Dragging the DHC

So you have taken delivery of your new Rolls Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe.

And you decide to take the new car out tonight. So where do you go? A nice restaurant?

No no.. to the drag strip!

It did a 15.4 sec for the 1/4 mile.

Rolls Royce Bangers

I previously wrote about Rolls Royce bangers, or stock car racing here.



I still claim that it is so wrong.




Here is the video of the race!

The drivers include Dave Nichols, John Hendy and wait for it, Fifth gear presenter Vicki Butler-Henderson!

More information about Rolls Royce Bangers is here.

The Bentley Mulliner Limousine

The Bentley Mulliner Limousine, otherwise called the Bentley Arnage RL 450 by Mulliner is a significant car.



Here is the Bentley Mulliner promotional video.

I did enjoy the Queen's Bentley on the test track with no mascot!



Source (Bentley Motors)

Project Victoria - The Extreme Bentley

It is not everyday a new Bentley is announced. It is a bit special.



And today is a special day.

Known as Project Victoria the new Bentley will be the latest sibling to join the ever growing Continental family of Bentley motor cars.



Based on the Continental GT, what is special about this Bentley is that it is simply the fastest, most powerful production Bentley ever.



And just as the Queen is doing to her Bentley's, this new car can run on Biofuels.





Visually the car has distinct front bumper bars with different placements of vents.



Also the new car sports bonnet vents.



Here is the press release from Bentley:

"On March 3rd at the 2009 International Geneva Motor Show, Bentley will reveal its fastest, most powerful production car ever.

Delivering supercar performance, this new model is very much the extreme Bentley.

Importantly, it will be capable of running on biofuel, delivering on a key component of Bentley's environmental commitment and pioneering the use of this fuel in the luxury sector."



Here is the 'teaser' video of the new car.

To read more about Bentley's environmental strategy take a read of this paper 'Bentley and the Future of Biofuels'.

The paper does mention the palm oil issue in Malaysia and Indonesia. This is very much stepping stone technology. I'm more sold by hydrogen fuel cells. But at least they are doing something.

Source (Bentley Media)

Bentley Zagato Continental GTZ

Modern coachbuilding is special. So special that the cost is slightly ridiculous. Actually not just slightly, well a little bit more - make that arr more than 6 times, though not quite 7. The list price of the GTZ is £850,000.



A total of 10 Bentley Zagato Continental GTZ cars are expected to be built all to order, except the demonstrator. They will be numbered cars 00 to 9.



With the car, there is a possibility the the word 'Continental' could have been dropped from the name, and the car called just the Bentley GTZ, but Continental GTZ is more appropriate.



Each body panel has been restyled from the GT Speed, and all are hand beaten in aluminium. The rear lights are said to cost £79,620 a pair, so watch out for car park accidents.



One right hand drive version is said to be in the works, awaiting commissioning.



So do you want one? The demonstrator is currently for sale in Italy here at a little bit of a premium.

The asking price is 1,560,000 EUR. So at today's exchange rate that is £1,468,884.92 GBP, $2,004,291.24 USD, $3,074,983.62 AUD and for the sake of it ฿70,286,485.17 THB - Thai Baht if you care.. I could not quite work our the Zimbabwe conversion rate though.

Oz and James Drink to Britain in a Corniche

James May has a show filmed over the summer that is called Oz and James Drink to Britain.



It is James May and a wino Oz Clarke in a Rolls Royce Corniche driving around Britain drinking beer.



It is currently available on youtube here .



What is funny is funny is that the blokes drive around in the Corniche with a caravan attached as their accommodation.



It is worth a watch if you like beer.



The pictures are a bit buggered as I've had too much beer.

1931 W.O. Bentley

Jay Leno takes us for a spin in his 1931 W.O.

"Only two payments left."

Sir Elton's Pink Phantom V

Fashion does repeat itself.

So people got a little shock when they saw Paris Hilton's pink Bentley Continental GT that matched her outfit. Check it out here.



But one person could have had a little more to say about it than others. And it is this guy. With wind screen wipers and headlights on his glasses.



Sir Elton John. You can just imagine - you copy catting bitch. I so did that so long ago. There is no need to copy my style. Get your own f-ing style. Blah blah blah...

And here it is. Sir Elton John's pink Rolls Royce Phantom V.



Of course he has plenty of outfits that match his old car.



I went through that fashion phase ages ago darling. It's so 1990.



Mine was so much better than yours. I ordered it in 1989 and I so sold it later to a Spaniard who has like one of like, the best collections of Rolls Royce cars in the world.



You know that two tone is so much more sophisticated. Pink and white darling. You need to have a white roof, so you can coordinate it so better with your outfits.



When I wear my pink suits, you have to think about the shoes. Everyone knows that you wear white shoes with pink suits - so the car has to be pink and white.



Well the Phantom V is a little bigger than the Continental GT because you need to think about your entourage.



Mine had room for three muscle guys up the front, or four younger boys if I was in the mood.



With pink piping mind you.



And the back seat - well room for five darling. Now that's a proper car!



