WITHDRAWN - Bentley Mk VI Convertible

THIS VEHICLE WAS WITHDRAWN

After World War Two, Rolls-Royce realised they would have to shift their focus away from chauffeur driven limousines to 'owner-driver' saloons. Their first all new post-war model was the Bentley MKVI of 1946, designed to be as compact as possible due to steel rationing. Powered by an all new engine, derived from a new family of Rolls-Royce power plants, the MKVI used the B60, twin SU carburettor, overhead inlet/side exhaust valve engine of 4,257cc.

The MKVI also broke tradition by being the first Rolls-Royce or Bentley car to have a standard body design. The 4-door body was produced by Pressed Steel and the cars were hand built at the new Rolls-Royce factory in Crewe, Cheshire. Separate chassis could still be purchased for special bodied cars and all cars had manual gearboxes with RH side mounted floor changes. The MkVI was eventually replaced in 1953 by the long booted R-Type saloon.

First registered in July 1951, this car has been owned by the current vendor since 1994. It began life as a standard steel saloon but was rebodied as a convertible in the 1960s by Herefordshire coachbuilders Leyshon-James. Primarily used as a wedding car in recent years, it was fitted with a replacement fully rebuilt engine and gearbox in 1999, the rebuild being carried out by Brunts of Silverdale at a cost in excess of £6,000 (although the bills for this have been lost). The car has covered less than 10,000 miles since then. The original engine has also since been rebuilt and is available by separate negotiation if required.

The car is said to drive beautifully and certainly performed well on our brief test drive while taking these pictures. The light tan leather upholstery is in very good order throughout and the woodwork is also very presentable. The car comes with a full set of wet weather gear including hood and side screens, all in good condition.

Currently taxed and with an MOT until June 2009, it comes with a fair amount of history including all it's old MOTs back to 1993 (at which point it was showing 30,203 miles on the clock, compared to around 40,000 miles today).