered in most of the automotive industry. Great news for Britain’s image as a supplier of the world’s finest cars, and for the workforces that produce them. If only they were still British owned!

Bentayga grabbed 42% of Bentley's global sales in 2022Hand-finishing is still vital, both in Crewe and Goodwood

Advanced production facilities allowed Bentley to service more than double the sales of Rolls-Royce Torsten Müller-Ötvös, R-R's CEO, with the new all-electric Spectre

INSIDE BENTLEY’S TOYBOX

Part of the original Crewe factory site has been repurposed as a home for some of the most significant Bentley models from the last 103 years of company history. The Heritage Garage complements the existing Bentley Lineage exhibition in CW1 House, providing a showcase for the 42-carstrong Bentley Heritage Collection.

The Heritage Garage will house 22 cars from the Collection, currently spread from 1919 onwards. By the summer, the Collection will be split

across three different areas. Significant Cricklewood models (1919-31) and Derby-era Bentleys (1931-39) will live in a soon-to-be-redeveloped display in CW1 House, while the Heritage Garage houses Crewe-built models. The new facility means that every member of Bentley’s Heritage Collection is now kept on the Bentley campus, for the first time ever. Visitors to Crewe, whether customers, VIPs or media guests, will now be able to view an unbroken chain of Bentley production

models, all kept in perfect working order and road-legal condition.

The Head of Bentley’s Heritage Collection, Mike Sayer, said ‘Having now rebuilt the Collection to fully chart our history, we have an ongoing commitment to add to it with each significant new model we launch. For example, the Collection now includes the 2019 Bentayga Hybrid, which was both the first-ever plug-in hybrid Bentley and an important step in our ‘Beyond100’ strategy towards electrification.’

IS THIS THE EX-DYNASTY SILVER CLOUD?

This Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III is currently undergoing recommissioning and light restoration work at a garage in Scotland. It has served on wedding fleets in recent years, undergoing a colour change from white to silver a few seasons ago. The legend that goes with this example is that it was the car featured in the opening credits of the 1980s American soap opera, Dynasty. Sure enough, from Season Three, a white Silver Cloud III appears behind Joan

Collins near the end of the credits. Efforts to confirm the story by those working on the car have so far come to nothing, but if any reader knows a way to discover the chassis number of the car used in the show, we would be interested to hear about it. When the current jobs are completed (which include minor repairs and a repaint for one front wing, plus service work), the Silver Cloud will be offered for sale as a road-ready, usable car. Interested parties should contact the magazine.

EX FORREST LYCETT 3 LITRE SPEED MODEL

THE LAST KNOWN 4½L FREESTONE & WEBB SALOON

HARRISON BODIED BENTLEY

SOLD 3 4½ SPEED WEYMANN

FELIX

N SANDELL WELCOMES RREC

Nigel Sandell has made a habit of welcoming RREC members to an open day at his workshops in Isleworth, and late in 2022 the day came round again. The Middlesex section of the Club was invited, along with customers and friends, producing a creditable turn-out of 27 Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars and 56 people.

On arrival, everyone was greeted with a bacon roll and hot beverage, after which Nigel and his team took groups around the workshop showing members some of the interesting projects under way at the moment. Visitors saw a lot of different

aspects of work being undertaken, from engine rebuilds to diagnostic work on modern Continental GT models. Nigel took time to show the members a Silver Shadow that was without engine, gearbox and subframe – all the components including every nut and bolt were in one box for Nigel and his team to reassemble! Other diversions included a 6.75-litre V8 engine running in a test bed.

Nigel enjoys these open days, both for all the people he gets to see and the excellent cars that turn up – as well as the chance to show the range of vehicles that

pass through the workshop.

‘We were very lucky on this particular Sunday that there were motor cars on site for members to view dating from 1926 up to 2019, including a pair of classic Phantoms,’ said Nigel.

At 12.30pm lunch was served and washed down with a customary glass of prosecco. Will Bate and Nigel Sandell then gave rides out in Will’s 20HP and Nigel’s 25/30, which had also been on the stand at the Classic Car Show at the NEC in November –sharp-eyed customers of Nigel’s may have spotted it on the RREC’s Club House page in our previous issue.

TRAILBLAZERS

Though built 50 years apart, these two have something in common: both were make-or-break models for Rolls-Royce. We visit the man who owns them, and drive each car to see how the company’s unique qualities persisted across half a century

WORDS: NIGEL BOOTHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY: LEWIS HOUGHTON

It’s quite a thing to risk a reputation. All the more so if it’s a reputation like that of RollsRoyce, already vastly respected by 1920 when a smaller model was first considered. By 1965, when the Silver Shadow was launched, RollsRoyce had become part of the lexicon – stick ‘The Rolls-Royce of…’ to the beginning of any product’s description and the world understood you.

Both of these cars, then, had the potential to do a great deal of damage to the reputation established by their predecessors. In the case of the 20hp, it was asked to join the 40/50hp

Silver Ghost. This was, of course, called the best car in the world with much justification. It was also the only model Rolls-Royce had made since November 1906. Would shifting back to a two-model approach, with a smaller and less costly car partnering the imperious Ghost, do irreparable damage to the company image? It would, if the new car wasn’t good enough. Then, in the late 1950s, the company was seriously considering an expansion from two models (the Silver Cloud and the ageing, coachbuilt Silver Wraith) to four, if you include the special-order Phantom V that took on the uppermost

coachbuilt niche. The smaller three would all be based on new monocoque chassis-body units across three different wheelbases: a short, V8-powered Continental-type coupé badged as a Bentley and codenamed Korea; a medium-sized saloon with a 4-litre, sixcylinder engine badged as either a RollsRoyce or a Bentley (codenamed Tonga and Burma), and the same arrangement for a larger V8 saloon, codenamed Tibet and Borneo. Unsurprisingly, the costs of tooling up for this lot were soon judged to be insupportable, leaving all the company’s eggs in one basket – the larger V8 saloon. Could »

it satisfy the traditionalists as well as those who expected a new Rolls-Royce to be at least as powerful, capable and modern as the best that Daimler, Cadillac or Mercedes had to offer? We know, of course, that it all turned

out alright. As it did in 1922 when the car code-named Goshawk was launched as the Rolls-Royce 20hp, or Twenty. Indeed, the Twenty went on to out-sell its larger stablemates, while its descendants carried Rolls-Royce and Bentley through

to the outbreak of war. Likewise, the Silver Shadow soon persuaded those who drove it that blending Americanstyle V8 engines and automatic gearboxes with Citroënian high-pressure hydraulics could somehow produce a marvellously refined British luxury car. It lived on in the company’s range for 15 years as a saloon model but far longer as a two-door coupé and convertible.

On a sunny day in Scotland, we travelled to Crieff in Perthshire to meet a man who has one example of each of these distant but vastly influential and important models. Can they really have anything in common beyond the Rolls-Royce grille and Spirit of Ecstasy?

A MAN OF TASTE

We’re guests of Stephen Leckie, one of the busiest men I’ve ever met. He is at the helm of a group that runs, amongst other interests, the Crieff Hydropathic Establishment, a Victorianbuilt health spa and hotel nowadays universally known as Crieff Hydro. The group also looks after Peebles Hydro, the only other survivor of 20 such establishments that once offered healthful holidays to Britain’s well-off travellers. Stephen is the great-greatgrand-nephew of Dr Thomas Henry Meikle, Crieff Hydro’s founder.

Stephen also finds time to serve as Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross, the King’s representative for the region. In addition, he serves as chairman of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and as chairman of the national tourism board. To unwind from all of that, he takes himself off to the garages near his house and works not just on his own collection of classic cars but a collection that the

Silver Shadow's engine has more than twice the capacity and about four times the output of its ancestor

Hydro has started to reflect its history.

These collections include many makes and models from different eras so it’s not surprising that it features two RollsRoyces which are wildly different.

‘One of my ancestors apparently owned the first motor car in Crieff’ says Stephen, ‘which was said to be a RollsRoyce. We suspect it was a Twenty, so about ten years ago we began looking for one. We found this car with its nice ‘FL’ number plate with Richard Biddulph at Vintage & Prestige, and it felt a bit like fate – my wife Fiona’s initials are FL. We had an overdrive fitted and in February 2014 we drove it back to the Hydro over two days.’

This became a bit of an adventure, as they encountered wintry weather on the way home. ‘We had to stop and buy blankets, jackets and duct tape to seal up the opening windscreen »

Stephen (right) likes talking cars almost as much as he enjoys working on them

The '20hp' refers not to the engine's output but to its old road tax bracket. It's a smooth 3.1-litre 'six'

because snow was getting in, and there’s no heater – we were frozen! Then the battery went flat during our overnight stop at Gretna Green and I had to ask one of the hotel staff to help push, and we bump-started successfully.’

Stephen found that the overdrive lowered the revs at 50mph but didn’t add any speed, and he recorded 16mpg overall. The car, a 1926 six-light saloon by Hooper, was skilfully rebuilt by a previous owner and since coming into the Hydro’s ownership the only other major expense has been a new radiator at an eye-watering £5000.

The Silver Shadow came along more recently, in 2017, to fulfil a desire for ‘a gentlemanly classic Rolls-Royce we could really use,’ as Stephen puts it. Both cars are used for weddings and the Silver Shadow takes Stephen and colleagues to the NEC for the Classic Motor Show where the Company exhibits, and has done its duty for Stephen’s Lord-Lieutenancy on a trip to greet HRH The Princess Royal.

‘It’s a majestic, wafting sort of car,’ says Stephen. ‘My friend’s dad had one and my pal used to be allowed to take it to the pub, which I thought was quite cool in 1984 or ’85.’

This example was chosen for its lovely colour and overall condition, the only let-down being a cam lobe worn out by one of the oil pumps for the hydraulic system. This became an engine-out fix, which gave Stephen the chance to inspect and protect the subframe, putting it all back together again in properly smart condition.

‘I pressure-wash all the cars really

HOOPER’S ROLE IN ROLLS-ROYCE HISTORY

‘Hooper was, quite simply, the best’. So said Nick Walker in his excellent A-Z of British Coachbuilders, and that was indeed the perception of this London firm since before the internal combustion engine came to be. They were founded in 1805, and by 1830 had a Royal Warrant, becoming coachbuilder to Queen Victoria for 60 years. By the 1920s, they were turning out the best-appointed and most expensive bodies on RollsRoyce, Daimler and Bentley chassis, usually at the more dignified end of any styling trend. They survived, like Rolls-Royce, when others of lesser reputation bit the dust in the Depression years of the 1930s.

Hooper’s post-war production was influenced by the firm’s wartime

acquisition by the BSA combine. This included Daimler and was overseen by BSA’s chairman Sir Bernard Docker, who in 1949 married Norah Collins, an ex-nightclub dance hostess who had already been married twice to wealthy businessmen. Through her influence and flair for publicity, Docker commissioned a series of extravagant Daimler show cars bodied by Hooper but which featured design and styling cues used on production models like the Empress and indeed on Hooperbodied Rolls-Royces of the time.

When it became clear in 1959 that the new Rolls-Royce planned for the replacement of the Silver Cloud would not have a separate chassis, Hooper’s management knew the

thoroughly underneath and when they’re dry, protect them with anticorrosion paint. I use a company called Pronto Paints; they make all sorts of products that protect oil rigs and so on. Then I know I can use the car all year round without worrying.’

DRIVING BACK… 97 YEARS

Our first outing is in the Twenty, so it’s time to get my brain into vintage car mode. The pedals are conventionally placed, but the gear lever is on the

game was up, and the firm was closed by BSA before later being reborn as a Rolls-Royce dealer in 1970. By 1981 it had once again been appointed an officially approved Rolls-Royce coachbuilder and began completing special commissions to order. Many of these were in fact on Bentley-badged cars and varied from the fitting of bespoke cocktail cabinets to radical re-bodies like the two-door Empress coupé created for a Japanese buyer in 1990, or a few rather handsome and successful twodoor Turbo R models. As far as we know, the last car they created was completed in 1994 – does anyone know different? And who has a twodoor turbocharged Hooper Bentley they’d be willing to let us try?

“What we’ve found in this enchanted corner of Perthshire is a pair of cars that ought to be like chalk and cheese, and yet have a common thread of genetic material that you recognise the moment you enter them.”

right and somewhat concealed under my thigh. There’s another lever by the same side of the seat, this time for the Barker headlamp-dipping arrangement. So we switch the ignition on and then press the starter bar, left of the clutch pedal. A moan, a bit of a whirr, and… nothing. Is it running? You need to look at the oil pressure gauge climbing upwards to be certain. If you had to rely on gauges, back in 1926, to know whether your engine had started, that was surely a remarkable car.

A Twenty is very low geared and first is to be regarded as a hill-start gear, really, with second quite adequate for gentle getaways on the flat or when pointing down a gradient. Indeed, first is so low that you’re doing barely 10mph up a steep hill when the engine sounds busy enough to change up. But you can’t – you haven’t got time to get the double-declutching process done before the car has slowed again. What you need is patience. Just climb the hill, then worry about going faster.

Third is a parade gear on the flat, allowing the car to crawl along smoothly at walking pace.

Even top is very, very flexible and can let you drop below 20mph and still pull away cleanly. If pushed, it would carry you to 55 or perhaps 60mph with this bodywork, but in practice 50mph is plenty. The brakes are quite good for the day, being assisted by a mechanical servo, but an emergency stop from 50mph would demand a big gap to the car in front – it’s the small contact patches of vintage-era tyres that ultimately limit braking performance. The steering is heavy but accurate, with only the damping giving some cause for concern. Crossing a sleeping policeman at a slight angle, and at only 10 or 15mph, sets up an

SPECIFICATION

1926 ROLLS-ROYCE 20HP SALOON BY HOOPER

LENGTH: c. 4520mm / 14ft 10

WHEELBASE: 3275mm / 10ft 9

WEIGHT: 1780kg / 3924lb (est)

ENGINE: 3127cc OHV straight six

POWER: 50bhp (est)

TORQUE: 90 lb ft (est)

0-60MPH: Yes, probably

TOP SPEED: c.60mph

COST NEW: c. £1850, 1926

Progress is smooth, quiet, unhurried - and great fun

Flag represents Lord Lieutenant's office

alarming shimmy that suggests the lever-arm dampers could do with more friction to control the front axle.

The gearchange, which is forgiving, quiet and well-engineered in feel, is not terribly slick through the gate. It made me think of R-R’s chauffeur school, and how helpful it must have been to anyone wishing to drive the cars properly. Yes, that goes for Ghosts and New Phantoms too, but ‘small RollsRoyces’ need more attention to how the engine and gears are used, if progress is to be seamless while maintaining a useful speed. I would love to know the nature of those lessons and to find

out whether they made things easier or whether it was a restrictive style of driving. Nowadays, the best advice for anyone new to a Twenty is probably ‘get it in top and leave it there,’ which takes care of most roads and roundabouts, but won’t work on long hills.

It has a tall, teetering vintage charm, and you feel as though you’re sitting on it rather than in it, despite a whole tophat’s worth of headroom above your scalp. Looking around me, I realise this car needs passengers, a lovely sunny day and a nice place to go – it’s very much a car for a picnic in the country, or a point-to-point or a car show, with no

pressure to compete with moderns on busy roads or to get there in a hurry.

There are some lovely details, too. The driver’s door has a splendid window lowering and raising lever which is the way everything should have been done from 1926 onwards, when Hooper fitted it to this car. It may be an even older idea than this, but it’s the earliest example I’ve come across. Quick, quiet and efficient, it’s nonetheless fitted to the driver’s door only – were little window-winding handles seen as more genteel for the passengers, while the burly chauffeur was content to operate a man-sized lever? As Stephen

“It has a tall, teetering vintage charm, and you feel as though you’re sitting on it rather than in it, despite a whole top-hat’s worth of headroom above your scalp.”

points out, this is really an ownerdriver body, with individual front seats and no division, so a chauffeur may never have found employment here.

TECHNICAL TRIUMPH

To the Silver Shadow, then – and what a beautiful colour. It’s a kind of peacock blue with two gold pinstripes and it looks wonderful against the polished stainless steel and chrome of the brightwork. Though in cosmetically excellent shape, this car is nicely

worn-in and the driver’s seat gives you a full five or six-inch drop to the base of the squab springs. Rather akin to the Twenty, I here found myself glancing at the ammeter to see if it was flicking slightly, as it would with the engine idling. In such a well-insulated car it’s not always clear when the engine’s caught, and therefore when to let go of the ignition key. That silence continues as you slip into ‘D’ and move away. The automatic change is butter-smooth and the fingertip steering drives just as we’ve come to

expect from an earlier Silver Shadow, with a slight delay between inputs and response, thanks partly to the steering box and also to the big Avon sidewalls. It has cruise control – a covetable feature on a car so well suited for long trips.

The brakes, always reassuringly potent on SY and SZ-generation cars, have some modulation in their design, including a conventional mastercylinder circuit. This familiar pedal feel allows someone un-used to a Silver Shadow to jump in and drive it normally, without causing the front seat passenger to perform a Mick Jagger impression on the windscreen. In that, it differs from Citroëns of the era, an improvement Rolls-Royce was keen to engineer into the Silver Shadow.

The reaction of pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists here in Crieff is

SPECIFICATION

1976 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER SHADOW

LENGTH: 5169mm / 16ft 11 ½

WIDTH: 1803mm / 5ft 11

WEIGHT: 2108kg / 4648lb

ENGINE: 6750cc OHV V8

POWER: 200bhp (est)

TORQUE: 300lb ft (est)

0-60MPH: 11s

TOP SPEED: 118mph

COST NEW: £19,662, 1976

Silver Shadow's mass and soft suspension combine to iron out bumps

Much less airy than the Twenty, but snug and serene

interesting; they don’t point, smile and wave as they do when they see the Twenty, but they know what the Silver Shadow is and seem to afford it a quiet admiration and respect. Find an open road and the graceful blue saloon will pick up her skirts and dash away; there is plenty of torque low down and enough power to follow as the revs rise. In this respect, it differs utterly from the Twenty, which was created before motorways were dreamed of and when 60mph was 50% faster than most cars could manage.

So what of the similarities? Both cars are, by the standards of their respective days, paragons of virtue when it comes to insulating the occupants from the

road. The 20hp is by no means silent outside, but oddly enough it’s very, very quiet inside, where it matters. I’d love to say the ride is comparable, but you can’t expect a vintage car with leaf springs and friction dampers to respond in the same way as a monocoque car suspended on coils and telescopic dampers, and with much fatter, more deformable tyres, too.

