Modernising a Bentley Turbo R Hooper 2 door

A Bentley Spotting reader David is currently in the process of modernising his recent ebay purchase of a Bentley Turbo R Hooper 2 door that was posted earlier.



His initial thoughts have been the Bentley colour Moroccan Blue, with a mesh grill and clear lights all round. Colour coded headlight surrounds as well.

Here is my photoshop of the modifications. The colour does look good, and the clear indicators certainly update the car.



Now to the rear. David has been thinking about the clear rear lights, as well as a particular version of chrome wheels from Bentley.



And I took out the paint brush made made it up visually. The rear lights are still not 100% realistic but it is not the easiest thing to do. The wheels however, I would believe.



Now for a side by side observation.





Here is the Bentley Turbo R Hooper 2 door like you have never seen one before. Half striped getting ready for paint.



Not the most normal Bentley Hooper pictures on the internet.



Make sure you do not loose the Hooper badge. Now that would be a tough one to replace.



As this modernising is currently been undertaken in Spain, on the other side of the world in Japan an already modernised Bentley Turbo R Hooper 2 door has been spotted and sent in by a Bentley Spotting reader.

It is definitely an eye opener! Totally cool.



After the initial shock of just how good this car looks, you can analyse what modernising has been done. Initially I thought they had put Turbo RT bumpers on the car, but after close inspection they have not.

The front air damp is by Hooper, as are the side skirts. What has been done is to 'de-chrome' the car. All chrome on the car has been painted black except the new mesh grill and the door handles.

The indicators have been 'smoked' as in darkened from the standard orange. Front and rear mind you. The normal square Hooper front fog lights have been changed to circle lights, giving the car a more of a Turbo RT look.

The car now sports the Turbo RT/Azure 5 spoke chrome Bentley Wheels, which in my opinion are the most modern looking Bentley wheels of this vintage.

For a while now my pet photoshop project has been to make a Bentley Turbo RT Hooper 2 door. It is a bit of a hack job, but I will post it anyway as I do think Turbo RT bumper bars on a Hooper would look cool.



The car now sports 18" rims, have modified bumpers, a large side skirt and lowered, a well as turned into a 2 door. It is a bit extreme for most, but I would take it.



Mulliner vents are also the go!

Bentley S1 Freestone and Webb

Here is an interesting Bentley to pop up on ebay. Item number: 150153629030 a 1957 Bentley S1 with a Freestone and Webb body.



The body is quite different to the standard coachbuilt Bentley S1 Freestone and Webb as written about earlier here.

The headlights are not the standard teardrop type, but are more boggle eyed.



From the two tone paint, it emphasises the different body line to that of the standard steel version, and the Design No. 3191/A Freestone and Webb.



I do not know what design number this body type is.

VIN number B204AN for those who want to do there research on the history of the vehicle. A video of a Freestone and Webb in motion is here.



The ad claims one of only 4 of this body type built, and this is most probable.



Pictures (ebay seller mardel33477)

Bentley Turbo R based Torpedo 4 door Convertible by Salvatore Diomante

A Bentley Spotting reader Maurice noticed the white Rolls Royce convertible in the now mega gallery of 17 Mulsanne/Turbo R/Silver Spirit based convertibles here and sent in another.



This time it is a Bentley version. The car was made by the Italian coachbuilder Salvatore Diomante at his company Autocostruzione SD which is based in Torino.



Salvatore Diomante has modified cars for the Sultan of Brunei, but it is unknown who owns these cars.



The car is called the Torpedo and was sold through the Rolls Royce Dealership Achilli in Italy.



The rear displays the RR badge, so the car could just be a grill swap to a Bentley, but is still counts as a Bentley to me.



Who cares if the chassis says SCA or SCB, this car is not about the turbo under the hood, this car is about looking at the sky with the breeze in your hair.



Here is the car parked in a garage. There is another black RR/B in front of it. It looks like a collectors garage to me.



Pictures courtesy (lagneauc, Bram Corts from 1980extremetuning and garage photo Johann Petit, Supercar Photo Collection).

New Bentley Azure with Vains.

Notice it? It is the classic Bentley Mesh of Vains debate all over again.

The new Bentley Azure is currently only available in a mesh grill, but here is a photoshop of the new car sporting vains.

It does look pretty bloody good.