You can even demean you personal assistant by making them sit on the occasional seat, even if it is just you and them in the back. Nice.



So do you want it? Well you can have it! For €125 000 EUR.

It is currently for sale in Spain by Car Classic Collection. The ad states "This very nice car is a part of one of the only 7 collection in the world where are sitting all Rolls-Royce Phantom's (from 1 to 6). The owner's mechanics is taking care of the car, which is in excellent cosmetic and mechanical shape. Nothing needs to be done. It is waiting for it's new owner in Spain, close to Bilbao, with UK registration Documents."



So with that comment it is pretty obvious who owns it. You just look for Phantom IV owners of course - and a Rolls Royce collector near Bilbao - well it has to be part of the Museo-Coleccion Rolls Royce Torre Loizaga.

Check out a video and list of cars from a previous post on display at the owners castle of Museo-Coleccion Rolls Royce Torre Loizaga here.

You could probably even turn up in a pick track suit to buy it.



Sir Elton's Bentley Continential from the song Nikita can be seen here.

Pictures (West Coast Customs, Daily Mail, Car Classic Collection.)

Wheeler Dealers Bentley Mulsanne

Here is some great TV viewing for you.

The videos will probably not last long before they are taken down.

But in the mean time, enjoy the show!

Great stuff. They certainly know their stuff.

Twin head lights, painted headlight surrounds and a mesh grill. The other option was under grill mesh and clear indicators. Extra money gives you updated alloys.

Take a look at this update Mulsanne previously here with updated lights.

The video does remind me what Graham has done to his Turbo R, but he was going one step further with Mulliner side vents here.

A Bentley in Bentley (Alberta)

Scott sent in this great picture of his Bentley Turbo R in a special place.

He was returning from a local RROC meeting. My guess was that Bentley Spotting was a topic of conversation!

Lake Louise is an amazing place in Alberta that I certainly have enjoyed, but I did not know that there was a Bentley in Alberta.

Bentley Kuala Lumpur

I do like to use new technology, and this post is the first mobile bentleyspotting post for me.

I have just taken a photo on my iphone of the Bentley Kuala Lumpur showroom.

There are a number of wifi hotspots around and I have managed to log on to one that had no password. And if it all works, I will be mobile Bentleyspotting.

I hope this go at the photo works! Sent from my iPhone

Now the interesting thing about Bentley Kuala Lumper is that they had no stock. As in there was not a Bentley to see at all. There was however a sign asking for sales assistants.

I do think the showroom is quite new!

Bentley Silverstone

When information arises about the Sultan of Brunei's coachbuilt Bentley's it is a little exciting.

Very little is actually known about the projects, due the the imposed extreme secrecity, and ecentric exploits that the Sultan and more likely his brother Prince Jefri, when in the 1990's they went on a multi billion dollar spending spree.

A number of posts appear on Bentleyspotting.com about the cars of the Royal Family of Brunei and a summary of the coachbuilt Bentley cars for Royality is here.

Now this is the Bentley Silverstone.

Here is a picture from a garage in Brunei.



From the known Royal Family of Brunei list of cars that details make, model, number plate and VIN numbers it is known that the Number plate BQ9989 belongs to a Bentley Silverstone with VIN SCBZM04A6RCH00304

Decoding the VIN the above car is:

SC = Rolls Royce Motors Ltd;
B = Bentley;
ZM (This is thought to be an error. Most likely ZH)= Sultan Hassanal spec coachbuilt model
04 = 6.75 Litre V8, single Garrett turbocharger, cross-bolted crankshaft, non catalyst, from 1988;
A = Active seat belts;
6 = Checksum Digit;
R = 1994;
C = Crewe;
H = right hand drive;
00304 = Chassis Serial Number.

So the above car is a 1994 Bentley Silverstone with a 6.75 V8

Here is another example, a Bentley Silverstone in red with it's folding metal roof in the closed position.



The Argentina Auto Blog posted a story about George Gaffoglio from the Californian coachbuilding company Metalcrafters who mentioned the relationship they had in the 1990's with the Royal Family of Brunei.

“Fueron 19 autos con mecánica de Bentley y una velocidad máxima de más de 290 km/h”, agregó George, quien envió estas dos fotos para ilustrar.



Unusually it seems that this Bentley was not built in Crewe, or Torino, but California.



A total of 7 are known to have been built.

BENTLEY SILVERSTONE KF8877 SCBZH04A0RCH00301
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE BN19 SCBZH04A2RCH00302
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE BN5995 SCBZH04A4RCH00303
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE BQ9989 SCBZM04A6RCH00304
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE BN68 SCBZH04AXRCH00306
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE KF8809 SCBZH04C3SCH00476
BENTLEY SILVERSTONE BN368 SCBZH04C5SCH00477

Interestingly there seems to be no car of number CH00305.

Here is a high resolution photograph of the interior of the Bentley Silverstone.



Certainly quite unique. Try and quess what the door sill plate says.

This is a video of George Gaffoglio CEO of Metalcrafters talking about coachbuilding.