Both have lovely dashboards and large, thin-rimmed wheels, and both have plenty of room inside – they are extremely nice places to be. The Twenty is only small by Rolls-Royce standards of the day; it’s still a large car. And here we’re into a discussion of luxury, which is very difficult to achieve in a car

without space. No luxury of space, no luxury at all. It’s why Rolls-Royce should resist building smaller, sportier cars… but that’s an argument for another day.

What we’ve found in this enchanted corner of Perthshire is a pair of cars that ought to be like chalk and cheese, and yet have a common thread of genetic material that you recognise the moment you enter them. They get the job done quietly, without fuss, and with gentle inputs from the driver. For passengers, insulated from the road and unaware of the radically different feel of the controls, the similarity must be greater still.

Well done, Rolls-Royce, on both counts. Reputation intact.

“The Silver Shadow is as complex as the Twenty is straightforward, but both were built to be as quiet and comfortable as possible with the technology of the time.”

MARKET WATCH

Each issue, we take a look at some of the most tempting cars for sale and report on others that have sold – covering everything from affordable modern classics through to the most premium-priced gems

DERBY DAY AT VINTAGE & PRESTIGE

Derby Bentley saloons are a varied bunch, as indeed are the open cars. Coachbuilders of the 1930s loved to show what they could do on these low, athletic chassis, and some of the highest peaks of the designer’s art and craft were achieved on Derby-built cars. Vintage & Prestige is offering examples from either end of the Derby saloon price spectrum right now, with a 1934 3½ -litre H.J. Mulliner Sports Saloon for £56,000 (above) and a fastback, be-spatted Airline Saloon by William Arnold, also a 1934 3½ -litre car, for £150,000 (below).

The latter car is still in Vancouver, Canada, but V&P’s Richard Biddulph is flying over soon to photograph it in greater detail. He says the prices for cars of this era have come back a bit, but when you have something to offer that’s genuinely rare or even unique, the rate of sale is still buoyant

– on the day we spoke, he had sold another Derby Bentley with amazing semi-sliding doors that fold out and backwards, to lie parallel with the body.

‘We specialise in Rolls-Royce and Bentley and so we see plenty of Derby cars, and we’re still successful at selling them,’ says Richard. ‘The values have far more to do with coachwork, history and condition than with engine size, as you could sit someone in a 3½ -litre car or a 4¼ -litre car and they’d be unable to tell the difference in the way they drive. In fact, the earlier cars often wore lighter bodies, and they go at least as well – or even better – than a 4¼.’

The William Arnold saloon is typical of the sudden craze for aircraft-inspired streamlining that took car design by storm in 1933 and ’34. Indeed, this is one of many streamlined styles exhibited at the 1934 Motor Show at Olympia, where some were more extreme and

less easy on the eye than this one. The concentric rings on the wheel discs and the chrome spears on the spats add an even more Art Deco touch to the details, while the paint line, with the top colour curving round to echo the form of the wheels, plays its own part.

The H.J. Mulliner sports saloon could hardly be more of a contrast. Upright and straightforward where the Airline design is long and swooping, it’s more like the kind of shape mounted on contemporary Rolls-Royce 20/25 chassis. There is a little less room for back seat passengers than in the Airline saloon but otherwise, the Mulliner car seems likely to do everything its more expensive rival could do – indeed, it may well be lighter without all that billowing panel work. But such is the price of beauty! To see these cars in more detail, and around a dozen other Derby Bentleys that Richard is offering, see vandp.net.

JAMES YOUNG BARGAINS FROM ONLINE AUCTION

Two rare coachbuilt cars from the 1950s sold online at The Market by Bonhams in January, both bodied by James Young. Each looked like a significant gamble, but they had the potential to repay a lucky buyer very handsomely.

The first to move was a 1954 RollsRoyce Silver Dawn (above) bodied to design C20, an almost full-width shape that looked a lot more modern than

the Standard Steel saloons. It had apparently been resting on static display in the Middle East for quite some time, arriving as a non-runner, after which no attempt was made to start it or even turn the engine. All of which says caveat emptor loudly and clearly, except that the rest of the car looks rather good – not spotless, with the odd paint scuff and one door closing less well

than it should, but no serious corrosion to be seen and a generally dried-out appearance underneath. Inside, though, both hides and timber had survived the Middle Eastern climate in fine condition. Yet the unknown quantity of the car’s drivetrain (think £20,000 plus for an engine rebuild and add on what you like for transmission, brakes and rear axle) plus the Bonham’s bond payment and NOVA fee to complete the importation process stalled the bidding at £14,158 on an estimate of £20,000 to £30,000. If you know who bought it, we’d love to hear that they got it home, turned it over a few times, added fresh petrol and found themselves with a sound, well-running car…

The second example, a 1952 Bentley R-type coupé by James Young to design C 10 AM is one of about eight survivors and at first glance, looked a safer buy – UK history, garaged for the last decade, engine running quite nicely, some attention to brakes required –but then you got to the part about dropping doors. Sure enough, neither door would close; not an uncommon failing with bodies like this where very large and heavy doors rely on screws gripping in wooden A-posts. Still, for someone who knows how it’s done, not too off-putting. Bidding surpassed the very modest £18,0000 to £25,000 estimate and reached £26,160; still only about a quarter of what this car should be worth in mint condition. One for the capable home restorer, then, or someone with very deep pockets.

THE ULTIMATE PRE-VW BENTLEY?

The market for the Bentley Continental R, S and T models is an interesting one, with a variation of well over £100,000 between the oldest, highest-mileage R and the youngest, cleanest shortwheelbase T. These cars all have a claim to being the final flowering of the true British-owned Bentley brand, surviving until 2003 as the last car based on the SZ-generation’s architecture, and a performance-orientated two-door coupé, of course. So that’s ultimate in the sense of final, but also in the sense of greatest-ever, if you go by power and performance. The Continental T, like the 1999 example pictured here, made 420bhp from the 1998 model year onwards, with an almost absurd 650lb ft of torque available right down at 2200rpm. All of which added up to 0-60mph in 6.2

seconds and a top speed of 170mph.

This immaculate blue example is with Phantom Motor Cars in Surrey, where Simon and Stuart Worthington have developed significant experience of the R, S and T family over many years.

‘The earlier cars are rather different to the ones made from 1998 onwards,’ says Simon. ‘From then, the specification stayed constant to the end of production and various earlier issues were sorted out. For example, engine management improved a great deal and other electrical faults were fixed. We’ve spent a lot on this one, rebuilding the suspension and all the hydraulics, just because that’s the age they’re getting to – even one-owner cars with 29,000 miles, like this.’

That tiny total and the car’s amazing condition put the price at £129,950,

which is a serious chunk of change but just what you’d expect for the best ‘T’. The market cares about rarity here, so while the T is scarce, with just 322 built, there are special editions such as the T Mulliner (23 built) and the T Le Mans (5 built) that can attract even higher prices in equivalent condition. The shorter wheelbase and muscular, swollen arches give the car amazing presence, and the colour is bonus too, says Simon.

‘It stands out even on a dull day,’ he says. ‘It looks like the sun is on it all the time.’

Keep an eye out for a buying guide to the Continental R and its associated models in the next issue of Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver. Simon Worthington will be sharing his wisdom and pointing out the wise buys and the pitfalls that await fans of these extremely attractive cars.

CAMARGUE PROJECT NEEDS COURAGE

This example of Rolls-Royce's Pininfarina-designed Camargue flagship, offered by Anglia Car Auctions at the end of January, was first registered in April 1981. Painted Ivory with a gold coachline and magnolia hide, the car has had four registered keepers since new; there is no online record of an MoT back to 2005 when online info began. The

only documentation with it is the V5C plus the book pack with sales and service handbook, ‘quick start’ guide and two unmarked service books. It runs and drives, but requires recommissioning at the very least.

A closer look reveals a few challenges: loose or cracked trim, splits and wear on the driver’s seat, departing or clouded lacquer

on the glovebox lid and dash, but our correspondent at ACA peered underneath and found no major rust. And the clock works! It’s a rare opportunity for any Rolls-Royce fan to prove their mettle – will it find a home? Sadly the sale was scheduled for a short time after we went to press, but with an estimate of £20,000 to £25,000, it may have found a saviour.

‘100 miles per hour speed with 100 percent comfort and docility’

This proclamation was made in an advertisement that appeared for the Bentley 8-Litre in the April 17th, 1931 issue of The Autocar magazine, touting the performance of what Bentley claimed was ‘The world’s finest car’. Nearly a century later, many enthusiasts agree. This is a bold statement, especially when in 1931 cars like the Duesenberg, RollsRoyce Phantom ll, Hispano-Suzia H6C 8-Litre, Cadillac V-16, and several other magnificent automobiles were being made. The 8-Litre was W.O. Bentley’s finest grand tourer. It was also the last car he designed for Bentley Motors. In the 1920s, W.O. Bentley’s cars had earned a solid reputation and were highly competitive in sporting events, including the first win at the 24-hour Le Mans race for a British car in 1924 and subsequently winning four more times before 1931. Despite impressive racing triumphs, by the end of the 1920s the finances of Bentley Motors were precarious indeed. The company was still not able to sell enough cars for a high enough price

to make a profit. There was already a large number of manufacturers battling in the market for smaller and cheaper cars, but as far as Britain was concerned there was only one real competitor for the ultra-luxury market: Rolls-Royce. For 1930, Bentley aimed to create a faster, better handling luxury car than the Rolls-Royce Phantom II by producing what many historians consider his engineering masterpiece, the mighty 8-Litre.

AT THE HEART OF THE 8-LITRE

The 8-Litre represents an evolutionary step in the development of the Bentley engine, combining proven features of the 6½-Litre model with the latest engineering advances. W.O. never liked the legendary ‘Blower’ Bentleys developed by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin, thinking it corrupted his engine design and added to much stress to the components.

‘Every engine we built was conceived with an eye first on reliability,’ Bentley explained, ‘then on smoothness and silence, and lastly on sheer power output. Of course, we were after power »

WORDS & PHOTOS: STEVE NATALE

The 8-Litre ‘Dead Silent 100 mph car’ was W.O. Bentley’s masterpiece, in the view of many observers. Because they were made in tiny numbers, any encounter with an 8-litre is to be savoured, as our man in California, Steve Natale, discovered.

FEATURE CAR

1931 BENTLEY 8-LITRE

output, but not by any falsely induced means; and I always held that the supercharger applied to the Bentley engine was a false inducer. [It] was against all my engineering principles.’ History would him prove right, as the Blower Bentleys proved unreliable in many races. Rather than trying to squeeze more power from the existing 6½-Litre engine, W. O. Bentley followed his long-preferred method of improving performance and simply enlarged it, increasing the bore size from 100 to 110mm. The engine utilized an overhead camshaft driven by a Bentley patented ‘three-throw

drive’ system of triple connecting rods, plus, as with all earlier Bentleys, four valves per cylinder and twin-spark ignition (coil and magneto), which were state-of-the-art at the time.

THE 8-LITRE INTRODUCED

Announced on September 15th 1930 and launched at the London Olympia Motor Show in October 1930, the car competed head-to-head with RollsRoyce's Phantom ll. The engine was just as quiet, the ride just as comfortable, the coachwork could be created to

whatever the customer desired and, perhaps most importantly from a prestige point of view, it was faster. Bentley claimed the car was capable of achieving up to 125 mph with a guaranteed top speed of over 100 mph. At the time of the 8-Litre’s launch, W.O. declared, ‘I have always wanted to produce a dead silent 100mph car, and now I think we have done it.’

Such was the power of the car’s massive straight-six engine that the company guaranteed the 100mph mark regardless of the chosen coachwork – a remarkably bold step. In December of 1930, The Autocar magazine recorded a ½-mile terminal speed of 101.12mph in a Bentley 8-Litre, describing ‘motoring in its very highest form’ and ‘tremendous performance’. Between 1930 and 1939, Britain's foremost motoring magazine bettered that figure only once, while testing an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. Interestingly, the very same car was tested again by The Autocar on April 4th, 1954, and it was still capable of 100mph. The 8-Litre remained the fastest production Bentley until the R-Type Continental's arrival in 1953. Famous car collector Jay Leno owns an 8-Litre saloon and also claims to have exceeded 100 mph in his example.

END OF AN ERA

The 8-Litre was intended for the very wealthiest segment of the world's automotive buyers. Unfortunately, The Great Depression began to take effect and the market for luxurious cars had waned. Bentley's finances had been shaky for many years and Woolf Barnato, the firm’s financial backer in the late Twenties and threetime Le Mans winner in a Bentley, was forced to contribute more money on several occasions. Rather than ease the company's financial worries the 8-Litre only exacerbated them. Only 100 of these magnificent machines were produced, and the company was placed into receivership just 13 months after its introduction.

CHASSIS NO. YX5109

This 8-Litre was delivered new to London's famed agency of Jack Barclay Ltd. wearing formal Sedanca de Ville Coachwork by Freestone & Webb. Given the timing of its purchase by the first recorded owner, G. Henscher, as mid-1932, it seems likely that perhaps »

Bentley and Rolls Royce specialists

See & be seen with our High Quality, Plug & Play 6, 12 & 24v Interior, Dashboard, Exterior and Headlight LEDs. Designed for a wide range of Classics to include our Warm White Range for a brighter but period look.

Brand new APF, BA20D, BA15D, BA21D and BPF P36D plug & play headlamps now available for many older classics.

MOT compliant LED headlights available. FREE UK POSTAGE

WE POST WORLDWIDE DAILY

Email: sales@classiccarleds.co.uk

Pre-Purchase inspections anywhere in the Country

•We service and repair Continental GT, GTC and Flying Spur and all post-war models • Factory trained technicians

•Servicing • Engine Removals • Diagnostics & Repairs

•All types of work undertaken at labour rates £85 per hour

•Free collection and delivery from home or work

Tel/Fax: 01795 844844

Wormdale Farm, Unit B Wormdale Hill, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 7PX

+44 (0) 1252 850231

Telephone

Independent Rolls-Royce and Bentley Specialists Established in 1961

www.pmcuk.com Website

All work is carried out by dedicated & passionate specialist technicians that take serious pride in their work.

VEHICLE SERVICE & MAINTENANCE

Ensure your car retains its optimum performance and reliability

the car was used by Barclay staff as a demonstrator. Michael Hay's book on the model notes that prior to acquisition by Henscher the car had already covered more than 2,400 miles and that when sold, it was sold as 'second-hand' and was to receive a new rear glass, and a full structural service of the bodywork and a polishing by

Freestone & Webb prior to its delivery. The car continued to be maintained by the factory until just before the war.

The known ownership history of chassis YX 5109 is relatively uncomplicated, the car being the property of Joseph Perry of Birmingham just before the war and remaining with him until 1947

when acquired by Col. Walton, at which point it is known to have spent some time in Scotland. In 1962 the car was the property of a Willy P. Dale and later traded through Dan Margulies to Barry Eastick.

YX 5109 was restored in the 1970s by Hoffman and Mountford, at which point it was rebodied in the guise of

“...it is somewhat difficult to believe that its transformation and restoration was completed nearly 45 years ago.”

GY 31 has worn this touring body for 45 years. The original saloon body is shown below

the earlier 4½ and Speed Six 'Le Mans' fabric touring bodies, a style which was famously only fitted to one 8-Litre car. James Pearce's eye for a good-looking sports tourer was arguably second to none and the bodywork fitted to this car is extremely well designed, in that despite retaining its original 13 ft chassis, the length of the car is obscured in its good proportions. The entire process took over two years from 1974 to 1976 at a cost of close to $30,000 - a tremendous price for a restoration at the time. On its completion it was shown at the Bentley Drivers Club Dorchester House meet in 1978 and later at the Kensington Gardens meet, in the 1980s. Soon afterward, YX 5109 made its way to America and was acquired by Bill Chadwick of Dallas, Texas. Chadwick showed the car at the RROC Regional Meet in Salado, Texas in 1986. In 1988 the 8-Litre was sent to Elmdown Engineering and received a full engine rebuild with new shell bearings, a Phoenix crankshaft and rods and fullflow oil filter. Later, a Laycock heavyduty overdrive was also fitted, allowing effortless touring at high speeds. The 8-Litre was later acquired by Charles

H. Brown in 1995. Brown brought it back to his coach-house in the UK until 2013, where it was driven sparingly and well maintained during his 18-year stewardship, including a thorough service by Elmdown. Since 2013 the big Bentley was carefully maintained in a private collection before coming to the Blackhawk Collection in California, where it resides at the time of writing.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Before I share my own opinions from behind the wheel, I had an opportunity

to ask noted Rolls-Royce and Bentley expert and author of the book Superfinds, Michael Kliebenstein, about his experiences driving an 8-Litre:

‘Handling an open 8-litre Bentley in city traffic initially feels a bit like manoeuvring a torpedo gunboat in the close confines of Monaco harbour! It wants to run wide, but at the same time feels restrained and majestic in any surroundings. The burbling soundtrack indeed very similar to a Second World War gun boat. Steering is heavy, but not as heavy as say, a Mercedes-Benz SS Kompressor of »

When first restored: black, not green

FEATURE CAR 1931 BENTLEY 8-LITRE

the same period. And nowhere near as nimble as a Bugatti Type 43A or Alfa 8C. Nevertheless the 8-litre is a fast old thing - very fast indeed.

‘There is something special about

SPECIFICATION

1931 BENTLEY 8-LITRE

ENGINE: 7983cc straight-six, single overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, dual-ignition, Twin SU carburettors

GEARBOX: Four-speed with constant mesh third.

BRAKES: 400mm. drums with vacuum servo assistance

STEERING: Worm and sector

WHEELS: 21-inch well base rims with 700 x 21-inch tires

TOP SPEED: 104 mph

entering a modern motorway in a W.O. Bentley. As is common with the 4 ½ -litre Blower or 6 ½ -litre Speed Six, with the 8-litre Bentley you immediately enter the fast lane in 3rd gear and start overtaking anything in sight. Simply because you can. Roaring past lesser traffic you change reluctantly into 4th gear showing just 1800 revs on the huge plate-sized tachometer.’

‘You‘re doing something like 90mph average with no hint of overstretching the mechanics. 100mph can be easily achieved when pushed, but by then the wind is blowing your head off. I have to say that I prefer the 8-litre to the 4 ½-litre Blower. Simply because the 8-litre feels so much more relaxed and powerful. The natural torque of the huge in-line six always gets me.’

