London Spotting

The art of Bentleyspotting is still alive and well thirty years on....

 

Our fellow RR & B fan Andy was in London last week and sent these shots of Crewe and Goodwood cars.

Reminds me of the good old days.....

 

I look forward to the day I am back in London with my digital camera. My wife will probably leave me.

 

Use the comment section and we'll see if you can name all the models.

 

(posted by David Irvine - all taken by Andy-Thanks again.)

 

"Wash Me"

Ebay selling tip -Maybe wash it first...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rolls-Royce-4DR-/230664830977?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item35b4b20001

 

 

Good luck with that.

A sad one on EBay.

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

Hooper Turbo R Emperor Limousine

Take a look at this one!



It is the Emperor Limousine by Hooper & Co. (Coachbuilders) Ltd.



A few years ago one was for sale in Japan.

It is a Bentley version!



Here is what Hooper had to say in the sales brochure.



It certainly is a rare car.



I do like the chromed Turbo R alloys on it.

I wonder what the badge on the back says?

Thanks Andy for digging up the photos of this Hooper.

New Bentley Continental GTC

It was only a matter of time before this came out.



The new Bentley Continental GTC.

Here is the car in action.



It does look good.



It will make its first public appearance at the Frankfurt Motor show.



Here is the press release from Bentley Motors:

THE NEW BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GTC

Bold, contemporary, sculpted design employing advanced production technology.
Sensuous, luxurious, hand-crafted cabin with class-leading infotainment.
Coupe-like refinement with unrivalled comfort and practicality.
More powerful 6.0-litre W12 engine with FlexFuel capability, delivering exhilarating performance.
Uprated chassis for a more dynamic and engaging open-top driving experience.
(Crewe, England. 24 August 2011). The second generation of Bentley’s iconic Continental GTC convertible will debut at next month’s International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt.



Taking cues from its GT coupe sibling launched last year, the new Continental GTC builds on the highly successful foundation of the previous cabriolet, which premiered in 2006. Bentley’s design and engineering teams have improved virtually every aspect of the iconic convertible with an uncompromising focus on quality.

While the first Continental GTC was elegant and understated, the sharper radii and assertive stance of the new model delivers a more contemporary and muscular presence. Advanced manufacturing techniques produce aluminium front wings without the need for seams or welds creating the look and feel of a coach-built car. Twenty-inch wheels are now standard with three styles of 21-inch wheel, a first for GTC, available as an option, reinforcing the distinctive, sporting stance of the new Bentley.



The four-seater luxury convertible features a new, even more spacious and sumptuous hand-crafted cabin, with soft-touch leather hides, an extensive range of wood veneers, cool-touch metals and deep-pile carpets. There are 17 standard soft-touch leather hide colours with six colour split combinations, complemented by a range of seven veneers, all produced by Bentley’s talented craftsmen and women.

The GTC’s renowned coupe-like refinement is also enhanced. The tailored, multi-layered fabric hood is complemented by acoustic glass and under-body panels, for optimum noise isolation.



Superb everyday practicality for a luxury convertible was a hallmark of the original GTC and much valued by its customers. The cabin of the new GTC is now even more practical, with additional rear legroom, new storage solutions and innovative features such as touch-screen infotainment, automatic seat-belt presenters and a Bentley-designed Neck Warmer for comfortable roof-down motoring whatever the temperature.

A wider track, front and rear, sharper steering and retuned suspension provides a more exhilarating and class-leading drive. Bentley’s advanced all-wheel drive system features a new 40:60 rear torque bias (compared with 50:50 of the original GTC) minimising understeer during hard cornering and allowing the spirited driver to manage the car’s line and balance via precise throttle control.



This compelling dynamic package is combined with a more powerful 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12 engine as well as a new QuickShift transmission enabling faster gear changes than ever before. Power output is raised from 560PS to 575PS (567bhp/423kW) and the famed Bentley ‘wave of torque’ has been increased by a further 50Nm to 700Nm (516lb ft).



“The GTC has always been the most emotional model in the Continental range and a showcase for Bentley design. With its tailored soft top, the GTC is a pure British convertible true to those classic Bentleys of the past. However, the technology, performance and overall design excellence invested in this model means that we are now writing a new chapter for the Bentley convertible driver.”



Wolfgang Dürheimer, Chairman and Chief Executive, Bentley Motors.

The Bentley Continental GTC is now available to order and first customer deliveries will begin in late 2011.

