Spotting The Queen of Australias' Bentley
The Bentley State Limousine was presented to Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth in May 2002 for her Golden Jubilee. Yes, there is a Queen of Australia and it's not Kylie Minogue or Nicole Kidman, but the fair dinkum Queen of Australia, Lizzie.
And she drives a Bentley, well is driven in a Bentley. But she does drive, usually thought a Jaguar or her hubbies old Discovery on the farm.
What is great about the car is that Her Majesty had serious input into the car's development, where she insisted that her people would be able to see her in the car, hence the very large rear window. At times when she does not want to be seen there are panels that fit to cover the window, ensuring back seat privacy.
It very much has Continental GT design cues with the front, and a touch of Arnage at the rear. The side profile is unique in its three window layout, where the high roof line unites the design making it one, so it does not look like a nasty American stretched car.
Oh, and it is large. Very very large. You can only tell how large the car is when the chauffeur stands next to the car. Yes, that is Lizzies' driver below standing next to the car. The car is taller then him.
Another note of interest is the mascot. Only when Lizzie is using the car is her personal mascot displayed. The macot is of St. George slaying a dragon, and was used on her previous cars as well.
Here is a picture of the car 'round the back when she has nipped down to the shops. You can tell because St. George is on the grill.
Pictures Bentley and Wikipedia.
Labels: Bentley, coachbuilt, Royalty
posted @ 11/27/2006 04:46:00 pm
2 Comments:
FYI, the tyres of the State Limousine are Pirelli Scorpion Zero, which are not used on any other Bentley. Just look closely on the pictures, you can recognize the unique Z-profile!
But the bright yellow scorpion usually on the tyre is missing, too inappropriate? :-)
Quite interesting, the development of the Scorpion line goes back to the famous Lamborghini LM002...
The Queen's personal car is an Arden Green Rover P5B (the B signifying Buick, as this version had the former Buick 215-inch, 3528cc V8), with the saloon bodywork, not the coupé (which still had four doors - anyone who says that Merc invented the 4-door coupé with the CLS is talking rubbish!). She used to have two, but one is now in the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust's museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire.
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