Given the cosmetic condition of the car it is somewhat difficult to believe

that its transformation and restoration was completed nearly 45 years ago, as the car still presents extremely well. Almost a half a century of age and use has graced it with a soft patina. I was able to drive this machine a short distance up and down some hills. I was impressed with the torque and power of the engine. First gear was not needed, even from a dead stop going uphill. The long wheelbase of the car makes a 3-point turn into a 6-point turn, but this is not a car to zip around town in - it yearns for the open road. Looking down the long hood, glancing at the wooden dashboard packed full of gauges, clutching the big steering wheel while massaging the gearbox into its next gear, the 8-Litre is a truly incredible machine. W.O.’s last and greatest creation at the company that bears his name will remain one of the most coveted cars of all time.

Car's immense wheelbase is disguised by good proportions

LAMBSWOOL OVER RUGS

- Tailored in the UK from

- All cars

- Quality built on experience

HANWELLS OF LONDON 19752023

Easirider Company Ltd Unit G1 Nene Centre, Freehold Street, Northampton NN2 6EF +44 (0)1604 714103

mail@easirider.com

www.easirider.com

The highly-trained staff of The Beaconsfield Workshop boast countless years’ experience of the prestigious Bentley and Rolls-Royce marques. Operating from state-of-the-art new premises set in rolling countryside, yet just minutes from the Beaconsfield mainline station and M40 motorway, they are proud to offer the following services for both modern and classic examples of the breed:

SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE | RESTORATION BODY REPAIRS | REPAINTING | DETAILING

Workshop 1, Hall Barn Estate, Windsor End Beaconsfield, Bucks, HP9 2SG

Tel: +44 (0)1494 675211

Email: tara@thebeaconsfieldworkshop.co.uk

www.thebeaconsfieldworkshop.co.uk

Follow us on

2017

Flying Spur 4.0 V8 S. With Two tone Beluga and Porpoise interior, picnic tables, champagne cool box and many other throughout Offered at only £75,850

Walnut veneers with Bentley emblems to the waist rails. Lots of options including retractable £66,950

2002/51 Rolls Royce Silver Seraph Last Of Line over Silver Tempest with electric sunshine roof and chrome door mirrors. Portland interior with leather / veneered steering wheel and picnic tables. Immaculate .............. Only £66,950

2012

2013 Model Bentley GTC 4.0 V8 Mulliner plus Launch Spec. Including Sports Spec. in Charcoal hood. Beluga interior stitched in aluminium dash and fascia. Totally immaculate, £55,950

2008/58

Mulliner. Walnut veneers including door inlays. Known to us for 5 years and maintained regardless of throughout....................................... Only £39,995

veneers and French miles with history. Immaculate condition throughout, must be seen. £22,950

OVER 60 ROLLS-ROYCE & BENTLEY IN STOCK

All vehicles have a full 20,000 mile service plus a 100 point check and 1 year MoT, together with a 24 month 5 star warranty (parts and labour)

Open

Bentley Continental GTC

2009/09 Bentley Arnage T Mulliner

/

Model Bentley

A NEAR COSTLY DISASTER

I wondered if an experience of mine would interest others. We all enjoy checking under the bonnet of our prized and much-loved motor cars, especially before going for a run out somewhere. Well, this was the case last summer when I had planned to take the car for a run from my home near the Yorkshire coast and diverting towards Bridlington. So, bonnet up. First job: check oil level, then brake fluid, carbs, power steering, coolant and more. With the check complete (or so I thought at the time) I was about to close the bonnet when my phone rang. As the phone was on the work bench at the other side of the garage I left closing the bonnet and proceeded to answer the phone. After the call, which lasted about three minutes, I returned to the car, shut the bonnet, jumped in and drove off. I drove about eight to ten miles, eventually heading for Bridlington and then back home to Bempton. I was just passing our parish church, which

is a two-minute walk from where I live, when I heard this loud bang from under the bonnet. Being so close to

home I carried on home. With the car parked up on the drive, to my horror I saw the coolant cap lodged as pictured in the photo. I couldn't believe it, I remembered putting it back on around the time my phone rang and yes, you’ve guessed it, I hadn't tightened it down. So of course while I was driving along, it eventually unscrewed itself completely and blew off, hitting the top of the pulley on the air conditioning compressor and coming to rest on top of the pipe.

I couldn't believe my luck. If it had dropped down between the fan blades and radiator it would have been a disaster. I was very fortunate that it happened when I was so close to home, as well – phew! What have I learned from this experience? Well, let the phone ring and finish the job in hand. They can always ring back!

Chris Wardlow East Yorkshire

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

(The letter below reached us many months after it was sent, having disappeared first into Royal Mail’s system and then into our publisher’s post room, which directed it incorrectly. Apologies to Mr Robertson – Ed) Further to the story on the Ravishing Wraith (RR&BD, Sep / Oct 2022 issue), can I supply further information? Mrs Wordie, the owner of the car who died in 1946 aged 77 was the widow of Peter Wordie whom she married at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1902. She appears earlier in the RollsRoyce story when she purchased a Rolls-Royce Phantom II No 364. GY by H.J. Mulliner, according to Lawrence Dalton in ‘The Derby Phantoms’. The Wraith would appear to be its replacement.

With reference to Lady McEasham (there is a hand-written line in the coachbuilder’s instructions for the unusual sliding, rotating chair in the rear compartment that we believed said ‘As for Lady McEasham’ – Ed) I would suggest this to be Lady McEacharn, the widow of Sir Malcolm McEacharn, Mayor of Melbourne, Australia. A millionaire shipping magnate, he left Australia in a huff having lost his mayorship. He bought Galloway House in Wigtownshire from the Earl of Galloway in 1906 and settled in Scotland, where he had been born. He died, however, two years later.

Lady McEacharn also bought

a Rolls-Royce Phantom II, according to Dalton. This may be the car in which the ‘chair’ was installed – or in a later replacement Wraith. Their son, Captain Neil McEacharn, inherited Galloway House and became a prolific purchaser of Rolls-Royce Phantoms. He sold Galloway House in 1930 to Lady Forteviot of the Dewar whisky family. Captain McEacharn acquired a villa at Lago Maggiore in Italy where he established the worldfamous ‘Giardini Botanici’ gardens. I hope this information proves helpful.

William Robertson Paisley

DERBY BENTLEY DROUGHT

Any chance of a story on a Derby Bentley? It seems a long time since I saw a feature on these cars in your magazine and I believe they are of more interest than some of the formal, less sporting Rolls-Royce models of the same era, which are often featured. I am, of course, biased in my opinion, having run several examples in my life, starting with a very tatty 3½-litre Park Ward saloon that ate all my money when I was a medical student in the 1960s. I’ve been without one for several years now, so

I hope Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver can fill a gap!

Adrian Jackson London

A fair request! If readers whose Derby Bentleys have a story to tell would like to see their cars in print, please get in touch. Perhaps Mr Jackson would like to share his photos and memories of medical school adventures? - Ed

ALL ITS CRACKED UP TO BE?

I really enjoyed the story in the previous edition about the Silver Shadow that survived the Peking to Paris Rally in the hands of those two intrepid Aussies, but I have to take issue with some of the credit given to the car. Firstly this: ‘the Silver Shadow had the original motor, transmission, drivetrain and suspension components. The only modifications we made were the requirements of the rally’.

Well, with different springs, no load-levelling system, driveshafts from a different model and a thicker sway bar I’m not sure I’d describe the suspension and drivetrain as original. Of course the mods were requirements of the rally – if you wanted a chance of finishing! Then, when it states ‘There were never engineering failures, only external issues’, had we not read about cracks in the chassis on the previous page? I think Rolls-Royce’s chassis engineers might have regarded that as a failure.

Of course, the car was never designed to compete in such an event so a few failures and breakages were to be expected, as they would be with any elderly roadgoing production car. But the Peking to Paris and events like it are only open to elderly roadgoing production cars, some more suitable than others, admittedly. It’s a huge credit to the crew of the Silver Shadow that they got it through event, but surely only a moderate thumbsup for Rolls-Royce – wouldn’t any suitably prepared model of the same age have done equally well?

Yours blasphemously, Rachel

Potter Herts

WORTH THE EXTRA – OVER A ROVER?

I have recently come into a modest sum of money that allows me to fulfil a long-held wish for a high-quality British saloon car of the 1950s. My shortlist includes a Bentley Mk VI or R-type, an Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire 346, an Alvis TA21 or a Rover 90 ‘P4’. When they were new, the latter three were probably quite close in price and they’re not too far apart today, though the Alvis might need more investment to get a sound one. The Bentley would have been twice or three times the price of these ‘rivals’ when new but is now not out of reach – less good ones overlap with the nicer Armstrongs and Alvises (if not Rovers, perhaps) in price. My question, which is not intended to offend the readership of a magazine I enjoy, is this: is the Bentley worth the extra, these days? What makes it more valued?

After all, the Rover also has a lovely inlet-over-exhaust straight six of great smoothness and silence, while the Armstrong and the Alvis offer a turn of speed that can’t be far off Bentley territory, with very similar looks, and similar accommodation for the occupants. I expect everyone will say ‘If you have to ask, you’ll never understand’, but I’m asking anyway!

Rob Catton

Northumberland

Feel free to write in with your answers! To add a personal view, all those mentioned are fine cars but the Bentley leads on at least two counts – it really does feel more powerful and capable, and the engineering is a step up. Is that worth the extra? It is if you also enjoy the idea of being a Bentley owner - Ed

ARCHIVE FEATURE IN STORAGE

What has happened to the ‘From the Archive’ pages in RollsRoyce & Bentley Driver? I used to enjoy turning to the back of the magazine to see what you’d found, because I never knew what might turn up. There’s plenty of other good content, of course, but I think it’s a shame if From the Archives has gone for good.

Trevor Lloyd-Jones Herefordshire

Thanks for the comments, Trevor. We have been rounding up various interesting items but finding the space for our Archive feature has been tricky. But fear not, it will return before long – Ed

Sales & Marketing of Fine Motor Cars the World Over

1924 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Vandenplas Style Tourer £275,000.00

1924 Bentley 3-4 1/2 Litre Lemans Tourer £440,000.00

1910 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost “Rois-Des-Belges” style tourer by Cadogan £750,000.00

1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 Hooper all weather cabriolet £150,000.00

1931 Bentley 8 Litre Vandenplas Style Tourer £1,150,000.00

1913 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Colonial Open Drive Landaulette by Barker. £685,000

1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Sedanca de Ville by Barker £190,000.00

1920 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Henri Binder Victoria Hood. £210,000.00

QUALITY OF LIFE

This elegant Corniche has found a happy home for life, says its owner. Careful investment and attention has turned a good example into a car to be proud of…and it gets enjoyed, too.

WORDS & PHOTOS: NIGEL BOOTHMAN

It’s hard to picture sunny days out in glorious convertibles when you’re in the middle of a British winter. Perhaps readers in other parts of the world are slapping on the sunblock and taking the roof down, so we’ll try to get into the same mood. After all, it was only a few short months ago that we had a wonderful day in subtropical East Yorkshire, meeting Blair Jacobs and his Rolls-Royce Corniche.

As we pull up outside the farm property where Blair’s business, Pipe Dreams Classic Cars, is based, the Corniche is glinting in the sun like a well-polished bronze sculpture. That paint shade is actually called Nutmeg, a fine metallic that changes in the light, showing hues of rose gold amongst the darker tones. This is a 1980 example, and therefore a Corniche I Series II

(see 'The longest-lived model', p.43) with a mechanical specification very similar to the last Silver Shadow II saloons, built the same year. Blair has had his car since 2016, during which time it’s enjoyed various bits of attention, some quite involved. It’s still not perfect in Blair’s eyes, but it’s probably reached that state where only the owner can spot anything wrong.

Blair grew up with a father who was both a motoring journalist and a broadcaster; Clive Jacobs was most familiar to millions of listeners through his programme Going Places on BBC Radio 4. Cars of all kinds passed through the family and petrol entered Blair’s blood, if it wasn’t already there by breeding. He too owned many classics over the years as his own career in broadcasting developed,

before an important moment in 2016.

‘We were in New York city, celebrating my daughter’s 16th birthday,’ says Blair. ‘I had a moment to myself and was browsing through Ebay, when I saw this beautiful Corniche for sale in Scotland. I didn’t buy it then and there, but I did contact the owner and establish an offer that worked for us both – if the car was as described when I went to see it. It happens to be my wife’s all-time favourite car, so I had an easy sell!’

Blair arranged to go and view the Corniche as soon as they returned to the UK, heading up to Dundee for the inspection. He found nothing that seemed too alarming and completed the deal, driving off in sunshine for the long trip back to Yorkshire.

‘It started in sun,’ says Blair, ‘but sun »

became clouds, the clouds became rainy and the rain became torrential. Then the M74 came to an almost total halt for nearly three and a half hours.’

Blair was sitting in a 36 year-old Rolls-Royce convertible with no real knowledge of how it would behave when trapped in a traffic jam, and as wet as could be. Most of us have had similar experiences; muttered prayers or pleas to the motoring gods or the

car itself – be nice, keep going, don’t let me down! Blair had clearly taken a shine to the Corniche already, as he admits.

‘I actually said out loud – “get me home and I’ll never sell you”. And it did…it just kept running, smoothly and quietly, all through that journey and we got home without any trouble.’

Perhaps in an effort to reward the car’s good behaviour, Blair set about improving both the mechanical

condition (new spheres and an expensive brake rebuild, plus sundry fresh engine gaskets and some service work) and its cosmetic appeal. This later program of works became quite extensive, as Blair describes.

‘I stripped out the entire interior, including parts of the dashboard. The leather went away to have the colour stripped off; it needed a few repairs and it also was too yellowy for me. I

Best enjoyed roof down - and that happens at the touch of a button, as shown below

wanted it to be closer to the colour of the hood. I guess it’s now nearest to Parchment, though it’s not exactly the same. Every piece of veneered wood went away to Chapman and Cliff in Cheshire, and they made an amazing job of it. In the end, the veneers themselves were renewed and re-lacquered, and the result is stunning.’

fuses, now replaced with new items. All that’s left is the replacement or repair of the air conditioning servo, but for most of the year, Yorkshirebased drivers of convertible cars can get by without air conditioning.

faults that only owners can detect?

Time to head out for a drive. This part of East Yorkshire is almost fenland, with long straight lanes between table-flat fields and drains. The vanishing point, a mile ahead, would be an American view if we had desert around us rather than greenery and peaceful sheep, but it allows a relaxed approach to motoring: one hand on the wheel, roof down, windows down, elbow on top of the door.

Blair went around the car dealing with other minor annoyances such as slow electric windows in need of lubrication and temperamental »

‘I suspect there’s a little bit of filler in the car, here and there,’ says Blair, but we’re struggling to spot imperfections. ‘There’s some microblistering on part of the bonnet too, so I’d like to get the body thoroughly sorted out one day.’ Remember how we mentioned those

It's serene, as you’d expect, with the

The open road beckons for Blair - and they're often empty in East Yorkshire

FEATURE CAR ROLLS-ROYCE CORNICHE

gentle whoosh of the wind and the tyres drowning out any mechanical noise. We ask Blair for his impressions of the Corniche driving experience, bearing in mind he has recently bought, refurbished and sold a Silver Shadow of a similar vintage that made an interesting comparison.

‘The Corniche floats along and for a 1980 convertible, it’s pretty quiet with the roof up. Not silent like a modern convertible, so it takes you back in time to what they must have been like when new – which would have been much better than most other soft-tops. The difference I noticed between the Corniche and the Silver Shadow was really just in the legroom. The Shadow has more, but I couldn’t tell you why. I still love driving the Corniche though, and you can’t really beat looking down the bonnet past the Spirit of Ecstasy, can you?’

The country roads may be straight but they’re not outstandingly flat, though the Corniche does a fine job of keeping this secret from the occupants. It dismisses small aberrations in the tarmac but over larger dips and rises it can wallow and plunge a little – normal

“It's serene, as you’d expect, with the gentle whoosh of the wind and the tyres drowning out any mechanical noise”

Re-veneered wood and recoloured hide make for a glorious cabin

THE LONGEST-LIVED MODEL

If success is measured in longevity, the Corniche in its many forms was the most successful car Rolls-Royce ever made. From the first Mulliner Park Ward coupé in 1966 to the last Corniche S in 1995, it lasted 28 years – longer than the 40/50hp ‘Silver Ghost’ (20 years) or the Phantom VI (22 years). The combination of luxury, performance, image, handtooled quality and a full four-seat configuration was still compelling 15 years after the Silver Shadow saloon was replaced, despite the tremendous expense. When Blair’s car was new in 1980, the first owner could have had a Ferrari 308 GTB, a Mercedes 450 SL, a Porsche 928 and three Minis for the same sum.

But there was never much competition. Many other prestigious marques offered convertibles, though very few outside America

offered comfortable seating for four or five people. Even there, a fear over imminent law changes against full convertibles thinned the pack a great deal during the 1970s. Rolls-Royce kept production with Mulliner Park Ward in London until all but the last examples in the mid-1990s, and by that time the model had been through many iterations. When you examine them, it’s remarkable how little was changed to keep this car attractive to buyers. The first convertible, completed in early in 1967, set the pattern that was to follow: electrically operated, lined convertible roof; mechanical parts that duplicated the contemporary Silver Shadow; trim levels perhaps even higher than in the saloon thanks to MPW’s selection of the choicest hides and veneers. The Corniche name arrived in 1971 as detail changes continued to evolve alongside the saloon, though when

the Silver Shadow II came along in 1977, the Corniche convertible kept its name, and is now usually described as being Series I (up to ’77) or Series II (’77 onwards) specification. Confusingly, a Corniche II then arrived for 1986 with colourkeyed bumpers and mirrors and a third brake light on the boot lid. The Corniche III followed with only detail changes to dash and elsewhere, then the Corniche IV finished things off (almost) from 1992 with ABS, a four-speed gearbox and two airbags. Almost, because a Corniche S tied off the run in 1995 with a turbocharged engine from the Bentley Turbo R, producing a limited run of Americanmarket cars with a startling turn of pace. This was probably the first step-change in the way a Corniche felt to drive, showing how right it was from the very beginning.

for the SY generation cars and their cosseting suspension, but a mile from the screwed-down feel of modern cars. But its difference from modern cars is precisely what Blair likes about it.

‘I didn’t buy it for the “look at me” aspect, though if people pay attention to it, that’s fine – I’m always flattered by these unexpected compliments to the car. I wanted a Corniche because it’s classically elegant, and elegance is something that’s gone missing on almost all our modern cars.’

What with the lengthy repairs, the establishment of Blair’s classic car business and the pandemic, the Corniche hasn’t yet been used for any long-distance adventures, though these are on the cards.

‘The dream drive would be a trip to »

It's still an elegant car with the roof erected, isn't it?

