- A highly original, matching numbers example and just over 80,000 miles from new
- Just four owners from new with copies of much period correspondence and early service history
- The twelfth of just forty-nine MkVI fitted with elegant James Young 'Design C11' coachwork
Introduced in 1946, the Bentley MkVI was the first post-war Bentley of Rolls-Royce design. Rolls-Royce survived the war in somewhat good health, as it produced aero engines for the Royal Air Force, along with other engines for military vehicles. The first Bentley MkVI was delivered to its owner in September 1946, 16 months after VE Day. It was powered by a new 4.3-litre F-head six-cylinder engine featuring overhead intake, side-mounted exhaust valves, and an aluminium alloy cylinder head.
The MkVI was also the first Bentley with standard factory-designed bodywork built by the Pressed Steel Company of Oxford, with ex-Gurney Nutting chief designer John Blatchley applying the refined detailing. The bodies were fitted to the chassis and trimmed and painted to a standard that rivalled the best coachbuilders. Custom coachwork, like that on this car, remained available at the buyer’s discretion. This was quite a change in philosophy by Bentley’s parent company, yet it reflected the reality that standardised bodies could be built in greater numbers at its new factory in Crewe, England. Through 1952, there were 4,949 examples of the MkVI produced. Both a lovely and stately automobile, MkVIs boasted of a separate chassis featuring coil-spring independent front suspension, quite an engineering advance in its day.
Sporting handsome aluminium coachwork by London coachbuilder James Young, Ltd, chassis number B292BH carries body number 1911 to design C11. Supplied via Jack Barclay Ltd on the 20th February 1948 and registered as ‘KKL 847’, chassis B292BH was delivered new to Mr Charles Soukup, Managing Director of Richard Klinger Ltd. Described in correspondence, the supply of the vehicle to Soukup’s exacting standards proved to be a demanding task (correspondence on file). By October 1950, ‘KKL 847’ had passed into the hands of Norfolk farmer Stephen Farrow Esq before coming to auction in 2013 after some 23 years in a dry barn. The previous owner purchased the car at the auction and brought it back into road-worthy order. Recommissioning included repainting of parts of the front and rear wings in period-correct cellulose. It was subsequently sold via H&H in 2021 to the current owner.
Fastidious with his motorcars, the vendor improved the Bentley further, with work to the exterior and feeding of the leather interior. The vendor has kept the car in a well-serviced, road-going order (documented on file), being confident enough to enjoy a tour of the continent during 2023. The recent acquisition of another coach-built Bentley has made B292BH redundant in his life, and therefore he has taken the decision to offer it for sale. It is offered with an extensive history file, including copies of the original servicing notes within the owner’s manual.
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