Now just look how similar it is to this one.



I'm sure Mulliner would make you one if you asked handing over the Black Amex card.

Mansory Trailering

Following from the Bentley Continential Trucking post before, comes pictures of a Bentley Continental GT Mansory on the back of a trailer.



It is sporting Mansory promotional plates, so I'm guessing it is coming from the factory.



I would certainly turn my head to have a look.

Following from the very popular post on the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam's Different Bentleys comes his different Rolls Royce cars.

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Al-Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Almarhum Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien - layman's translation - Sultan Hassanal son of Sultan Omar of the State of Brunei kept Rolls Royce afloat in the mid 1990's by purchasing so many, as in a ridiculous amount of Rolls Royce, but mainly Bentley cars. A massive percentage of total production went to one family.

The Sultan has around 500 different Rolls Royce and Bentley cars, including these coachbuilt Rolls Royce cars.

Firstly from 1995 this Rolls Royce below was designed by the famous design house Bertone. This image appeared in a Bertone brochure with no further information.



The car is either called a Rolls Royce Majestic or a Rolls-Royce Cloudesque. My money is on the Rolls Royce Majestic, as it looks less like a Silver Cloud than the other different coachbuilt car below.

Here is the car out the front of a Hotel in Brunei, taken by British tourists. Thanks chaps.



Two Rolls Royce Majestic cars were built, both in 1995 one one carries the Brunei registration number plate BQ 7032 the other none.

Here are the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) for each car. To decode the VIN follow this link here.

1995 Rolls-Royce Majestic SCAZH04A6SCH00023
1995 Rolls-Royce Majestic SCAZH04A8SCH00024

Now a near full view of the Rolls Royce by Bertone.



The cars were built on the special ZH chassis like many of the other Sultan coachbuilt cars, and both had 6.75 Litre V8, single Garrett turbocharger, cross-bolted crankshaft, non catalyst engines, with active seat belts, were built in Crewe and were right hand drive.



Both cars were built at the same time and have sequential VIN numbers. It is not known if the car bodies were built in Italy or England.

A big thank you to the South East Asian Royal paparazzi for the photos.



Now to the second of the Sultans' different Rolls Royce cars.

This is again a 1995 Rolls Royce, either a Rolls Royce Cloudesque or a Rolls Royce Majestic. I am guessing Rolls Royce Cloudesque as it looks older than the Bertone, is more retro and has Silver Cloud IIIesque head lights.



Three Rolls Royce Cloudesque cars were made, two in 1995 and another in 1997. The cars featured 6.75 Litre V8, naturally aspirated, non-catalyst exhaust system engines, were built in Crewe, right hand drive with twin air bags.

What is interesting is that two cars are in Brunei and one is in the UK. The registration number plate of the UK car is N282 AMP so keep your eyes open and camera phones ready British folk! The other two cars are in Brunei with number plates BQ 6363 and KF 7899.

Here are the VIN for the cars.

1995 Rolls-Royce Cloudesque SCAZH008SSCH0006
1995 Rolls-Royce Cloudesque SCAZH00C6SCH00062
1997 Rolls-Royce Cloudesque SCAZH13C4VCH00468

These cars were built at different times and not together like the Majestic.



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Some thoughts on the Cloudesque or Majestic names.

The 50/50 chance for the names is a harder one than it looks. From the information we know one has airbags, and the other does not. Can we tell from these photos, probably not. One has a turbo charger and the other not. Can we tell from the outside, no. But which car is larger and needs more power? One was by designed by Bertone the other is unknown. Two cars were made at the same time for one, three at different times for the other. This is interesting. Why was that so? One car is in the UK, the rest in Brunei. Which car would make UK regulations? I have been second guessing my bet between the Cloudesque or the Majestic all along. Also one 1995 Phantom V SCAZH00A9SCH00071 was made, what does that look like? More information is still needed to solve the Brunei mystery. Ask Bertone or Bentley perhaps?
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Now for another different Sultan Rolls Royce car.

This time the Rolls Royce Royale. The Rolls Royce Royale has been featured on Bentleyspotting before here, and was designed and made by Jankel.



From pictures of this car it is hard to tell the massive size of the vehicle. It is half a foot higher than the Silver Spur and 46" longer, but still with two adjoining doors.



The Sultan has five Rolls Royce Royale cars, four made in 1995 a the final in 1997.