ROLLS-ROYCE CORNICHE

Italy, I guess,’ says Blair. ‘Or we get most of the way there and think “Let’s go to Monaco!” because you would, wouldn’t you? I’m not yet convinced I’d be happy with the reliability for big European trips, so perhaps a run down to see relatives in the south of England might be a good first step, come the summer.’ He admits fuel costs have been off-putting, something many readers will identify with. But travelling first class has never been cheap. Who knows how long we’ll be able to enjoy glorious cars like this on the roads they were built for, and in the case of

the Corniche, named after? But Blair needs no encouragement to get the best from this beautiful machine – it even goes to the supermarket if the weather’s nice, though Blair is careful to park it well away from the crowded end of the car park. And British weather being what it is, that might be a day in July or a day in January…well, maybe March. But the point is that a car like this Rolls-Royce doesn’t really have to wait for a fine summer day, it is a fine summer day in four-wheeled form. Need cheering up? Take a ride in a Corniche.

SPECIFICATION

1980 ROLLS-ROYCE CORNICHE CONVERTIBLE

LENGTH: 5190mm / 17ft

WIDTH: 1830mm / 6ft

WEIGHT: 2280kg / 5027lb

ENGINE: 6750cc OHV V8

POWER: 220bhp (est)

TORQUE: 300lb ft (est)

0-60MPH: 9.6s

TOP SPEED: 120mph

COST NEW: £66,366 (1980)

LEARNING ON THE JOB

Since we photographed the car for this article, Pipe Dreams Classic Cars has taken on an apprentice. Ollie is 20 years old and for one week in every five, attends classes with the Heritage Skills Academy in Bicester, Oxfordshire. This was founded in 2015 to train the next generation of heritage engineers and to promote opportunities within the heritage industry. If you worry about the depletion of traditional skills from coachbuilding to trim to mechanical

knowledge, have a look at www. heritageskillsacademy.co.uk to see what’s available to keen youngsters.

‘The idea is that Ollie will finish this course after three and half years knowing more than I’ll ever learn,’ says Blair, ‘and he’ll be qualified too. We’re already offering more mechanical restoration services to our customers, including a full rebuild of a Land Rover Defender. When that’s done, we’ll be moving on to a 1988 Mercedes SL, which we’ll build up from a bare shell.’

“...it’s classically elegant, and elegance is something that’s gone missing on almost all our modern cars.”

Styled for 1965, made till 1995 - timeless good looks indeed

THE REAL CAR CO. LTD

What’s new in Bethesda?

Well, we’ve come through two difficult years, and after a slow start to 2022 things got better and better, and we ended the year of something of a high. We have recently sold several significant cars in terms of desirability

and in a higher price range, and this may indicate something of a change in the pattern of customer requirements.

How did you get started?

The Real Car Company was established in 1987, when Ian Johnstone and I

found our hobby was getting out of hand. We found that more and more cars were passing through our hands and in the end we decided to make it a full time occupation, alongside a business making exhaust systems. But by the spring of 1988 the car sales had taken off, and we focussed solely on that, expanding into part of the premises we still operate from now. These days, there are ten of us here and usually around 40 to 50 vehicles in stock.

How would you describe the core of the business nowadays?

The car sales of models from the early 1920s to the mid 1960s still form the vast majority of the business, parts supply less so. It’s important to know where to source parts for the cars we sell, and we have a busy workshop that exists to look after the cars we’re preparing for sale. We don’t do any restoration jobs for customers but looking after our stock is enough to keep us occupied.

You often have a strong stock of Derby Bentleys – what is it that appeals about this generation, and how do they compare to the Rolls-Royce 20/25 and 25/30?

They’re more of a driver’s car, with a performance edge over the RollsRoyce equivalents, and higher gearing that makes them more useable – for instance on long-distance rallies. They’re still good value, I’d say. A decent sports saloon with a sunroof at about £60,000 is a terrific car for the British climate and a fraction of the cost of a vintage Bentley.

A vast number of classics have passed through your hands since 1986. What

Established more than 35 years ago, The Real Car Co has proved that a quiet corner of Snowdonia can become an epicentre for the trade in vintage and classic Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars

PHOTOGRAPHY: NIGEL BOOTHMAN

Just one of the storage spaces for Real Car's ever-changing stock

Ray Arnold, who along with Ian Johnstone, founded the business

Sue Jones writes the fascinating car histories for Real Car's listings

do you like to see in your stock list? We’ve had several cars that have come back to us four or five times, sometimes from customers who like to change cars often, or for a variety of other reasons. It’s nice to be able to offer these cars knowing so much about their history. The other thing we rather enjoy, which goes back to our early days in the business, is unearthing barn finds. Overall, we like to keep a varied selection of cars in terms of models, coachwork and condition, all within the range that we specialise in.

The market for many pre-war cars looks a little slow – is it the same for Rolls-Royce and Bentley?

It’s very hard to generalise – some cars go in and out very rapidly and are sold in a few days, some hang around and then we have two or three people interested in them at once. It’s impossible to predict, except to say that they all sell in the end! I do think the market for post-war cars is picking up. A good Bentley Mk VI, R-type or S-type, or a Silver Cloud, is a very

useable car in modern traffic. I always tell people never to buy a car purely as an investment, but investment can come a close second to your wish to own a nice car. Values have done well when the economy struggles, as we found after 2008, when people look for other places to put their money. A car in the garage in more fun to use and look at than a bank statement!

“...never buy a car purely as an investment, but investment can come a close second to your wish to own a nice car.”

25/30 Park Ward 'Allweather' cabrio is probably unique

Every indoor space is crammed with Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars

Workshop facilities on site allow repairs of any scale to be completed

Just one of the storage spaces for Real Car's ever-changing stock

ELEGANCE AND QUALITY

Brian Williams came late to the joys of Rolls-Royce ownership. Magnificently capturing the elegance of pre-war luxury motoring, this 25/30hp Sports Saloon has produced a convert with a mission.

WORDS: DAVID WATT PHOTOS: ADE BRANNAN

Next time you find yourself in Staffordshire, you may be lucky enough – if you keep your eyes peeled – to catch a glimpse of this lovely and very original car, the pride and joy of Brian and Judy Williams.

It’s a 1936 4¼ litre Rolls-Royce 25/30hp Sports Saloon (chassis number GTL68) with bodywork by the famous coachbuilders, H.J. Mulliner. The 25/30 was launched in April of ’36 as the latest update to the smaller RollsRoyce offering that dated back to the introduction of the 20hp model in 1922. Changes from the 20/25 were not extensive, but the increase in engine size from the previous 3.7-litres gave a useful boost to a chassis asked to carry heavier and heavier coachwork. This example was bought from The Real Car Co. in the spring of 2020, and the Williamses had been looking forward to spending the following summer months bonding with their new purchase by exploring the highways and by-ways of their native county. These hopes were soon dashed when the Covid pandemic took hold across the country (across the world, indeed), curtailing the motoring hopes of so many of us during that year. Happily, three years on, Brian and Judy’s plans are back on track, but more of that later.

First, some history. The Williamses are the 11th owners of CYX 434. There are significant gaps in the car’s known history and Brian has embarked on a mission to delve deep into the records, determined that his research will uncover as much as possible of the car’s story. What is known is that the car was bought new in London by a gentleman

named Thomas Levington-Jacks who was a director of the Anglo Persian Oil Company which later became British Petroleum (BP). He kept the car for four or five years. During World War Two it was owned by the well-known dance band leader Lloyd Shakespeare and his wife, the actress Betty Warren who, amongst other roles, appeared in the Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico Lloyd also owned a motor boat which saw action during the conflict by making three separate trips to France as part of the Dunkirk evacuation operation. Much later, during the 1980s, CYX 434 was based in South Africa, but how it came to be in that country and who owned it there is one of the mysteries waiting to be solved. Brian’s research continues

and it is certain that many interesting facts remain to be uncovered.

The bodywork is all as per 1936 and retains such original features as a pair of Lucas P100 headlamps, two wingmounted spare wheels, a rota-flare fog (or spot) light positioned in the centre of the radiator grille and twin, impressively long trumpet horns. These, along with that magnificent RollsRoyce radiator, produce a purposeful demeanour. This car means business. An interesting feature is the kneeling Spirit of Ecstasy on the radiator, more usually seen on the post-war Silver Dawn model. Brian thinks this was introduced in 1936 to complement a slightly lower bonnet line brought in that year for this model. This would have been viewed as quite a modern update on the traditional mascot and also has the advantage of not requiring to be turned through 90 degrees before the bonnet can be opened.

Not original, but rather unusual and very striking, is the two-tone colour scheme of black over pale blue, the result, Brian believes, of a later re-spray. The only external alteration is the addition of extra lights positioned on the rear bumper, introduced for safety reasons. These are themselves old items which fit very well with the age of the car. All the original lights, including the trafficators, are still in perfect working order. Interestingly, no additional indicators have been added to the front of the vehicle, an adaptation many of us would expect to see these days.

Inside, there is attractive pale blue cloth to the rear seats (probably »

The H.J.Mulliner name guaranteed good taste, good looks and good proportions

Size increase to 4.25-litres gave 25/30 more brawn than 20/25

FEATURE CAR ROLLS-ROYCE 25/30

original, says Brian) which match the blue of the exterior lower panels. The black leather covering the front seats has probably been renewed at some stage. The central dashboard, which Brian had stripped and re-lacquered in 2020, features the usual in-period instrumentation: large clock on the left, four gauges in the centre (petrol, amps, oil pressure and water temperature) and speedometer to the right. Above these, just below the windscreen, are knobs to engage the wiper arms and the switch for the trafficators. In front of the driver to the right of the steering column is the usual Rolls-Royce ‘roundel’ containing the lever switch for the lights, a socket for the engine bay torch and the ignition switch. To the left of the steering column are the manual choke and the starter button, while in the middle of this panel are four small chrome knobs labelled ‘Centre’, ’Wiper’, ‘Reverse’ and ‘Headlamp’ which, respectively, operate the front central Rota-flare lamp, the windscreen wipers, the reversing light and the headlamps (separate from the lights switch in the ‘roundel’ and

thought to be the full beam/dipped beam control, now inoperable).

On the veneered door caps on the front doors are small winders which open the quarterlight windows, while a longer lever on the driver’s door card below raises and lowers the window in one go.

As was usual for Rolls-Royces and Bentleys of the period, the gear lever and handbrake are floor-mounted to the right of the cut-away driver’s seat. These make getting in and out of the vehicle rather a tricky proposition, so many owners elect to use the passenger door instead and sidle across, though the two separate front seats here (instead of a bench seat) possibly require another level of dexterity.

On the steering wheel boss are the usual controls one expects in a pre-

war car: hand throttle on the left, ride setting at the top and ignition advance and retard on the right. All work perfectly. Brian is always delighted to show people the starting procedure, revelling in the look on novices’ faces when he explains that the key is used only for locking and unlocking the doors, not for starting the engine. Instead, you twist the choke to the ‘up’ position, move the throttle control to ‘open’, advance the ignition (one o’clock position) and then press the starter button. Brian says she always starts on the button, the 4¼ litre engine soon settling down to a gentle burble. He normally lets her warm up for a couple of minutes or so before moving off. On acquiring the car, Brian – who also owns a 1935

“...the sheer torque of the engine lets you gather speed smoothly from anything above 15mph.”

Dash layout is particularly attractive, even if some controls (below right) require a reach around the wheel

Austin Ulster, a 1959 Austin Healey 3000 and a 2004 Bentley Continental – says he was immediately struck by the power and torque of the engine.

‘I soon got used to moving up the gears as soon as possible and settling into top where the sheer torque of the engine lets you gather speed smoothly from anything above 15mph. Once you’re in top you can virtually stay there all day. It was quite a revelation.’

He also had to get used to the crossply tyres (new ones were fitted in 2020) which require frequent correction in order to hold the best line. ‘It’s all second nature now,’ he says.

Brian particularly likes the firm and predictable clutch action which, coupled with the solid, mechanical gear change, results in smooth changes up and down. There is synchromesh on 3rd and 4th gears. Many drivers

of these cars will double de-clutch but, in truth, it is not necessary with the advent of self-synchronising gears. This must have been another revelation to drivers in the 1930s.

The ride on these magnificent cars always takes people by surprise, being thoroughly modern in its smoothness and quietness. ‘She just glides along smoothly with no rattles or creaks,’ says Brian. ‘Every trip, this never fails to impress me.’

He takes care to remember to operate the floor-mounted chassis lubrication pedal on start-up and every 50 miles thereafter on longer journeys. He keeps the radiator shutters closed on starting the car and while warming up, gradually opening them through the manual control after a few miles. On warm days, that is; on cold days, they remain closed.

But perhaps the greatest pleasure

Brian and Judy have derived from ownership is the many friends they have made since acquiring the car, not only through membership of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club but also through having the car professionally maintained by Chris Shenton Engineering based in Hanford. Chris has become a close family friend, often going on fly fishing outings with Brian. With the removal of most pandemic restrictions, he hopes that 2023 will see the car get much more regular use, especially for runs to raise funds for the various local charities he is involved with.

Brian is an enthusiast in the true sense of the word. While admitting to coming late to the joys of pre-war Rolls-Royce ownership, Brian certainly enjoys all aspects of owning this lovely car and one can’t help feeling that acquiring her has produced a match made in heaven.

Brian is justly pleased with the car's condition, including the cloth and leather trim and a well-stocked tool tray

THE ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER WRAITH AN ANATOMY OF…

The first post-war Rolls-Royce emerged into a very changed world of uncertainty and austerity. However, despite its considerable cost and only being available with coachbuilt bodies, it proved a long-lived success

In 1945, Winston Churchill, our inspirational wartime leader, suddenly found himself out of a job. The Conservative who had been so pivotal in guiding the nation through the darkest days of the Second World War lost the July general election to Clement Atlee’s Labour Party. It was a measure of changing social values and beliefs, and the conflict-weary population’s desire for a more classless society, that Labour was propelled to a landslide victory, gaining 239 seats and its first ever outright majority. With the end of hostilities, RollsRoyce was arguably in a similar

position to its former customer (Churchill once owned a 1921 Silver Ghost Barker cabriolet). While the entire British car industry had made Herculean contributions to the war effort, Rolls-Royce had emerged as first among equals; after all, it was its aero engines that had powered the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and Lancaster bombers that had been so instrumental in vanquishing the Nazis. Conflict had made the company famous for much more than just prestige motoring. But what role might Rolls-Royce play in a fresh era where military production was vastly scaled back, and austerity was necessary as

a newly socialist Britain struggled to rebuild itself after six years of fighting? Would the marque’s luxury cars be regarded as, like Churchill, unwanted symbols of a more socially divided past that the country was now keen to put behind it? Was there a place for the pre-war decadence of the Spirit of Ecstasy in what some hoped might be a post-war Utopia of equality, nationalisation and free health care?

Of course, 1945 didn’t spell the political end for Winston Churchill. He’d return as prime minister in 1951, and Rolls-Royce’s days as Britain’s premier car manufacturer weren’t over either. Despite the obvious challenges of selling expensive automobiles in an ascetic world, it was able to adapt, evolve and make itself relevant for

WORDS: RICHARD GUNN PHOTOGRAPHY: KELSEY ARCHIVE/RICHARD GUNN

the late-1940s and beyond. One of the ways it did that was with the 1946 introduction of the Silver Wraith.

The Silver Wraith followed directly on from the pre-war Wraith. That short-lived model had appeared in 1938 as Rolls-Royce’s smaller chassis, alongside the larger Phantom III and Bentley 4¼ Litre. Just 491 examples were completed before the outbreak of war curtailed its production and the company switched its attention to Merlin, Griffon and Meteor aeroplane and tank engines.

Rolls-Royce had been considering rationalisation even before the war, but the circumstances after it made such a policy all the more important, even unavoidable. It was development engineer (later to become chief engineer) William A Robotham who proposed that the firm should adopt a single chassis design, based on the smaller Wraith. It wasn’t quite a simple case of ‘one size fits all’ because the plan suggested a variety of possible wheelbases, along with six- and eightcylinder engine options that shared many common parts. The realisation of this was the Silver Wraith, unveiled in April 1946, and the closely-related Bentley MkVI that was announced seven weeks later. These two models were the first to be constructed at Rolls-Royce’s 1938 ‘shadow factory’ at Pyms Lane in Crewe, turned over to car production after manufacturing over 25,000 aircraft engines during WW2. Incidentally, the adoption of ‘Silver’ as a prefix for the Wraith was because it was originally conceived as part of a new family of RollsRoyces. In addition, there was to be the Silver Dawn (which eventually

came to fruition in 1949), as well as the eight-cylinder Silver Phantom and the somewhat bewilderingly-named Silver Ripple, which sounded more like a premium ice cream brand than a high-class automobile. The Silver Wraith was the first Rolls-Royce to officially incorporate the word ‘Silver’ in its name. While the 1906-1925 40/50 models are collectively known by the title Silver Ghost, that was never their official designation. The fame of the 12th example, AX 201, individually christened ‘Silver Ghost’ because of its aluminium paint and near silent operation, led to the moniker soon being adopted for all its siblings.

REMAINING SPECIAL

We looked at the Bentley MkVI back in the September/October 2022 issue of RR&BD. But in brief, it had a seven-inch shorter wheelbase compared to the Silver Wraith and

also featured the option of a new Standard Steel body supplied via Rolls-Royce, rather than just as a chassis for private coachbuilders to adorn, as had previously been the case. The 4257cc engines were the same, barring carburetion, whether Rolls-Royce or Bentley. However, this wasn’t the full-on badge-engineering that Crewe would indulge in within a few years, for there was no standard body option available for the Silver Wraith. It was available only in chassis form. Rolls-Royce may have been content to offer its own body design for the Bentley, almost as if to see how things went, but it was initially a lot more cautious about extending the experiment to machines sporting the Spirit of Ecstasy. Bentleys could be almost mass-produced, but RollsRoyces would, for now, remain special.

The chassis for the Silver Wraith was an advancement on that of the prewar Wraith. It was shorter between the

Standard saloon offering alongside Silver Wraith: Bentley Mk VI

»

Pyms Lane, Crewe

The Bentley MkV was killed off by war, but both chassis and engine spawned post-war models

axles – 127 inches compared to 136 inches – but sturdier in construction. Up front was independent front suspension by coil springs; similar in principle to the pre-war Wraiths but with the exposed coil springs vertical rather than horizontal and enclosed in an oil bath. At the rear were traditional semi-elliptic springs, lever-arm dampers and a live axle. The driver was able to adjust the stiffness of the dampers via a small lever on the steering wheel. The brakes were hydro-mechanical; the hydraulics worked the front drums while the back ones were operated via a mechanical servo of the frictional clutch type that could trace its Rolls-Royce origins back to 1924, and even further beyond that as a Hispano-Suiza device.

