Jack Barclay the Year 1977

Remember 1977?

The UK celebrated the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The US public elected Jimmy Carter as President.
Elvis played his last gig (ever) and the Sex Pistols brought punk to the airwaves.

In sport, the Toronto Blue Jays played their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox.
Australia beat Great Britain 13–12 in the Rugby League World Cup.

So if you were a British Captain of Industry, Chairman of a Bank, Pop Star, Successful Entrepreneur or Landed Gentry what would you have been driving?

Well, if you had an appetite for a Rolls-Royce or Bentley there certainly was a well known place to go with a fine menu for you.

Say a 1977 budget of GBP 40,000 - that's the equivalent to GBP 225,000 today, roughly the price of a Bentley Mulsanne or Rolls-Royce Ghost would do nicely.

And the place?

How about 'the worlds largest Rolls-Royce & Bentley distributor' Jack Barclay Ltd. With period photo by David Irvine.



And the menu? Well this menu.

A specially selected range from Jack Barclay’s May/June 1977 stock list.



I do like the cover.

To the meat and potatoes with mashed peas on the side.

This is what was for sale in 1977. Click to enlarge.



Certainly some tasty goodies.

Let's peruse the menu in more detail.

At the top of the list, the Rolls-Royce Camargue.



Definitely a fancy a coupe. The mistletoe Camargue was probably too expensive for even our wealthy buyer.



Next, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow 4 door saloons.

Luxurious yet practical and with seven on the menu, there’s a choice of colours available too.



How about in Caribbean blue?



It does look nice, but have you considered a Corniche Convertible?



Fabulous for summer in Monaco. And it looks good in athenian blue. But winter in London? May be not…



Something larger? Need a lot more room?

How about the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI 7 passenger limousine.



Finished in coffee bean brown over willow gold. Interesting colour combination. Here it is today.



Probably a little to large to swallow, and too formal….

But hey, what is this last menu item hidden away at the bottom of the page.

Look it's a Bentley!



A Bentley T-series in Brewster Green.

Rare, sporting and my choice….



Now to the back of the menu.

It certainly is quite nice.



I'm quite sure that Jack Barclay no longer produces their stock list in this nice menu format. It is a little 1977.

So what do they do now?

Well, post the list online and make youtube videos with techno music of course!



You can find out what's currently on Jack Barclay's menu here.

(Posted by Andy/Bentleyspotting - Andy top work on finding current day photos of the 1977 stock list, and David - your period photos always come in handy!)

Bentley Continental SuperSport in Paris

Renowned Paris based car spotter Alexsmolik, filmed this Bentley Continental Supersport.

I think the sound track is very befitting the car.



The location was "on the angle of the Champs Elysées and Avenue George V".

Quite a fancy place.

Automotive Rhythms Bentley Factory Tour

It looks like the gents at Automotive Rhythms had quite a nice day on their Bentley Factory Tour.



Automotive Rhythms also made this review once they got back to Los Angeles.



Love the yellow SuperSports!

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe in inclement weather

On the street of Adelaide, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe owner just went to pop into the shops for a bit.

But then inclement weather set in.



Woops.

Ski Joring in a Bentley

Skijoring ('skē-jȯr-iŋ) is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog (or dogs) or a motor vehicle.

It is derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring meaning ski driving.

So why not use the fastest car on ice to give you a hand!



Looks like fun!

But if they were really keeping it real, they would have used the Bentley Supersport skis called the Zai for Bentley.

They only made 250 examples with the price tags as follows: 6,800 EUR, 9,800 CHF, 9,800 USD, 5,900 GBP.

Check the skis out here.

Phantom No more

Well, it seems Kim Dotcom has done something wrong.

His assets have been seized.

Amongst them are his 2008 Phantom DHC.

 

Never mind the Benzes galore (three of them plated 'Mafia', 'Hacker' and 'Police') and the house, just what will the N.Z. Police do with this car.

He had a nerve though...

 

Registration number 'GOD'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye Bye...

 

What was our beloved British comedian Alexi Sayle's nickname again...?

 

 

 

Same applies. I'd never heard of Kim Dotcom until today.

 

 

 

"Who is (or was) that F*t B*****d?"

What a waste of a nice car.

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Record Sales

2011 results show that Rolls-Royce has had their best sales in the company's 107 years.

The previous best figures were from the Silver Shadow II era of 1978 with 3,347 cars. 

They sold 3,538 cars in 2011.

 

 

http://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/#/the_company/latest_news/2011_record_year/

 

Bentley has also posted positive 2011 sales figures. Bentley sold 7003 cars globally, up 37 per cent from 2010 (5112 units).

 

 

This is good - and you can't have too much of a good thing...

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

 

 

Teaser...

Spotted when new.

Now found today.

Something coming up soon on Bentleyspotting....

 

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

My Bentley Wheels

During the week I changed the black centre caps on my 18" wheels to red centre caps.



Read about it more here.

Team Bentley Spotting member David rightly pointed out that I needed better photographs of the final result.

So here they are.

Up close for the detail.



And the Bentley as a whole.



Now is situ, with a little more photo composition.



Now how about a video walk-a-round?



Even the bird likes playing with it!

So my wheels have gone from the standard 15" alloys.



To the Continental T 18" alloys with black centre caps.



To now with red centre caps.



You can probably tell I'm enjoying being the custodian of this car.

Yes, yes I still have the 15" alloys when I might feel like putting them back on.

RREC Annual Rally 2011

Here is a great set of videos by youtube user T1Bentley.

It is him "going to England to join the RREC Annual Rally 2011 at Rockingham Castle including a pilgrimage to the grave of Sir Henry Royce in St. Andrews Church in the village of Alwalton."



Wow - how many cow hides to make an interior? Is it 10? Wonder how many Cheetahs had to die for that car.





Thank you so much for uploading them.