The first Rolls Royce Royale made in 1995 seems to be a the first car Jankel made of the model, most likely the Black car above from the Jankel press photography.

This assumption is made as one of the 1995 Rolls-Royce Royale cars is made on the ZW chassis designed for the Silver Spur Touring Limousine, which Jankel was making on behalf of Rolls Royce at the time.

It is the 1995 Rolls-Royce Royale, VIN number SCAZW04A8SCH80138 with Brunei registration number 1 BD that is most likely the black car above, before it was delivered to Brunei.

The next four Rolls-Royce Royale cars were made on the ZH Sultan chassis.

1995 Rolls-Royce Royale SCAZH04CHSCH00011
1995 Rolls-Royce Royale SCAZH04A3SCH00013
1995 Rolls-Royce Royale SCAZH04C3SCH00014

And the 1997 version with a slightly revised engine.
1997 Rolls-Royce Royale SCAZH16C4VCH00465

The car has a 6.75 Litre V8, single Garrett turbocharger, cross-bolted crankshaft, non catalyst engine.

From Jankel press photographs comes a white Rolls-Royce Royale.



Here is the design sketch of the Rolls-Royce Royale. The size of the front doors is impressive.



The interior space is larger and any previous Phantom. Minibus size proportions. Very Royale.



A close up of the white Rolls Royce Royale.




Now for another different Sultan Rolls Royce.

The famous wedding Chariot. And what a Rolls Royce! It is so amazing that it is hard to describe. But I will give it a go.

The Rolls Royce is a raised rear coach seat Landaulette version of a Rolls Royce President limousine by Robert Jankel based on the Silver Spur, featuring a rear coach seat cloth canopy and extensive gold decorative trimmings, with large gold state coat of arms to the front and sides which when combined is as subtle as a nuclear bomb. Oh, with faux oak bumper bars for good measure as well.



The car was most probably made by Jankel and here is the design sketch for the car. Maybe not exactly, but close enough for a laugh.







These are high resolution photographs to click to see the large version, and all the glorious gold detailing.

I want to see what it looks like from the rear.

The wedding car is most likely one of these cars from 1992 on the ZW chassis made by Jankel for non Park Ward limousine production.

SCAZW02A8PCH80019 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A0NCH80029 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A7NCH80030 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A9NCH80031 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A0NCH80032 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A2NCH80033 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A4NCH80034 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A6NCH80035 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00A8NCH80036 Silver Spur II touring limousine
SCAZW00AXNCH80037 Silver Spur II touring limousine



Pictures (webfinds, Bertone, Jankel and another special mention to Basman007 from Supercars.net for his Sultan car detective work.)

Oldest Existing Rolls Royce For Sale

The auction house Bonhams has the oldest Rolls Royce in existence coming up for auction in December.



Here it is, a 1904 Rolls Royce 10HP number 20154 registration U44.









There were 16 Rolls Royce 10HP cars made, and according to wikipedia two are still in existence, but I have found three, and there are probably more. I should change it.



Here is the ad.

1904 Rolls Royce 10HP. Ex condition, only 3 previous owners, repainted and done up in 1950's, tyres 80%, recent full service, has MOT and tax, orig car no mods, real head turner, top nick for age, first to see will buy. $2,000,000.00 or best offer. Call after 6pm. No time wasters, tyre kickers or dreamers. +44(0)8700 273 619.

Or maybe its this.

'Having had just three owners in the last hundred years, the car was restored by the penultimate owner in the 1950s and has been carefully cherished by the present owner for the last thirty years. This is the first time this car has ever been offered on the open market in the last century and strong interest is anticipated from major collectors worldwide'.



Here is an article from 1973 on the car.



The second owner was Mr. Thomas Love Jr. of Scotland and according to this recent article its current owner is in Northern Ireland.

Here are rough quality pictures from the above article.





Now to the others in existence.

A 1905 Rolls Royce 10HP registration AX148 has been featured on Bentley Spotting before here.





Now a vintage picture of the car in action.



Bentley Motors owns another example registration SU13.



Now in action followed by the famous AX201 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.



Those two cylinders must be working hard to move that lot!

My bet is that Rolls Royce Motors will purchase the car for whatever cost, as Crewe has most of the history, and Goodwood I am presuming is limited.