The 4257cc six-cylinder engine was almost that of the Bentley MkV; a model that had been set for launch at the October 1939 Earls Court Motor Show. The outbreak of the Second World War the month before meant that only between 11 and 18 (depending on source) of these cars trickled out of the factory before

A DRAMATIC SHIFT

During its early years, Rolls-Royce prided itself on making all the mechanical components for its cars; how else could it guarantee ‘the best car in the world’ if parts from others were fitted? But as motor car usage grew and new technologies were developed elsewhere, the company (perhaps reluctantly) began incorporating items from more specialist suppliers. In 1952, it took the bold step of adopting an entire new transmission for the Silver Wraith, courtesy of General Motors in the USA. The Hydramatic was the world’s first mass-produced fully-automatic gearbox, introduced in 1939 for Oldsmobiles and then, when GM was sure it worked, graduating to Cadillac (arguably Rolls-Royce’s main US rival) in 1941. However, it was during the war – when it was used in all manner of machines, including tanks – that it was truly blooded, and found to be tough and reliable. Post-war, GM advertised it as ‘battle-tested’. It was Rolls-Royce’s post-war chief engineer, W A Robotham, who took a keen

Rolls-Royce threw its weight into the war effort. But the B60 engine would, unlike the MkV, have a second lease of life, for it was used in the contemporary Bentley MkVI and the later Silver Dawn. Instead of the MkV's overhead-valve configuration, it an F-head top end; in other words, overhead inlets and side exhaust valves, plus reshaped combustion chambers. Other upgrades from the pre-war past included new main and big end bearings, chromed bores and an improved timing gear drive. With a single downdraught Stromberg carburettor, it was in a lower state of tune than in the Bentley MkVI with its twin SUs. Rolls-Royce was famous for not revealing power outputs, but when The Autocar magazine did a launch road test in April 1946, it revealed it developed about 122bhp.

Crewe must have been appalled at such vulgar exposure. Mated to the motor was a four-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on the top three ratios – a progression from 1930s’ gearboxes. It was stirred by a lever mounted to the right of the driver; all early Silver Wraiths were right-hand drive, no matter where in the world they were destined for.

The Silver Wraith may have been launched into an austere world, but its price was an extravagant one. While the final cost depended on the choice of body, a customer could reasonably expect to pay around £3400 for a completed car, which with purchase tax (introduced in 1940) added on would amount to around £4350. Given that a comparable Wraith in 1939 would have been around £1600, the new

interest in technical developments on the other side of the Atlantic, and saw some early Hydramatic transmission prototypes during the early 1930s. During the war, despite having more pressing concerns, RollsRoyce experimented with automatic gearboxes in existing models, and deemed the Hydramatic worthy of fitment. Rather than buy in the gearboxes, Robotham forged a deal during 1946 to manufacture up to 5000 per year under licence. The plan stalled somewhat when Robotham was shifted away from the passenger car division to Rolls-Royce’s new diesel engine section, but in early 1952, Crewe finally started building the Hydramatic – not that it was officially called this, as the company made it clear that it should be referred to simply as ‘the automatic gearbox’ in marketing and by the press. It was initially only available for export machines, but became available for the home market in autumn 1953, for an extra £99 3s and 4d. Some examples were also sold to Armstrong

Siddeley for its Sapphire 346 and to the British Motor Corporation for Vanden Plas Princesses. Although the advent of the Silver Shadow in 1965 saw the Hydramatic gradually phased out in favour of the GM400 threespeed self-shifter, it remained in service with Phantoms up until 1978.

‘Bentleys could be almost mass-produced, but Rolls-Royces would, for now, remain special’

MARQUE HISTORY

THE ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER WRAITH

Rolls-Royce represented a considerable investment at a time when money was in short supply and even the humblest new Austin or Hillman – at a tenth of the price – would have been

an unthinkable prospect for many.

Remarkably though, Rolls-Royce’s order books rapidly filled up – there were obviously enough buyers who’d had a ‘good war’ to afford the

enormous price. The first chassis was sent to Hooper in February 1946, the second to H J Mulliner in May of that year. While the Bentley MkVI had its Standard Steel body, Silver Wraiths instead had ‘approved’ body styles. From Park Ward – which had been taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1939 –there was a semi-official sports saloon and limousine, while H J Mulliner weighed in with a sedanca de ville and Hooper offered a touring limousine, both of which got the nod from Crewe.

AVANT GARDE DESIGNS

These favoured designs were very traditional in appearance, hearkening back to pre-war cues of flowing lines and separate headlamps. However, there were plenty of coachbuilders willing to indulge customers with more avant garde designs. Some

WRAITH WORK

British coachbuilders who produced bespoke bodies for Silver Wraiths included RollsRoyce’s own Park Ward as well as independent concerns such as H J Mulliner, Hooper & Company, J Gurney Nutting & Company Limited and Freestone & Webb. Overseas firms included Pininfarina and Vignale of Italy, and Chapron, Franay, Poberejsky and Saoutchik of France.

H J Mulliner Silver Wraith Enclosed Limousine Silver Wraith laundaulette by Park Ward

Silver Wraith Poberejsky Sedanca de Ville

Gurney Nutting & Co Foursome Coupe

were dramatic, others were diabolical. Hooper had been acquired by BSA/ Daimler in 1940 and this measure of security allowed it to develop some distinctive razor-edged designs incorporating sharper lines than many of its contemporaries dared to do. But it also came up with some extraordinary creations, such as a drophead coupe that could be fitted with a transparent Perspex roof. However, it was the commissions it carried out for the eccentric and extrovert Armenian millionaire Nubar Gulbenkian that were most controversial. One slabsided 1947 invention, dubbed ‘The Pantechnicon’, had spats over all four wheels and a horizontallybarred grille complemented by matching bars over the front lights. It resembled an armoured car…but with a sweeping fastback tail. RollsRoyce made its disapproval known. Happily, this fascinating car survives and is undergoing restoration.

Another Gulbenkian sedanca de ville had a sage-green lizard-skin interior while a 1956 Hooper had vertically stacked hooded headlamps

(something of a Hooper trademark) and a fixed Perspex upper section with an electrically-operated inner blind for modesty and temperature control purposes. Its grille, this time with a more conventional treatment than on the Pantechnicon, was topped by ‘Chrysis’, a rather less modest interpretation of the Spirit of Ecstasy by Rene Lalique. Thanks to its glass construction, it was illuminated from within by night. This Rolls-Royce later went on to feature in a 1964 movie, The Love Cage, alongside Jane Fonda and Alain Delon where, arguably, it stole the limelight from both of its human stars.

In the main though, British coachbuilders were quite respectful as to how they treated Silver Wraith chassis. That wasn’t always the case with the very few cars that appeared courtesy of foreign carrosserie. Vignale of Turin built one for American

tycoon Joseph Maschuch in 1955 with full-width styling, four oversized headlamps protruding well beyond its radiator grille and a reverse-rake rear window of the sort that would later grace Ford Anglia 105Es. Still, it was positively delightful compared to the Silver Wraith bodied by Poberejsky of Paris that was exhibited at the 1949 Geneva Motor Show. This sedanca de ville dispensed completely with the usual Rolls-Royce grille, retaining only the Flying Lady mascot on top of its bulging bonnet. It looked like a squashed and squeezed Volvo PV444 given a semi-convertible treatment. Rolls-Royce was so appalled by its appearance that it reputedly demanded it be removed from the Swiss show within 24 hours, and refused to issue any warranties for the car. It was such an aberration that it’s a wonder Nubar Gulbenkian didn’t snap it up. Instead, it was rebodied

‘The Pantechnicon unfortunately resembled an armoured car but with a fastback tail’

Chrysis Lalique mascot

Nubar Gulbenkian with his 1956 'Perspex Top' Silver Wraith by Hooper

1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith LWB Special Saloon Vignale, in the Louwman Museum

The Pantechnicon

»

later the same year by Franay of Paris as a considerably more attractive and traditional drophead coupe.

In December 1949, the first lefthand drive Silver Wraiths appeared for export, which boosted their appeal for the vital American market. Towards the end of 1951, the engine capacity was increased to 4566cc and the wheelbase lengthened

PRODUCTION FIGURES

Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith (127-inch wheelbase) 1244

Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith (133-inch wheelbase) 639

Total 1883

from 127 inches to 133 inches. These modifications were closely followed by the introduction of a GM Hydramatic four-speed automatic transmission a few months into 1952. By now, the Silver Wraith was one of three Rolls-Royce models offered by the firm; the Silver Dawn with 120-inch wheelbase and Bentley MkVI-pattern Standard Steel body had been introduced in 1949, while the leviathan 145-inch wheelbase Phantom IV (the proposed ‘Silver’ prefix having been dropped) came along in 1950, albeit only for Royalty and heads of state. Fortunately, if Rolls-Royce deemed you unworthy of the 18 Phantom IVs crafted between 1950 and 1956, the Silver Wraith was a desirable enough substitute for most. Examples still in use today are the Irish Presidential State Car,

Brazilian Presidential Ceremonial State Car and the President of Zimbabwe’s Ceremonial State Car, while the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Australia also employed Silver Wraiths for Royal duties. The British High Commissioner of Malaya, Sir Henry Gurney, also had one as his official car but was killed in it during October 1951 by communists fighting for independence from the UK. His car survived the ambush and was later passed onto the Chief Minister of Penang Island. The final major change to the Silver Wraith came in 1954, when the engine was stretched to 4887cc, although there was a switch to twin SU carburettors during 1956, which raised power to around 180bhp. Not that this was admitted by RollsRoyce, of course. Once the Silver

‘Was there a place for the pre-war decadence of the Spirit of Ecstasy in what some hoped might be a post-war Utopia of equality, nationalisation and free health care?’

GM Hydramatic Advert1953 Hooper Advert

We are a family run business with a dedicated team of metal polishers and platers with more than 100-years experience of polishing chrome, copper, and nickel plating. We specialise in the restoration of all car and motorcycle bright work to a high quality.

• Our work is undertaken in-house and every job is treated with the utmost care.

• All of our work is triple plated – copper, nickel & chrome.

• We can take on all projects, from the biggest to smallest. customers.

most reasonable price possible.

please telephone the number below, or visit our website.

Cloud was launched in 1955, sales of the Silver Wraith dwindled, and the final one was delivered in August 1959, to the Ghanian Embassy in West Germany. While there was no direct replacement, the Silver Cloud and new Phantom V – no longer limited to only the highest in society – largely filled the void left by the Silver Wraith’s retirement. However, in 1976, the Silver Wraith II title was given to long-wheelbase

THE VIEW

John Tupper, managing director of IntroCar, says:

The Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith represents a somewhat different ownership prospect from that of its standard-bodied contemporaries, the Silver Dawn, Bentley MkVI & R-Type. While it shares much of the same running gear, this suits the serious collector better than the owner who likes spinning through the country lanes in a regal, yet driveable, piece of motoring history. While just as driveable, the presence of a division on Silver Wraiths makes the experience entirely different for all but the most disparate of family units! Mechanically, the correspondence with their standard-bodied contemporaries means that the Silver Wraith is beautifully catered for by a number of well-stocked parts

variants of the Silver Shadow. The Silver Wraith bridged the gap between pre-war Rolls-Royces and the V8 era, spanning the end of the war almost through to the dawn of the 1960s, a decade that would transform the company and its cars even further. The model can be regarded as the last of the very traditional ‘mainstream’ Rolls-Royce, for which a Standard Steel body was never available

suppliers, and the cars are simple enough for the dedicated hobbyist to do much of the maintenance. High quality specialist technicians, while always busy, remain in some number. Equipped with the right manuals, and some help from the field, high-end classic car workshops should be up to the job.

If buying, there are a few things to look out for. On cars with a manual gearbox, look out for clutch judder. Reconditioned clutches should be avoided. The original linings were asbestos and for technical reasons modern equivalents are a real lottery, even when carefully rebuilt. It's a twelve-hour job to replace a clutch (so doing it twice or more to achieve something only vaguely acceptable is no fun). We now supply a complete modern diaphragm clutch with flywheel. On automatic cars, beware of jerky upshifts, particularly when cold.

A good engine will be nearly silent when warm. When the engine is at temperature, point a laser thermometer (cheap to buy) at the front, middle and rear of the engine, looking for significantly higher temperatures at the rear of the

and which retained a six-cylinder engine right through to the end. It’s one of the more overlooked models these days, compared to its close contemporaries, the Bentley MkVI and Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. Yet it outlasted both these machines by several years. It’s also notable for holding a record that is unlikely to be beaten now, as the most numerous coachbuilt RollsRoyce of the post-war era.

engine where the coolant galleries become furred up. Bottom end knocks and upper end tappings are signs that an engine overhaul might be due. However, the good news is that mechanically these cars are nice to work on, and very little is difficult to fix with a bit of effort and money.

The coachwork is where the demons may lie in wait. Most were constructed with a combination of aluminium and wood, both of which rot over time. Examine door shuts carefully and look for corrosion underneath. Both are signs that an expensive rebuild will be necessary. Chrome work and other fixings were unique to the coachbuilders and sometimes bodies, so anything missing will not be easy to replace. Take your time going over the car, and, if possible, bring someone who has experience of coachbuilt bodywork.

The "Silver Wraith" moniker covers a huge number of coachwork styles which attract varying amounts of attention and value. But the main thing, perhaps, is that in the Silver Wraith you combine post-war drivability with pre-war glamour. The chances of seeing an identical vehicle on your travels are vanishingly rare!

Brazilian Presidential ceremonial state car with President Lula

Royal Dutch State Limousine

FULL STEAM AHEAD

Another busy year of events is planned for the Bentley Drivers Club in 2023, with the Summer Concours, Silverstone race meeting and one-off Birkin Tour the highlights

Plans are already under way for a variety of exciting activities as the BDC prepares for another busy and enjoyable programme in 2023. Of the main annual events, the Club is pleased to announce that this year’s 75th Summer Concours & Party will be held in the delightfully rural surroundings of Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens in north Northamptonshire on Sunday 9th July. The highlight will be the crowning of the car named Best in Show. Which model will succeed Michael Dacre’s 1936 Derby 4¼ as the overall winner this time? Prizes will also be awarded in a host of other classes, in both the Concours and Patina categories. The country house, built in 1732, is surrounded by award-winning historic gardens, all set within a scenic 124-acre parkland site. It has also built a reputation as a popular location for motoring shows.

In the motorsports arena, the Club’s Competitions Committee has confirmed the date of this year’s 75th

Silverstone race meeting – it’s Saturday 12th August. Another packed race programme is planned with the Bentley scratch race for the Times Challenge Trophy the main event. Can Ben Eastick (T Type) make it three wins in a row? Look out, too, for the always exciting Bentley handicap encounter, won last year by Oliver Llewellyn (3/8 Litre).

A special excursion being arranged this year is The Birkin Tour – a weekend excursion, from 19th-22nd May, to celebrate the life of Sir Tim Birkin, the renowned Bentley Boy and the driving force behind the Blower Bentley Le Mans cars. The tour will take place in Norfolk, Birkin’s burial place.

Another interesting event to look forward to is the second Talks Day at the Clubhouse, organised by the Bentley Memorial Foundation, on Saturday 1st April. Among the guest speakers already lined up is Mike Flewitt, former CEO of McLaren Automotive and Production Director at Bentley Motors.

Another date for your diary is the Club’s Annual General Meeting which

will also take place at the Clubhouse in Wroxton, on Sunday 23rd April. A host of Regional driving tours and weekends is scheduled for this year, which will see UK-based Members visit various scenic locations around the country, such as Oxfordshire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Scotland and North Wales, as well as travel abroad to Brittany in France.

Meanwhile, 2023 sees the 90th anniversary of the Bentley Derby – which will be marked with a celebration. The event, organised by The Silent Sports Car Club (SSCC), is open to all Derby owners and will be based at the four-star Cranage Hall Hotel, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. For an application form please email Neill Fraser, SSCC Secretary, at neill@ClaremontCottage.co.uk

Plans are also to be firmed up for a major event in 2024 to mark the centenary of Bentley’s first of six wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours. To be held in June 2024, 100 Bentleys are due to partake in a five-night tour to the event. www.bdcl.org

Kelmarsh Hall will host the Summer Concours in July (image: Kelmarsh Hall)

The Birkin Tour will celebrate the Bentley Boy’s life (image: BDC archives)

The Bentley Derby celebrates its 90th anniversary this year (image: Neill Fraser)

Ben Eastick will be chasing a Times Challenge Trophy hat-trick at BDC Silverstone in August (image: Chris Dicken)

Members will enjoy plenty of Bentley driving tours, both in the UK and overseas (image: BDC archives)

WORDS: STUART NEWMAN

DRIVERS CLUB

Founded by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. The Bentley Drivers Club is proud of its ethos: a club of friends who share a love of all things Bentley. It’s also the only club directly affiliated with Bentley Motors.

While some follow in the tyre tracks of the iconic ‘Bentley Boys’, competing in races and rallies, others have taken pleasure watching their modern-day counterparts in the most recent GT3 race cars.

Off track, some simply enjoy driving their Bentley on the road, frequently in the company of other enthusiasts.

No matter what your inspiration, the BDC can help enhance your Bentley ownership and take your appreciation of this classic marque even deeper

A great feature of our club is the excellent events we hold, both at home and abroad. These include our annual long-established Concours d’Elegance and Silverstone race meeting plus numerous tours and social occasions organised by our ever active Regions worldwide.

So, with lots of activities to look forward to in the future, what better time is there to join us?

We

Members enjoy a range of benefits with the BDC:

• Bi-monthly Review and monthly Advertiser & Diary publications plus frequent e-newsletters

• Access to comprehensive archives through the club’s association with the Bentley Memorial Foundation, providing a deep insight into the marque’s history

• Access to the spares schemes, covering the three key eras of Bentley production

• Favourable insurance rates and service plus undisputed valuations (for insurance purposes)

• Club forum offering the chance to discuss all things Bentley

look forward to welcoming all Bentley enthusiasts to the Bentley Drivers Club

THE RESTORATION SHOW

Indoor show season continues with news of the RREC’s second visit to the NEC in Birmingham, plus an early warning to grab tickets for the Annual Rally

The Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club is excited to announce their upcoming visit to the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show at Birmingham's NEC from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th March 2023. This annual event is a must-see for classic car enthusiasts and collectors, and the RREC is proud to be participating once again.

