Bentley MkVI Standard Steel Saloon

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The Bentley MkVI made its debut in May 1946, the firm having been hard at work towards the end of the war on plans for a new model designed to make the most of the crucial export market.

The decision was taken to produce a standard model with an all steel body – doing away with the traditional aluminium panels and ash frame of its predecessors, enabling the firm to bring the final assembly of the complete car in-house for the first time. With high volume aspirations, the body shell was farmed out to specialists Pressed Steel Ltd. in Coventry for manufacture, the completed units returning to Crewe for painting and trimming and building into complete cars.

The chassis itself was a traditional cruciform structure, with leaf springs at the rear and independent coils up front. A silky smooth F-head 4,257cc straight-six was employed, the car enjoying considerable success both at home and abroad with some 5,200 cars leaving the factory before it was replaced by the largely similar R-Type in 1952. Sharing many components with the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith and later Dawn models, it gained a series of upgrades throughout its production life.

This 1947 MkVI was originally exported to Australia and sold to a Mr McKinnon, a wealthy grazier from the Western District near Melbourne. He subsequently passed it to Ainsley Meares, a well-known and controversial psychologist at the time, who used to ship the car to Europe each year for his skiing holiday! His son-in-law took it on in the 1970s, selling it to a University Professor from Melbourne in 1980. The vendor acquired it in 1987 and has undertaken a comprehensive renovation over the intervening years.

The bodywork is commendably rust-free, something rarely associated with this model, and the interior has been retrimmed in grey leather with a new headlining. The sunroof functions as it should and the wood trim has been nicely restored, the comprehensive dashboard retaining its original eight-day clock.

Arriving back on home turf within the last few weeks, the car started instantly (despite having sat in a container for well over six weeks on its 1,300 mile voyage across the oceans) and has clearly had a great deal of time and money lavished on it in recent times.

Offered with NOVA documents, a comprehensive file of invoices and some original tools, it is rare to find an early post-war Bentley in such sound condition, making this handsome aristocrat look like a shrewd buy at the modest guide price. And you could always follow Mr Meares' example and ship it back to Australia every year for your surfing holiday...