Pricing Information

POUNDS STERLING £149,350
US DOLLAR $212,800 MSRP
EURO €170,060
RENMINBI RMB 3,838,000
YEN ¥26,400,000

Pounds Sterling inclusive of 20% VAT.
Euro price does not include individual market taxation rates.
US Dollar pricing is exclusive of individual state taxes.
THE NEW CONTINENTAL GTC – AT A GLANCE



I like that Bentley Motors has this car with 1900 TU number plates. Keep it historic.

Rose Royce

I heard the song 'Working at the Car Wash' by Rose Royce on satellite radio today and it reminded me of a Motown v's Crewe lawsuit in the seventies.

Here it is!



For those who don't know, Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B band. The group is best known for several hit singles including "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," "Wishing on a Star", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and "I'm Going Down".

Here is the cover.



One of ROSE ROYCE's albumn covers for "In Full Bloom" featured the Spirit of Ecstasy with a rose on the cover, but Rolls-Royce Motorcars sued.



They had to redone with a gold rose alone.



What a nerve...

But they did well.

And I STILL remember all that going down back then.

(posted by David Irvine)

The PRRisoner

To quote from Wikipedia:

 

"The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968.^[1][2] Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama"

 

 

I have actually watched and enjoyed them all.

It was filmed in Portmerion, Wales.

 

Again a Wikipedia quote:

"The series follows an unnamed British agent who abruptly resigns his job, and then finds himself held captive in a mysterious seaside "village" that is isolated from the mainland by mountains and sea. The Village is further secured by numerous monitoring systems and security forces, including a mysterious balloon-like device called Rover that captures those who attempt escape.

The agent encounters the Village's population, hundreds of people from all walks of life and cultures, all seeming to be tranquilly living out their lives. As they do not use names, they have each been assigned a number. The agent inquires of the Village's chief administrator, Number Two, "Who is Number One?", to which Number Two responds, "You are Number Six". The dialogue continues, "We want information", to which the agent responds "You won't get it!". "By hook or by crook, we will..."

Gotta love Wikipedia:

 

"Despite repeated claims that it was based on the town of Portofino, Italy, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion's designer, denied this, stating only that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean. He did, however, draw from a love of the Italian village stating, "How should I not have fallen for Portofino? Indeed its image remained with me as an almost perfect example of the man-made adornment and use of an exquisite site..." ^[1] Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975. He incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. Portmeirion's architectural bricolage and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late 20th century."

So what the heck has this got to do with RRs?

There is a Rolls-Royce Queste Magazine devoted to the Camargue and most of the shots are in Portmerion....

(Posted by David Irvine)

Kiwi Supersports

My spies have sent me some shots of a Continental Supersports at Armstrong Prestige in Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday.



Although, I can't find any advertisements for it yet.



Great number plate - if it's real...

(posted by David Irvine - thanks to 'Charlie')

The Maharajas' Motor Car: The Story of Rolls-Royce in India

Here is a snipet from the BBC documentary "The Maharajas' Motor Car: The Story of Rolls-Royce in India."

It is the section on the House of Mewar, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.



I love the practical nature of the cricket car!

Bentley Dominator for the Royal Family of Brunei

Let's take a look at some very, very rare photos. Slightly cheeky photos as well.

The livery on the plane places the location quite well.

That's right, these are pictures from the tarmac at Brunei International Airport, and the plane in the background is from Royal Brunei Air.

Well, this is not a plane spotting blog, but a Bentley Spotting blog.

See the four wheel drive/4x4/ SUV in front of the plane?

Yep, it's a Bentley.

That's right, a proper, real Bentley SUV from Crewe.

It is the Bentley Dominator.



The Bentley Dominator was a special commission coachbuilt Bentley for the Royal Family of Brunei.

It goes down in history as the first Bentley SUV every produced, well before the Porsche Cayenne, the VW Touareg or the AUDI Q7, of you get my drift.

A total of 6 Bentley Dominators were built for the Sultan of Brunei, or most likely his playboy brother, Prince Jefri.

Here is a good up close look at the front of the Bentley Dominator.



All 6 Bentley Dominators were built in 1996.

This was at the hight of the Royal Family of Brunei special car buying spree, where is it said that Prince Jefri spent around you know, 8-14 billion dollars in about a decade on things like, well a Bentley Dominator. And gold dunny brushes.