The RREC will be showcasing a variety of classic Rolls-Royce & Bentley cars at the show. Visitors will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with these stunning vehicles, and learn more about the rich history and heritage of Rolls-Royce. In addition to the classic car displays, the RREC will also be offering advice and guidance to those interested in restoring or maintaining their own classic Rolls-Royce or Bentley car.

The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show is the perfect opportunity for Rolls-Royce enthusiasts to come together and celebrate their passion for these iconic cars. So remember to set aside the weekend of March 24th-26th 2023 and don't miss out on this exciting event.

ANNUAL RALLY TICKETS TO GO ON SALE SOON

Mark your calendars! The Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club Annual Rally is set to take place from 23rd to 25th June 2023 at Burghley House, and tickets will be going on sale in the next few weeks.

The Annual Rally is a highly anticipated event for Rolls-Royce enthusiasts from all over the world. This year's rally will feature a variety of activities, including the famed Concours

d'Elegance. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet and network with other Rolls-Royce and Bentley enthusiasts and experts in the field.

The car show will feature some of the most beautiful and rarest Rolls-Royce and Bentley models from the past and present. Attendees will have the chance to see these magnificent cars up close and even take a look inside some of them, giving an insight into the way Rolls-Royce cars are made and the craftsmanship that goes into each one.

The Annual Rally is a must-attend event for anyone who loves Rolls-Royce cars. Tickets will be going on sale in the next few weeks, so be sure to grab yours before they sell out. For more information about the Annual Rally and to purchase tickets, visit the Rolls-Royce Enthusiast Club website: rrec.org.uk

See you at the rally!

Doors open! Older models can draw in younger visitors, too

Visiting the RREC stand is a great chance to meet old - and new - friends

A magnificent skiff-bodied 40/50hp in restoration, seen at the 2019 event

The RREC team from the NEC show in November - these stands take a lot of effort!

Technical discussions spring up everywhere at the Restoration Show....

WORDS: MARTIN CHESSE

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?

The idea of a sports limousine seems like an oxymoron, but a few minutes with a Bentley Flying Spur like this 2012 example shows that Bentley achieved something we’d once have thought impossible.

The concept of a fast, powerful limousine capable of whisking its occupants across continents at high speed is nothing new. Indeed, Bentley themselves were doing just that almost 100 years ago with the 6½-litre and then the 8-litre model, as discussed on page 26 of this issue. But going quickly in a straight line is not difficult; you just pile on the power and hang the expense. Getting a car with limousine-esque accommodation to behave like a sports car, or at least like a wieldy grand tourer, just wasn’t on the cards until quite recently. Mercedes got close with successive S-class models, but it took AMG or

Brabus to make them stop, steer and go really well. Ditto BMW’s 7-series and the rare Alpina versions. Maserati’s more recent Quattroportes, the QP V and QP VI are wonderful to drive fast thanks to the Ferrari V8 and the lively chassis, but the rear seat accommodation is no different to most mid-sized saloons, albeit in nice soft Italian hide. Perhaps the recent Jaguar XJ got closest in long wheelbase ‘L’ form, with toys galore and legroom aplenty for lucky passengers, though you’d need to choose the five-litre V8 version to compete. So how did Bentley, freshly reorganised in Volkswagen’s ownership, come up with something

as impressive as the Flying Spur?

By starting with a fantastic two-door GT car. The Continental GT and GTC with their 4WD system and W12 engines reset what could be expected from a grand tourer in terms of effortlessly potent performance, practicality and comfort. The two cars – GT and Flying Spur – were developed side by side, though the GT was first to market by two years. The Continental Flying Spur, to give it its full name, was actually the more aerodynamic of the two and weighed only 100kg more than the GT – and 10kg less than the GTC. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Flying Spur was indeed the fastest four-seater

WORDS: NIGEL BOOTHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG EVANS

production car in the world when it was launched in 2005, touching 195mph.

SPEED – THWARTED

It seems unlikely we’ll reach 195mph in West London this afternoon. We nose the car out of Hanwells’ showroom and into the city traffic, seeking a quiet spot for a few photos and some more open stretches to give the Bentley free reign. It seems to have a more subdued profile than either the GT / GTC model or the contemporary RollsRoyce Phantom VII, which is so tall and imposing where this Bentley is low and sleek. You seem to sit a good deal lower than in an Arnage, which overlapped with this model by four years, and anyone choosing between them when new would soon notice the differences. Here we have sculpted, firm, sportsGT seats rather than armchairs, and a dash that curves around the driver like the cockpit of a fast jet. Controls

are tipped with knurled stainless steel and there is a pair of gearshift paddles above the column stalks. Despite being the Arnage’s stablemate, it’s a different bloodline and different generation.

The ride over potholed city streets is impressive for a car with huge alloy wheels, low profile tyres and relatively short suspension travel. But we’re firmly in compromise territory, where the demands of body control and neat handling placed upon a two-anda-half ton car mean that this is not quite a magic carpet. Nonetheless, the air springs and adaptive electronic dampers do an amazing job in their attempt to cope with all conditions. This is a Mulliner version, with diamond stitching galore and comical touches like drilled pedals…a nod to the motorsport practice of drilling everything for lightness, but unlikely to make a measurable difference in this car. It has a cocooned feel, rather than a cosseting one; there is just enough headroom

but no more. The car’s waistline feels high, which offers an agreeably protected sensation to occupants. Time to pull over and explore the space for those who are not at the helm.

The difference between this and the room available in the back of the Continental GT is staggering. It would have been easy for Bentley’s stylist Dirk van Braeckel to concentrate on sporting proportions and leave us with a snug, close-coupled saloon, but he and Bentley’s product planners took the opposite route. They created very nearly as much legroom in the Flying Spur as you would find in the LWB version of previous Arnages and SZ-generation cars. It’s more than just the luxury of space, too – rear seat occupants get their own overhead console for the control of various lighting options, their own bank of climate control knobs in the rear of the centre console and their own electrically sliding, tilting and memory-setting seats. Privacy glass »

Long rear door hints at room within

W12 power and 4WD combine to mighty effect

ROAD TEST BENTLEY CONTINENTAL FLYING SPUR

completes a thoroughly appealing environment for any long road journey.

THE LURE OF THE FAST LANE

We’re anxious to discover what this car can do on the open road. Will it shrink around us like the best fullsized powerhouses, or lurch and wallow where the GT remains poised? When the photographer has finished his work, his camera bag, tripod and light-stands look lost in the Spur’s generous boot. Time to climb aboard and explore the rev range.

There is still a key to insert; more a nod to traditionalism than a necessity. Press the button labelled START and there’s a distant explosion you feel through the soles of your feet, as though you’re somewhere near a quarry and they’ve started blasting. That’s the

Acceleration from rest is startling for 2.5 tons

Legroom aplenty and reclining seats

Narrow opening but a very deep space within

Driver's environment is sporting and soothing in equal measure

Rear compartment controls

W12 coming to life, rather more quietly than in the sportier variants of the GT, where the sound is allowed to add to the drama. Somehow, this six-litre engine with a peak output of 552bhp is barely detectable in the first third or even half of the rev counter, so the feeling is not unlike that of an EV: instant response, linear acceleration, near silence. Until you stick it into S for Sport, use the paddles and hang on to each gear.

It is blisteringly quick. Here is where the experience becomes almost indistinguishable from the Continental GT: the steering has enough feel and accuracy to hit every corner’s apex but the four-wheel drive system never shows a hint of losing grip. Understeer, because you went in too fast? Not really – just keep your foot down and the front wheels pull you round. Oversteer, because you booted it too roughly on the way out? No, that would be rather undignified. It just squats down slightly and fires you into the horizon, bellowing like an angry god.

Anyone who’s driven an Arnage, particularly a later more powerful one such as an Arnage R or T will be familiar with that relentless charging acceleration that doesn’t seem to take account of the speed you’re already doing. For instance, 40mph to 70mph is accomplished in a way that suggests

it wouldn’t take much longer to romp from 120mph to 150mph. Not that we can discover this in south east England, of course. Does it need to be this fast? Of course not. But it’s great fun, and it has only one downside.

This an effect of the car’s ability to entertain you on fast, twisty roads. You can generate considerable g-forces, both through braking and rocket-ship acceleration but also laterally, thanks to those huge rubber paws and their seemingly endless grip. Forget you’re in a passenger liner and you’ll soon hear squeals of rage from the back seat as you smear your guests against the side windows like spilt coffee. It’s hardly a serious whinge, though. This car is too versatile to complain about for long. It can tick the box for a silent city limousine, for solo entertainment on an A-road blast and for a family holiday in the South of France – 26mpg or even more on the motorway is perfectly possible and the boot, as we’ve discovered, will swallow all your kit.

It's with some regret, then, that we hand it back to Stephen Brown, proprietor of Hanwells. He usually has several such cars in stock (and this one sold before we went to press) ranging from the low £20,000s for the 2005 and 2006 cars with higher mileage to as much as £80,000 for a lovely second-

gen example from 2013 onwards. A new Flying Spur now tops £170,000, so a pampered pre-owned example with a full book of stamps is outrageously good value after depreciation like that.

Bentley took so many orders for the Flying Spur in the year after it was launched that Crewe couldn’t keep up with demand, and 1350 had to be built in Germany instead. Go and try one – you’ll soon understand why.

Thanks to: Hanwells of London, hanwells.net or call 0208 567 9729

SPECIFICATION

2012 BENTLEY FLYING SPUR

LENGTH: 5290mm

WIDTH: 1976mm

WEIGHT: 2485kg

ENGINE: W12 turbo

POWER: 552bhp@6100rpm

TORQUE: 479lb ft @1600rpm

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic 0-60MPH: 5s

TOP SPEED: 195mph

ECONOMY: 11/17/26mpg, urban/combined/m-way

COST NEW: from £115,350 (2005) PRICE NOW: c. £38,000 (for a 2012 car)

‘You can generate considerable g-forces, both through braking and rocket-ship acceleration but also laterally, thanks to those huge rubber paws and their endless grip and traction.’

BUYING ADVICE

BUY BENTLEY’S LUXURY BARGAIN

Replacing the Turbo R, the Arnage was caught up in one of the most bizarre buyouts in British industrial history. But that just means there are interesting choices to be made when buying one

WORDS: WILL HOLMAN PHOTOGRAPHY: KELSEY ARCHIVE

Choice, that’s what we all want these days. A young chap in whizzy glasses running a focus group decided that a few years ago, and choice is certainly what Bentley provided with the Arnage. You could have one with a German engine designed in the 1990s, or an English engine designed in the 1950s. And of course, the earlier cars came with the later engine, and vice-versa. Confused? You should be – but not as confused as Volkswagen, who thought they’d bought Rolls-Royce, only to discover that BMW had – or important bits of it anyway – leaving the Wolfsburg firm

building Bentleys with engines built by a rival manufacturer. What a sorry mess. How on earth did we get here? Well… As you’re reading Rolls-Royce and Bentley Driver there’s a very good chance you know this story all too well, but for those new to all this, here’s the potted version. Rolls-Royce Motors owners Vickers decided to sell in 1998, and the leading bidder was German automotive giant, BMW. However, at the eleventh hour BMW’s £340m bid was trounced by VW’s, whose clever money men just transposed the first two digits and offered £430m instead. Crafty. But not quite crafty enough,

because although the deal included the historic Crewe factory, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot and the instantly recognisable radiator grille shape, VW’s lawyers missed the fact the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo were still under the control of the aero engine manufacturer, which promptly licensed them to BMW for a paltry (everything’s relative) £40m. Eventually the two German firms did a deal that allowed Volkswagen to make Bentleys and BMW to produce Rolls-Royces.

The deal included a provision that meant the Arnage could continue to be powered by BMW’s M62 quad-cam V8,

with its Cosworth engineered twin-turbo setup for another couple of years, after which the 1950s designed Rolls-Royce L-Series V8 was fitted with one large turbo, just as it had been in the Turbo R.

A final twist of this uniquely farcical deal was that the Arnage was on sale with a choice of either engine for a year, the BMW powered cars gaining the name of Green Label, alongside the Rolls-Royce V8-engined variety’s Red Label. Both cars received stiffened shells and uprated brakes, necessitated by the L-Series V8’s considerable extra weight (well, it was nearly 50 years old).

It’s hard to think of any parallels for this. In some ways it’s like retro-fitting an Avro Vulcan with four Merlins, but then the delta wing bomber would have ceased to be a nuclear deterrent as it would never have lifted from the runway, whereas the Arnage lost no performance at all. In fact some prefer the later car (with its earlier engine).

Younger drivers may prefer the BMW powered cars as the power delivery feels younger – the engine needs to rev to really lift up its skirts, whereas the L-Series cars provide an almost EV-mimicking power deliver – torque by the bucketful from low revs and effortless performance as a result. Horses for courses.

The Green Label was available for just one year, 2000, with the Red Label continuing until 2002. However, a BMW powered run-out model, the Birkin, continued until 2001, after which only Rolls-Royce L-Series V8 engines were fitted. At this point a long wheelbase variant was added to the Bentley brochure, offering 250mm more space, with larger front and rear doors.

Also in 2001, Bentley marked its return to Le Mans with the Arnage

Le Mans, of which just 153 were built. The cars sported wider wheel arches, different bumpers and a unique quad tailpipe arrangement, plus five-spoke alloy wheels and ‘Le Mans Series’ badges on the front quarter panels.

The following year saw the two distinct trim levels standardised. The Arnage R made do with the 450bhp spec engine, while the T boasted 500bhp, and also had more sporting seats and split rim alloy wheels. The power hike allowed the T to make the dash to 60mph in just 5.5 seconds, which is still impressive today – doubly so for a hefty four-door saloon.

The Arnage received a facelift in 2005, which brought the front-end looks closer to the styling of the new Continental GT. Kits are available to convert older cars to the separate four headlight front end of later cars.

2006’s Arnage Blue Train paid homage to the Speed Six of the same name, and 36 were built, although only six were right-hand drive. And

in the same year the firm celebrated 60 years of production at Crewe with the Diamond Series, which featured a diamond quilted pattern inside and Union Flag badges on the front wings. Fifty-nine were built and this time nearly half of production was aimed at the UK market.

The last models built, in 2009, were named the Arnage Final Series and, although it isn’t a fact Bentley mentioned at the time, that year also marked an astonishing 50-year birthday for the superb L-Series V8, which had started in 1959 with around 160bhp and, through eating sensibly and throwing itself into a vigorous exercise regime, retired making 500 reliable horsepower. Quite an achievement.

BODYWORK AND EXTERIOR

With a brand-new shell designed and built by Vickers themselves, rather than the Pressed Steel monocoques of

Arnage's hand-finished paint is terribly expensive to re-do - to the same standard anyway

The Arnage survived a chaotic birth to become a highly successful model that new owners VW could develop and modernise

T-24 was a strictly limited commemorative edition to mark Bentley's 2004 Le Mans win

earlier Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, the Arnage got off to a fine start. There’s some good news here as the Arnage body structure resists rust pretty well.

‘We have seen some with corrosion around the rear spring seats on the shell,’ says Paul Brightman of Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialists, Ranmore Service and Engineering. While you’re crawling about checking these be sure to take a look at the fittings bolted to the car’s underside.

‘None of the pipework underneath is well protected at all,’ says Paul.

‘Brake pipes and hydraulic lines corrode badly, and if they get bad enough at the rear then the subframe has to be dropped in order to replace them. This kind of work can easily run to between £2000 and £3000. The fuel pumps and accumulator are also under here and they too suffer from corrosion.

‘The shells themselves aren’t too bad. You might find some rust on the rear wheel arches caused by stone chips, but this isn’t really a serious problem. More serious is rot in the inner flitch panels behind the road springs. This

area is double skinned, and you need to check inside the front wheel arches and have a good look with a torch.’

Taller enthusiasts should beware of cars with sunroofs because they have restricted headroom inside. But for those of us below 6’1” who are viewing a car with a sunroof, then check the sliding panel itself, as these are also susceptible to rust.

There’s a marked difference between the Vickers built shells and the VW version. Buyers of early Arnages complained of poor legroom in the rear seats, so VW redesigned the shell to move them into the rear bulkhead, adding valuable inches of interior space while maintaining the same wheelbase. Both Red and Green Label cars have this modification.

Some exterior trim parts are becoming hard to find nowadays – door trims and bumpers in particular, so don’t buy a car with missing or damaged parts and expect it to be an easy fix.

SUSPENSION AND BRAKES

‘There are a lot of BMW parts under there,’ says Paul, ‘and the suspension setup is much more sophisticated than the Turbo R, for example, so the ride is considerably smoother than earlier cars.’

That said, some early Arnage buyers felt the new model had lost some of the sharpness of its forbears, with the BMW 7-Series layout tuned slightly more towards a luxurious ride than a sporting bent. Paul says the suspension components can suffer from corrosion

Arnages are heavy and work their brakes and suspension bushes hard - it's worth a careful check

Correct four-wheel alignment perfects the Arnage's road feel

Surface rust is no concern, but it's worth looking deeper for corroded brake pipes

too, and should be closely inspected on any potential purchase. Don’t assume that low mileage cars escape this kind of deterioration either. Apart from corrosion, the Arnage’s suspension has a pretty hard time dealing with the car’s weight, so the BMW sourced parts need checking for wear, although obviously this should be picked up at any MoT inspection. While you’re checking, have a look at the gaiters on the rear suspension struts as these can split.

Weighing in at around two and half tons, the Arnage makes its brakes work hard for a living. A pair of front discs with new pads won’t leave you much change from £1000, so ask whether they’ve been replaced recently and peek through the alloys to take a look at the discs – if they look tired, use them as a bargaining point.

ENGINE AND GEARBOX

Assuming you were paying attention during the earlier module on Arnage engine shenanigans, you’ll remember that the initial cars had BMW’s M67 quad-cam V8, with a neat twinturbo installation added by forced induction experts Cosworth. These cars are not officially known as Green Labels, which only actually applies to the BMW engined cars built by VW when they reintroduced the Rolls-Royce V8 alongside it.

The M67 engine is reliable and smooth, with 350bhp and 413lb-ft of torque, although some enthusiasts consider it a tad characterless. (Characterless and reliable are often in the minds of the beholder.) Nonetheless it’s a fine engine and many people love them. They also come with a silky ZF five-speed autobox, giving

relaxed cruising and decent economy.

Retro-fitting the Rolls-Royce L-Series 6750cc V8 also meant reverting to the aging GM four-speed auto, although the engine’s wide torque band means this isn’t a problem. What is, are the head gaskets. Paul explains.

