Bentley Turbo R LWB

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Launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1982, the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo marked the return of the legendary 'Blower Bentley' and restored the high performance image of the marque with its prodigious power.

Fitted with a Garrett AiResearch turbocharger, the venerable 6.75-litre V8 now pumped out 300bhp and could propel the Bentley's considerable bulk to 60mph in less than 8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 135mph. In truth this towering performance was rather more than the chassis could handle and, in 1985, the Mulsanne platform was upgraded to Turbo R spec with stiffer damping and springing, better location for the rear subframe, more precise steering and alloy wheels with lower profile tyres.

Under the bonnet, Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection replaced the old Solex carbs which, combined with various other tweaks, upped engine power to 330bhp and a staggering 480lb/ft of torque – sufficient to hurl the brute to 60 in less than 7 seconds and 143mph flat out.

Up front, new quad headlamps gave the car a more modern look while the interior remained as sumptuous as you would expect for £100,000 with a revised dashboard that now housed a rev-counter. Few cars were – or are – better suited to fast long-distance touring. “An outrageous concoction of sledgehammer performance and sybaritic luxury” was how Autocar summed it up.

This 1989 example is one of only 1,211 made in long-wheelbase form which gives significantly more room for rear passengers. Resident on The Isle of Man for its first two years, it came back to the mainland in September 1991 and has had seven keepers since, one of these being motoring journalist Quentin Willson who owned it in 1999.

The current owner, an ex-Rolls-Royce employee, acquired the car in 2002 and has looked after it religiously, treating it to a high quality glass-out repaint in dark metallic blue shortly after acquisition when some minor wheelarch corrosion was also attended to (photographs on file). Supplied with a reassuringly large history file (including a detailed log of usage, mpg and maintenance during the current 12-year ownership, which included a tour of Ireland in 2012), it has covered some 127,200 miles to date with 15 stamps in the book up to 85,438 miles in 2002, subsequent maintenance being carried out by another ex-RR friend of the vendor, the last service just 3,400 miles ago.

Bills on file show that new rear brake discs and suspension spheres were fitted at around 114,000 miles, new front brake discs at 122,000 miles, while a new battery and alternator have more recently been fitted. The underside was also Schutz treated in 2009. Riding on quality tyres with plenty of tread, it has also been recently fitted with refurbished Bentley Turbo RT alloy wheels.

Only reluctantly being sold due to the purchase of a more modern Bentley (which the vendor says is actually less comfortable than this one), it retains all its original handbooks and is said to drive beautifully with an MOT until July 2015 with no advisories recorded.