Here is a good shot of the rear of the car.



From this view you can see that there is a split to the rear tail gate. Take a close look were the glass and the polished metal stripe with the distinctive Bentley badge is. There is a split, where the glass and metal surround opens up, then there is the lower tail gate that would open down.

The rear bumper bar is moulded to fit the opened down lower section of the tail gate. It actually would make quite a good seat.

Just like the car is is based on. That's right, the Bentley Dominator is pretty obviously based on the Land Rover Range Rover.

From the VIN we know that the Bentley Dominator was built in 1996. With the Range Rover, the series 2, otherwise known as the Range Rover P38A was introduced in 1995. The last on the Range Rover Classics were made in 1996.

I'm not quite sure if the Bentley Dominator was a Classic or a P38A , but I'm pretty sure that Bentley would have asked for the latest and newest version for this prized customer.



The car is very impressive.

The VIN number for all the Bentley Dominators constructed are:

SCBTH98C5TCH00422 with Brunei registration plate BP 9669
SCBTH98C7TCH00423 with Brunei registration plate BQ 7667
SCBTH98C9TCH00424 with Brunei registration plate BQ 7587
SCBTH98C0TCH00425 no registration plate known
SCBTH98C2TCH00426 with Brunei registration plate BQ 7570 (yellow coloured)
SCBTH98C4TCH00427 with Brunei registration plate BS 9929

From decoding the VIN using my previous article here we know a bit about the car, but not as much as you expect.

The chassis of the car is 'TH' and the engine is '98'. But when you look up the Bentley manual of VIN numbers, chassis TH and engine 98 are no where to be seen. Such was the secrecy of the construction of these cars for the Royal Family of Brunei. The knowledge of their existence was kept very close.

That is why these photos are so rare and special.



Apparently these are relatively new photos are of the Bentley Dominator returning to Brunei. Where did it go? Why did it temporary leave Brunei? Does it coincide with any recent announcements?

I have no idea of the actual reason why the car left Brunei for a bit.

So I will make one up.



It is well known that the current Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer was head of Porsche’s research and development team during the time the Porsche Cayenne SUV was being conceived. And he wants a Bentley SUV made so he can double the sales of Bentley Motor cars. Then get back into racing with Team Bentley.

So he asks his the people at Crewe, "Do you gents know anything about designing and building a SUV?"

The answer was "Yes, new boss, of course we do. We have made about half a dozen around 15 years ago." "We sold the lot as well, for about 20 million pounds." "Made a killing."

"That's great news chaps, I want to see one."

"Oh..."

A little while later....

"Hello your Royal Highness, good afternoon." "We have a new boss and he is very interested in making a new Bentley SUV, and we told him about the Bentley Dominator we made for you in 1996." "Do you remember it?" "Is it ok if we borrow it for a bit to show the boss?" "We will bring it back to you of course."

"Thanks Sultan, we'll use your plane."



Probably did not happen, but I am hoping it did.

For more posts on the Royal Family of Brunei cars check out my previous articles -

The Sultan of Brunei Darussalam's Different Bentleys
The Sultan of Brunei Darussalam's Different Rolls Royces
The Bentley Buccaneer
Bentley B3 by Pininfarina
Bentley Sports Estate
Mulliner Park Ward Limousines
Bentley Continential Range
Sultan of Brunei Bentley Continential R Special
Bentley B2 Convertible by Pininfarina
The Bentley Rapier
Brunei Royal Wedding Procession
Bentley Rapier Spotted Again
Bentley Silverstone
Rolls Royce Mulliner Park Ward Limousine
Bentley Sports estate car for Brunei
Bentley Continental Estate Car for Brunei
Practical Yellow Bentleys
Rolls-Royce Phantom Majestic by Bertone
Sufacon - SUper FAst CONtinental
'The Emperor' State Limousine by Hooper for the Royal Family of Brunei

If you only care about looking at photos, this may interest you.

Bentley Spottings Royal Family of Brunei Gallery



If anyone else would like to contribute to this gallery please email.

Done, Like Dinner

Well, here she is finally Salanised.

I didn't rush it, but my nice Silver Shadow is now a very, VERY nice Silver Shadow.

Spot the difference.

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Rodd can do this for you too at Park Ward Motors.

My nice Shadow finally "Irvinised".

It'll be at the British Car Day, Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Ontario 18 September 2011.

Be There....

(Posted by David Irvine)