‘This is the same engine used in previous models, and they never had any head gasket problems, he says. ‘But from 1996 onwards Bentley used a different head gasket supplier and the parts just weren’t up to the job. Bentley have never admitted this but I’m convinced this is the cause of the problem. Then at some point in late 2001, early 2002, they changed the head gaskets again, and from then on the cars were fine.’

Paul goes on to explain that there’s simply no way of knowing whether the gaskets are going to fail.

‘They give no warning at all, and it can happen at any mileage. We’ve had cars here with the intention of selling them on, and obviously we

thoroughly check everything we buy. But a week later a gasket will blow.’

Bearing in mind the bill to cure blown head gaskets can exceed £5000, if you can find a car with proof that the job’s already been done, you’re on to a winner, and nights full of sound sleep, with pleasant dreams.

In 2006/7 the Arnage T launched, with a six-speed autobox, while the single large turbo was replaced by two smaller units. Power rose to an impressive 500bhp, although Paul says these later cars can be a little harsh sounding. ‘The valve gear needed upgrading to cope with the extra power and it’s noisier as a result. But the head gaskets are fine on these cars. It’s a very torquey engine – the traction control light will flash a lot on a damp road unless you drive very gently.’

Talking of warning lights, if the engine management light is on it could mean that the car has been fed 95 octane fuel. These cars need 98 RON and although the light may reset »

The two Arnage V8s: BMW 4.4-litre, and right, L-series 6.75-litre

itself once you’ve run a tank of the good stuff through it, you might have to get it turned off by a specialist.

INTERIOR

The Arnage’s electric window regulators are notoriously unreliable. ‘They’re not usually repairable either,’ says Paul. New ones are around £600 each, so check each window’s operation carefully, and budget accordingly.

The car’s interior electronic control unit, known as the CTCU, can cause problems meaning the seat’s memory function stops working. Worse, there are a series of electrically controlled actuators in the heating system that

stop functioning, which is a dash-out job to fix. Check the heating system thoroughly, making sure it blows the right temperature air in the right places on all settings. If not, it’s a deal breaker – unless you like removing dash assemblies from large luxury cars and can haggle the price down sufficiently. You may well notice a distinctly BMW feel to the heater

controls – they’re 7-Series sourced.

Paul says some of the build quality in earlier cars isn’t as good as later models, with the leather hides not as good. Earlier cars used Autolux leather which is thinner and lighter, but not as hard wearing and sumptuous as traditional hides. ‘It did get slightly better as the years went on though,’ he adds.

ABS lights can come on, which is

A professional inspection by a specialist is always worthwhile

‘...there’s no real price differential between BMW and L Series engine variants, at least for nice low-mileage examples.’

Cars with LPG conversion exist - if professionally fitted, it can work well

Check that a Red Label really is a Red Labelthe badge is easier to change than the engine!Quad headlamp layout arrived in 2005

usually a wheel sensor problem. More serious is an illuminated brake pressure light. It’s a complex system, with accumulators that can fail, like previous SZ and SY-generation cars. If the suspension gets bouncy at the rear end then the gas springs will need changing at £250 a side, plus plenty of labour.

WHAT TO PAY

For a car that would have cost you £150,000 when new at the turn of the century, the Arnage is now near the trough of its price curve, with the cheapest examples advertised at just £15,000. This can rise to as much as five times that figure for lower mileage examples in excellent condition, but Paul says the cars can rack up high mileages as long as they’re looked after.

‘Look for solid service history,’ he advises, adding that there’s no real price differential between BMW and

L Series engine variants, at least for nice low-mileage examples.

‘It’s not really the spec that makes a difference to the price,’ says Paul, ‘but the mileage and condition. Earlier cars can look a little dated with their coloured lenses. Lots of owners fit the later clear lenses and bigger wheels to update the looks of the car.’ While this updates the looks, the earlier cars will still be missing the satnav and parking sensors of later models. ‘Like buying any car, the rules of thumb apply –look for service history with condition running alongside it,’ says Paul.

Money no object? You could spend £80,000 on a perfect Arnage Final Series of 2009, which combined the 500bhp T’s engine with the R’s softer suspension, although with 20-inch polished alloy wheels the ride won’t be as compliant as a standard R. But you do get an 1100-watt Naim sound system complete with 10 speakers

plus a twin channel sub-woofer arrangement. At the time it was the most powerful stereo fitted to a car – handy if you ever get bored of the sound of that wonderful V8 engine.

There’s a lot to choose from, which would no doubt be a good thing according to that young chap in his whizzy glasses. But when you’re considering several tens of thousands on a large luxury saloon, some expert guidance is handy. What’s Paul’s favourite?

‘Personally I’d go for a 2006-onwards Arnage R,’ he says. ‘The T has 50bhp more, but the split rim alloys give it a harsher ride, and the thinner seats aren’t as comfortable. The R still has plenty of power and it also has the later six-speed gearbox. It just feels more like a gentleman’s Bentley to me.’

Around £35,000 should do it – still remarkable value for a true, blue-blooded bruiser.

Extra legroom of longer Arnage RL is strikingOriginal accessories are nice to have, and a sign of a cared-for car

Typical earlier Arnage interior, in this case a Green Label car

High-performance Arnage T had engineturned dash panel

PERSONAL CHOICE

MY LIFE WITH PROPER MOTOR CARS

Robin Foster has long been devoted to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and here he shares photos of the rare and famous vehicles he’s encountered. Also included is his own example, bought some 50 years after first dreaming of owning a ‘proper motor car’

Iwas brought up in the 1950s in a terraced house where the road ran parallel with the main shopping street, and every Monday and Thursday a gleaming blue Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith would park in the area,

having delivered its two lady occupants to the department store. I was still at school so only saw this in the holidays, but it so impressed me that I chatted to the chauffeur and took some pictures with my box camera. Later I learned that

the model was a 1954 Touring Limousine by Hooper and this impressive and immaculate vehicle started my interest and enthusiasm for Rolls-Royce cars. Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars were few and far between where I lived but

WORDS & PICTURES: ROBIN FOSTER

The car that started it all for Rob - a 1954 Silver Wraith Hooper Touring Limousine

Not Royal, but nice - a photo Rob took in Hull in 1960 of a 1937 25/30. Does it survive?

Taken in 1960, this is the 1955 Silver Wraith Limousine that served as the civic car of Manchester

Rob's box camera shows off the best angle for the Hooper Touring Limousine - rear three-quarter

over the years, I took photographs of the models that I saw on my travels. Reading about them, I learned that Rolls-Royce was the only 'proper car'; it could never suffer a breakdown but could only 'fail to proceed', that proper owners would never refer to it as a Roller, and that the correct abbreviation was not 'the Rolls' but 'the Royce'. So much for the legend...

My first car was a red Austin Mini Seven and I progressed to Fords, a Renault 16, Opel, Saabs, Rover 2200TC, and a Jaguar XJ6 where I believed I had reached my pinnacle: the Jaguar with its 4.2 engine and leather upholstery was easy motoring and amazing value. But I was wrong in my belief and a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur III eventually found its way into my garage.

Like a lot of enthusiasts, I think that the post-war models reached the height of elegance in the Silver Cloud, which has not been surpassed. I have, too, always been impressed by the post-war Phantom limousines and particularly those bodied by James Young. The partition between chauffeur and passenger, and the occasional seats for town travel, embody for me what a proper car used to be for its owner.

It is my interest in limousines that led me to some of the few places where they are still in regular use: the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Kensington Palace. When security issues were not so strict, I was able to photograph some of the State Rolls-Royces, the Phantom V Landaulette of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the James Young Phantom V built for the Duke of Gloucester in 1960, with its coachwork with gloss black front and rear wings, and matt black elsewhere. The Duke had also specified Lucas P100 headlamps for the car instead of the usual integral lights.

The Queen Mother's 1962 Phantom V Landaulette

Rear quarter view shows the remarkable matt black and gloss two-tone finish

Duke of Gloucester's Phantom V by James Young

This view of the Landaulette from 1990 shows the bulky fold of the roof

The Duke of Gloucester's mascot, a Golden Eagle

Front view showing the oldfashioned P100 spotlamps

The Queen Mother's PV Landaulette, now converted to a closed limousine

1984 Phantom VI used by the Lord Mayor of London

The pictures I took of the Queen Mother's landaulette in its closed and open position are now part of history: the Prince of Wales (now our King) inherited the vehicle and it has been converted to a somewhat ungainly closed limousine, with a fixed hood over the rear compartment. None of these royal limousines display the usual Spirit of Ecstasy mascot on the radiator: when a State car was carrying Her Majesty it had a figure of St George slaying the Dragon (except in Scotland when the mascot is a Lion); the Prince of Wales used Britannia atop the globe, first used by King George V on his Daimler, and the Duke of Gloucester has a Golden Eagle.

Chauffeurs are still employed by many local authorities for their civic heads and the only authority now which uses Rolls-Royce limousines is the City of London, which keeps three Phantom VIs. The Lord Mayor's vehicle has a unique registration mark, LM 0 and this has only ever been displayed on Rolls-

Royces. Some authorities in Scotland use a zero mark but LM 0 is the only one in England, obtained when Sir James Miller had been Lord Mayor in 1964/65. He had previously been Lord Provost of Edinburgh when his official car had the registration mark S 0 and he felt that the Lord Mayor of London deserved an equally distinctive mark, and arranged it. That is influence – those were the days!

Before I owned a Rolls-Royce, I became a member of the RREC and enjoyed their Bulletin and Advertiser, visiting rallies in my Saab and of course taking endless photos. But in 2005 my driving experience changed when I was left a legacy and was able to browse the RREC Advertiser with a purpose. Because of my interest in limousines – and I knew ownership of one such as a Phantom or Silver Wraith was not practical for me – I decided on another long-wheelbase model and looked for a Silver Spur. My patience was rewarded and I found a series III 1994 model with low mileage, in sapphire blue with

magnolia upholstery, a combination which made for a good looking car. The seats were pristine and the rear doors had walnut panels; on top of the Axminster carpets were sheepskin rugs. All this for less than £20,000 compared with £130,000 when it was new.

I bought it from a private owner after a test drive. My mechanical knowledge is virtually nil but I was reassured by its service history and relieved when I had it checked by Colbrook Specialists at Stilton who declared it all sound! I researched its history through invoices and the DVLA records and was surprised by the rapid changes of ownership in its life. It had had 7 different owners before me and five registration marks – the first owner sold it within 2 months and others only kept it for a year or so. But this certainly did not appear to indicate that the vehicle had problems so far as my experience went. I had it serviced regularly but otherwise maintenance cost me little – to insure it was cheaper than that for my Skoda Octavia.

1958 Silver Cloud long wheelbase by Freestone & Webb, set off by the stylish shop frontage of Mayfair in 1960

Deep furrow between boot and wing was a feature of these F&W cars

Amazingly, the same car appeared in Rob's village on wedding duties in 2005

Striking Freestone & Webb front end

After driving ordinary cars all my life it was an impressive experience to be behind the wheel with the Spirit of Ecstasy leading the way and such effortless power beneath the bonnet. On the few occasions that I used kick-down, the Spur took off like a sports car but its real purpose in life was shown in wafting sedately along a lane or motorway, every journey a pleasure. I could never take the car out unless it was immaculate, and washing and polishing it was a joy, but I had to remember to switch off the battery when wiping it down with all the doors open otherwise the 12 interior lights did their own draining job! When I sold it after some three and a half years, I was then its longest-serving owner.

I may not own a ‘Proper Motor Car’ now, but I do have the memories and a library of photographs to show for it.

The three Phantoms of the City of London - 1971 car in front, then LM 0, then the 1973 car at the rear

After decades of admiration from afar, Rob became a Rolls-Royce owner in 2005

The 'bridge' of Robin's Silver Spur IIIExtra legroom and picnic tables made the Spur a true passngers' delight

As a working limo, the car had been through several owners but was in lovely condition

A ROYAL BENTLEY DRIVER

Allan Wright saw our coverage in 2022 of our own Royal Family’s cars and decided to write and tell us of those belonging to another Royal – Frederik IX, the last King of Denmark, Allan’s home.

Amongst the European royals with a passion for Bentley cars was the late King Frederik IX of Denmark. From his early youth he was known as a keen motorist, buying his first vehicle at the age of 18 in 1918 and passionately enjoyed his driving, until his death at the age of 72. His first cars were of various marques and origins but from 1950 he favoured the cars from Crewe. In 1936, whilst still a Crown Prince, he married Princess Ingrid of Sweden who was also known

as a skilled - and fast - driver, but she had a soft spot for Jaguars and owned no less than 12 cars of this marque from the MkVII in 1954 onwards to Her Majesty’s last XJ40 in 1992.

King Frederik bought his first Bentley as early as in June 1950. It was a graceful MkVI Park Ward DHC – chassis no. B413FU, which as soon as April 1952 was followed by a similar car, chassis no. B117NY. His Majesty skipped the R-type, but when the S-type made its entrance, an H. J. Mulliner DHC, chassis no. B299AP, was ordered and delivered

at the Royal Palace, Amalienborg, in Copenhagen in April 1956. This car was then replaced with an S2 Standard HJM DHC, chassis no. B206BS, in September 1960 and it was on duty until March 1965 when it was substituted by an S3 Mulliner Park Ward DHC Continental, chassis no. BC16XD. The King’s last personal automobile was a T-Type MPW DHC, delivered in 1969.

From March 1958 and until the present day, the Danish Royal State Car is a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Limousine by Hooper, design no. 8460, chassis no. LGLW25. This car presents itself in a special nuance of Danish Royal Blue – a colour designed by the King himself which was also used for the Bentleys – and for Queen Ingrid’s Jaguars.

Common for King Frederik’s six Bentleys were the dark blue colour of the exterior and light grey interior. All of them were Drop Head Coupes and had right-hand steering, which was very unusual as right-hand driving was introduced in Denmark as early as the late 18th century. But King Frederik’s first cars were RHD and he remained loyal to this system. All the Bentleys also wore identical license plates – a golden crown and 461. Under this number King Frederik served as a naval officer in his youth. Furthermore, he had in one of the cars some special signalling equipment installed: namely

WORDS: ALLAN WRIGHT PICTURES: MICHAEL KOCH, ANTON VAN LUIJK, ANON

This 1960 S2 Mulliner DHC replaced a very similar S1 DHCAnother view of B206BS, the S2 Mulliner DHC

Chassis B413FU, the King's first Bentley, shown here when nearly new

a tram bell and a horn from a ferry. It would cause quite a stir when the bell sounded in the narrow streets of a small village where a tram had never set its tracks, or when the ferry horn could be loudly heard in the countryside. As a sovereign, his Majesty of course had chauffeurs at his disposal but preferred to drive the Bentleys himself – also at formal occasions. In these situations, he was often accompanied by his wife, Queen Ingrid, and occasionally also by one or more of his daughters

in the back seat. The chauffeur on duty then followed in another vehicle or sat in the back of the Bentley.

The King died in January 1972 and Queen Ingrid decided that the remaining T-Type should be retained but not used by anyone. For more than 30 years the Bentley was stored at the Royal stables, but a few years after Queen Ingrid’s death, the car was permanently lent out and transported to the island of Fyn, where it joined His Majesty’s second MkVI and his S1

in a private car collection – the Strøjer Samling. The S3 is now in private hands and has been refinished in green.

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II took over after her father as Sovereign of Denmark. The Queen does not drive herself but also uses Bentleys – an Arnage followed by a Mulsanne which recently has been complemented by a Bentayga SUV (does it stand for Sickening Ungainly Vehicle?) which is no doubt a fantastic VW, but in my opinion a Bentley it is certainly not.

SHOW US YOUR PRIDE AND JOY

If you fancy seeing your own Rolls-Royce or Bentley within these pages, it couldn’t be easier! We’re interested in any model of any age – and even its condition isn’t important, as we’re just as keen to see ongoing projects as we are potential prize-winners. All you need to do is email us a small selection of

good quality jpeg images – and we’ll do the rest. Within your email, don’t forget to tell us a bit of history about your car, details of any work carried out, or perhaps your future plans for it. The more information, the better!

Email us at rrb.ed@kelsey.co.uk – and don’t forget to send your photographs full-

size. The higher the resolution, the larger we can use your images. If you’d prefer to send non-digital photographs by post, that’s also no problem. Simply write to: The Editor, Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL.

The S3 Continental DHC is one of those rare cars that looks equally good, hood up or hood down

An inviting view into the King's S3 Drophead sumptious cabin

This sleek S3 Continental DHC, chassis BC16XD, was the King's penultimate Bentley

Three Royal Bentleys in one photo - Mk VI, S1 DHC and T Type

HOW TO BUY YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

YES! I WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO ROLLS-ROYCE & BENTLEY DRIVER

Instructions to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit Name of Bank ................................................................................................ Address .........................................................................................................

SINGLE ISSUE ONLY £4.99

PAY BY CHEQUE / DEBIT / CREDIT CARD

UK: 6 issues (1 year) £29.99 USA / EUROPE: 6 issues (1 year) £35.10 REST OF WORLD: 6 issues (1 year) £37.80

I enclose a cheque made payable to Kelsey Publishing Limited (Drawn from a UK bank account)

Please debit my Visa Visa Debit MasterCard Card number

Security number

Valid from ............ / ............ Expiry date ............ / ............

Signature .................................................. Date ............................

PLEASE SEND COMPLETED FORM TO:

Subscriptions, Kelsey Publishing Ltd. The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 6AL PHONE TOLL FREE FROM USA:1-888-777-0275 (7am-3pm EST) INTERNATIONAL ONLY PLEASE CALL: 0044 (0)1959 543 747

For details of why we cannot provide free gifts to all our subscribers visit our website at shop.kelsey. co.uk/subscriber. Here at Kelsey Publishing we take your privacy seriously and will only

COLD BUT HAPPY

Working under a car in sub-zero temperatures is a miserable task, but we had a few minor jobs and a continuing mystery to investigate. On with the thermal boiler suit!

We finished the last episode on a minor cliff-hanger – would the cleaning job I’d done on the toeboard sockets magically restore the ability to select Park? The total lack of charge in the battery prevented us finding out, but there was no dodging the issue this time. The Rolls-Royce needed to move, under its own steam, to a new storage area on the premises where it’s currently shacked up. A fresh battery, then, and a turn of the key…

It started nicely, as it almost always does, with the automatic choke keeping the revs up while the engine warms.

But there was no magic return of the transmission’s P position, to our chagrin. As before, the car would only start in Neutral, which must be indicative (it should also start in P, of course), though it would select all other positions, including Reverse, and seemed to drive normally enough. More on that later.

A couple of other issues raised their heads at this point, or rather one did and one didn’t. Last time, we had a terrible flood of Super Unleaded from the overflow pipe thanks to sticky float bowl needles, which I vowed to replace with E10-resistant ones. But these aren't available, so

we’re stuck with what we have. No pun intended. However, there was no repeat of the flood from last time, so it seems more regular use is probably all that’s required to keep things moving. And I’m all for that.

GETTING WARM?

The second point is one that’s been an annoyance since we got the car running again. Our friend Stephen put the carburettors and inlet manifold back together after various tasks were carried out and essentially used his best guess to set up the throttle and choke

WORDS & PHOTOS: NIGEL BOOTHMAN

Car's stance is now right, after much swapping of springs and cones

linkages, which are quite complex. The manual demands the use of a spring balance to set the spring tension for the choke flap, for instance. However, Stephen got it close enough for the car to start well, the choke functioning correctly, then turning itself off when you give the accelerator a quick stab once the engine’s warm. The problem is this: the warming up process is taking 15 or 20 minutes at this time of year, and if you try to drive the car before it’s warm, the choke is knocked off and the engine struggles to maintain

enough revs to idle or indeed drive properly. Once warm, it’s all wonderful. We haven’t investigated this at all yet and it should simply be a case of working through the setup instructions properly. Until

then, we practice patience.

With the car outside we had the rare chance of driving in thick snow, away from any road salt, on the roadways around the storage facility. It was fun creeping along with the eight-track player going, as we were treated to one of the old Duke of Marlborough’s choices – Bobby Short sings Cole Porter. The snow, some of it packed down like a ski piste and some still virgin, clearly wasn’t the car’s preferred surface, but as long as we resisted any sudden throttle openings that might provoke wheelspin, it did well enough. The combination of sunshine, silent snowy landscape and Silver Shadow suspension was about as close as you could get in central Scotland to Santa’s sleigh ride.

RAT TRAP!

Enough time-wasting. We moved the car into its new unit and began our list of jobs to complete. First, we wanted to jack the car up to gain access to the ‘rat trap’, the pedal mechanism »

“I was listening for the noises no-one wants to hear – a muffled crunching sound, like sitting on a bag of crisps, or a sudden sharp crack.”

With inlet trunking removed to get at choke flap - still much to learn

assembly under the driver’s footwell, and the gearbox. I rarely trust the jacking points of 1970s British cars with rust-prone monocoque construction, especially if they’re in the sills, but since this Rolls-Royce does indeed appear to be rot-free, we thought we’d try it. The cover pops off and hinges down, allowing the Silver Shadow’s distinctive bipedal jack to be inserted into a sturdy piece of box-section steel. With no rot evident here, either, Findlay began to wind the jack handle until the slack was taken up and the car shifted slightly.

I was listening for the noises no-one wants to hear – a muffled crunching sound, like sitting on a bag of crisps, or a sudden sharp crack. Fin carried on, slowly raising the sill and we heard nothing. Up and up it went, just as planned, until both offside wheels were clear of the ground. Fin walked round the car, and out of curiosity opened and closed a couple of doors. No change from their normal operation, which was even more impressive. Rolls-Royce seem to have created a stiffer shell than many such cars and this one has retained all its strength.

We popped strong axle stands under front and rear chassis outriggers and lowered the car just enough for them to share the load. First came the tedious job of re-shaping the aluminium rattrap cover (damaged at some point during the car’s journeys on and off trailers when it was first unearthed) and fixing it back in place. The soft metal was easy enough to re-form but a majority of the old screws were burred or corroded or both, so once Fin was happy with the shape, he was only able to hold it in place with a handful of fixings. We’ll get some new ones. It’s vital to have the cover fitted; one glance at the vulnerable

Findlay inserts the jack

Jacking point looked encouragingly clean and strong

A steady effort soon sees the offside of the car elevated

Two-legged jack should end up perpendicular to the ground when the wheels are free

FIndlay enjoying a snowy test-drive. Nice hat, Fin!

array of rods, brackets, hydraulic piping and so forth makes you dread what might happen if a stone struck it.

SELECTIVE MEMORY

Next up, it was time to find out something about the transmission selection, something that we should have started with. But last time out, I was working on the car alone, and jacking up – then crawling under – a heavy old car for the first time is a little safer if there’s someone else present. I dived underneath and removed the split pin and washer that secured the actuating rod onto the gearbox’s operating lever. Would the lever move by hand? Yes, it clicked through all its positions with what felt like an equal effort, so we concluded there wasn’t a mechanical obstruction preventing it from engaging P. The actuator’s lever moved by hand too. Would it do so from the column selector? We turned the ignition on to find out. No, it wouldn’t.

So we were no further forward, but no further back either. A bad connection somewhere is still favourite, and Findlay felt like having another go at the toe-board connectors. But no amount of scrubbing and spraying with contact cleaner produced any change. We tried puzzling out the wiring diagram to follow the green and red (or is that green and orange? Or green and brown?) striped wire from ‘P’ on the selector, right through the toe board connections and down to the multi-pin plug at the transmission, but

we soon came across a shortcoming of have a car in storage rather than in your own garage. Light levels dropped with the sun (just after lunch, it seems like in mid-winter Scotland) and we were soon using mobile phone torches. We were getting cold, too, and resorted to some more panel polishing

to warm up again. The vast majority of the car is now shiny but a little swirly, so we’re still hoping to find expert assistance with that issue. Expert advice from Flying Spares on the transmission selection fault was really helpful, so I’ll be going back to John Creasy for his views on our next move.

“It’s vital to have the cover fitted; one glance at the vulnerable array of rods, brackets, hydraulic piping and so forth makes you dread what might happen if a stone struck it.”

Delicate workings of the rat trap mechanism need protection

Rod from actuator is disconnected from gearbox operating lever, above, near carb overflow pipe

This is the multi-pin plug that sends the loom into the gearbox actuator. A job for next time

Avon tyres on the car look nearly new...but are at least 35 years old and must be replaced

SILVER SHADOW PROJECT

We may have got a clue from another source. Fin’s father, John, had to move the car when we weren’t present, and in driving it about, thought it did indeed select Park on just one occasion. But he couldn’t get it to repeat the trick. He spoke to a friend with experience of working on Silver Shadows who suggested that connecting the battery up the wrong way round could produce this kind of fault, which was quite easy to reset. It’s news to us, but an intriguing possibility – we may have touched the terminals with the battery in back to front as some point, before realising our mistake. Once this issue is resolved, and perhaps once we’ve understood the flaw that stops the engine running smoothly before it’s warm, we think it’s worth presenting the car for an MoT to see what we’ve missed.

One other thing we’ll have to face is the need for new tyres. Those on the car have plenty of tread and are not really cracked, nor have they been left out in the sun – quite the opposite, they seem to have been hidden in a dark garage, away from any UV damage. And all that might convince me to use them if they were only ten years old, but they’re 35 years old or more. So they’ve got to go. I think we need 205 VR 15 Avon tyres to be authentic, though more widely-available 235/70 15s may fit if we have the 6 ½ -in wheels. Pirelli Cinturatos are another option, with Michelin XVS favoured by some for

improved handling, though these are more expensive still. Prices for all are gasp-inducing, unless you’re used to replacing the rubber on a supercar or high-performance SUV…something in the order of £350 to £400 a corner. If there are any budget options, I haven’t found them. And for a car like this, I’m

not convinced I’d want to fit them, either…a ha’peth of tar, and all that.

Oh, and one more thing – we must get the eight-track fixed properly. We can listen to as much Bobby Short as we like, but the track change button refuses to operate. Which is merely a first-world problem at the moment.

“Expert advice from Flying Spares on the transmission selection fault was really helpful, so I’ll be going back to John Creasy for his views on our next move.”

Car's original eight-track player sounds nice but won't change tracks

Plenty more work to do next time, as we look forward to a warmer workshop

Suitable

A BRAND NEW WEBSITE DEDICATED TO THE WORLD’S MOST EXCITING CARS

The hub for in-depth, expert-written content for true enthusiasts of Aston Martin, BMW, Jaguar and Porsche

If you’ve missed out on some of the previous issues of Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver, don’t worry. It couldn’t be easier to grab some of our great back issues! Check out the sample list below and then head online to:

shop.kelsey.co.uk/rrandb

EARLIER ISSUES ARE AVAILABLE – SEE THE FULL LIST ONLINE

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2023

Bentley Continental S fastback

Rolls-Royce 20-25 Boat Tail

Silver Shadow, Peking to Paris

Bentley 3-litre ‘Green Label’

Silver Spirit: childhood dream

Anatomy…Continental GT & Spur

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2022

Speed Six Bentley Restoration

Anatomy Of…SZ Generation

Mk VI/Silver Dawn Buying Guide

R-R 20-25 Riviera trials car

Ex-Elton John Bentley Corniche Continental GTC road test

SEPTEMBER/

OCTOBER 2022

One-off Wraith limousine

Anatomy Of…Mk VI & Silver Dawn

Silver Shadow Buying Guide

Freestone & Webb Bentley S Arnage Red Label

Family S1 Comes Home

JULY/

AUGUST 2022

S3 Continental Convertible Royal Rolls-Royces

Arnage BMW-V8

Cool R-R Camargue

Australian Wraith New project Shadow

MAY/

JUNE 2022

Arnage & Seraph Collection

Silver Dawn by Ghia

Flying Spur V8 vs our Turbo R

Anatomy of… Continental R

Two R-Rs from Indian royalty Aussie Shadow II

MARCH/

APRIL 2022

Silver Spirit II: first-time buyer

R-type Continental Anatomy of the Corniche

Bentley Motors Tour AX 201 Facts and Figures

1951 Silver Dawn

JANUARY/

FEBRUARY 2022

1972 Corniche Fixed-Head

Bentley Arnage Anatomy

Silver Cloud: Classic Test

Owning a GT Supersports

Turbo RT Experiences

Bentley’s Roaring Twenties

PROTECT YOUR MAGAZINES!

Keep your collection of Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver magazine in perfect condition with our branded binders, priced at £10.95 each plus £2.75 postage in the UK or £7.50 postage overseas. Each binder holds twelve issues.

To order yours, go online to: shop.kelsey.co.uk/rbbinder

Exhausts

SERVICENTRE

Manufacturers of Mild and Stainless Steel Since 1972

• Exhaust Systems for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars

• Bespoke systems for vintage/classic cars, boats, buses, lorries, planes, tractors, plant etc.

Sales/Accounts Tel: 01754 820798

www.rrexhausts.co.uk

email: enquiries@rrexhausts.co.uk

The Old Smithy, Fold Hill, Low Road south, Friskney, Lincs PE22 8RG

Sissons Farm • Thorney Road • Peterborough • PE6 7NT

SteeringWheelRestoration

Steeringwheelrestoration,vmoderncars,tractors,lorries, buses,boats.Bluemels,Celluloid,Bakelite,Wood&Plastic.

MOTORFREE ADS

WWW.MOTORFREEADS.CO.UK TO ADVERTISE VISIT

CURRENT LISTINGS

£72,950. 2012/12 Bentley Continental GT 6.0. Only 1,870 miles – yes that’s right, only 1,870 miles and like a new car, with one owner. Finished in special order Umbrian Red with bright chromed lower grilles, with special order Magnolia interior and Birds Eye Maple veneers, with a dual tone 3-spoke steering wheel and Mulliner gear lever knob. Five main agent service stamps. Please call 02085 679729, Greater London. (T)

117342

£53,950. 1998 S Bentley Continental R Chatsworth Limited Edition. Number 7 of only 10 numbered models. This extremely rare car, with numerous Chatsworth features, is finished in Chatsworth Silver with Silverstone interior main hide and Beluga secondary hide, with contrasting carpets. Only 52,000 miles with Full Service History. This Limited Edition classic car is one for the serious collector. Please call 02085 679729, Greater London. (T)

117344

BENTLEY

£36,950. 2006/55 Bentley Arnage T Mulliner Level II. Finished in beautiful Moonbeam Silver with Le Mans style wing vents, quad exhausts and 19 inch split rim alloys. The interior is in Beluga with embossed Flying B’s and contrast stitching in Cornsilk, with Walnut veneers and machined alloy inserts to dash and door cappings. Finally, to complete the luxury there are picnic tables in the rear. Please call 02085 679729, Greater London. (T) 117350

BENTLEY CONTINENTAL FLYING SPUR

£62,950. 2010/59 Bentley Arnage Final Series. Probably the very last one, finished in special order Black Crystal with a retractable Flying B, quad exhausts and Final Series 20 inch five spoke painted and polished alloys, with Beluga interior and matching stitching, picnic tables to the rear, magazine rack and cocktail cabinet. This car has massive spec. including vanity mirrors, Piano Black veneers and Naim premium audio. Please call 02085 679729, Greater London. (T)

117343

£39,995. 2008/09 Model Bentley Continental GTC Mulliner. Finished in unmarked Anthracite with 20 inch alloys and a Black Mohair hood. The Mulliner interior is finished in Magnolia with contrasting stitching and the embossed Flying B’s, Walnut veneers and a wood and leather steering wheel. Only 64,000 miles with Full Service History. Please call 02085 679729, Greater London. (T) 117348

1964,

Continental Flying Spur with

by HJ

This car has only had two family owners from new. This fantastic car really needs to be seen to be believed. All the mechanical work on this car has been carried out by Ristes of Nottingham being well known in specialising in Rolls-Royce and Bentleys. Please call 01794390895, South East. (T) 117351

BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT

BENTLEY ARNAGE

BENTLEY CONTINENTAL

CONTINENTAL GTC

BENTLEY ARNAGE

£245,000. 1964 S3 Bentley

Coachwork

Mulliner.

ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM II CONTINENTAL

BENTLEY 4 1/4 VANDEN PLAS

BENTLEY 4¼ LITRE EXPERIMENTAL CAR

1931, £175,000. HJ Mulliner ‘Weymann’ S/ Saloon 1Class 49G. Fabulously stylish with all the features a PII Continental should have & driving as well as it looks! Recent work includes bare metal respray to original colours & engine rebuild, great history! Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar.co.uk. (T)

ROLLS ROYCE SPRINGFIELD PHANTOM I

1937, £140,000. 3-position drophead coupe. Handsome, desirable & practical with wind up windows. About £200k spent by last 2 owners on restoration including MX g/box, engine rebuild & much more, all documented. Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar.co.uk. (T)

BENTLEY

MKVI HJ MULLINER

1939, £97,500. A chance to own a unique Bentley with great history & provenance. Used as a test bed during WWII on official business, every journey logged, it enabled the all new MKVI to be launched in 1946. Very sound but a bit scruffy, runs/drives well, MoT’d. Please call 01248 602649. www. realcar.co.uk. (T)

ROLLS-ROYCE 20HP HOOPER ‘FAUX CABRIOLET’ (SEDANCA)

1929, £145,000. Newmarket Tourer, LHD. Very smart, correct & attractive, finished in dark Blue with matching hood, Black leather, four doors & wind up windows. Mechanically, cosmetically & structurally sound. Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar.co.uk. (T)

ROLLS-ROYCE 20/25 CARLTON

1949, £32,500. Four door sports saloon. Body off restoration & engine rebuild in the 1990s and cheerfully finished in Red over Black with excellent light Tan leather piped in Red. Avon Radials and driving very well. Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar.co.uk. (T)

£39,500. Delightfully original and scruffy, with 50 year plus ownership and a great history. Running well. Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar. co.uk. (T)

BEWARE SCAMMERS!

We value your advertising and want to remind you be aware of scammers. Scammers are clever and can often seem genuine so please remember :

•Kelsey will never contact you to upsell your free advert to a paid for one.

1932, £85,000. Two door DHC. Handsome, compact, multiple award winner in the 1980’s & one fastidious owner for the last 25 years. Refreshingly bright & cheerful, sound in wind & limb & driving very nicely. Please call 01248 602649. www.realcar.co.uk. (T)

•Do not share any financial or personal information with people you do not know.

•Kelsey are not responsible for any transactions between seller and buyer.

• You can report scam calls to us via email at cars@kelseyclassifieds.co.uk

NIGEL BOOTHMAN

Winter driving can be challenging, picturesque and fun – why do so few of us take our classics out at this time of the year?

At the risk of kicking off a page in a RollsRoyce and Bentley magazine with mention of another marque, one of the things I enjoy about a Scottish winter is the chance to drive my old Alvis in the snow. It’s a 1923 open tourer with narrow artillery wheels and fourinch-wide tyres, so it digs into the white stuff very nicely, and with a combination of relatively low weight, low gearing, high ground clearance and decent torque, gets around effortlessly amongst the slithering moderns with their traction control and vast low-profile tyres. Any vintage Rolls-Royce or Bentley would be just as satisfactory, though perhaps less nimble if you went up the scale to a Phantom II or a 6 ½ -litre Bentley. I even crept about on fresh snow in our Silver Shadow project car (see page 86), which does less well; much more weight, automatic transmission and fat Avon radials going against it. But with appropriate tyres it would be fine –just see what the chaps with a similar car accomplished on the Peking to Paris Rally in our previous issue. There is an elephant in the room, however, and its name is road salt. Snow does no more harm to car bodywork than rain, and rather less than dead leaves and road muck, as it melts away rather getting stuck in various rust traps. But the white salt solution that covers every car after an outing on our winter roads really does speed up corrosion on exposed areas. Only on exposed areas, though…it’s not battery acid and it won’t destroy the paint, nor indeed do much harm under the car if we simply rinse it off again. Five minutes with a pressure washer and you’re safe enough – especially if the garage has a dehumidifier. Honestly, we’re missing out. Taxing a car only from April to October is a sad state of affairs. If the Veterans can stand a London to Brighton run in November and all manner of classics can tackle winter events like the Monte-Carlo Historique, we can manage lunch at a country pub on a frosty February Saturday. Polishing the old girl up again is half the fun, anyway.

Finally, a complete tangent: while preparing this issue of the magazine, I found a newspaper article about a W. Bentley. This was Wilson Alwyn Bentley of Vermont, USA, rather than Walter Owen Bentley of Cricklewood and elsewhere, and Wilson’s obsession was not motor cars but snowflakes. Over 47 successive winters from 1885 he took 5381 photographs of snowflakes – all beautiful, every one unique. An album of 355 of these prints has now been digitised by the Natural History Museum in London and they can be viewed online at nhm.ac.uk – search for Bentley Snowflakes.

“Honestly, we’re missing out. Taxing a car only from April to October is a sad state of affairs.”

You don't need a halftrack conversion like Lenin had for his Silver Ghost!

Rolls-Royce expect their modern cars to be used in the snow - even the new EV Spectre

Wilson Bentley's snowflake photos, created with bellows camera and microscope