Highlights
• One owner last 10 years
• Mechanically sound with many new parts
• 6.75 litre V8 with Bosch fuel injection
• It’s a Bentley!
BACKGROUND
The Bentley Mulsanne is a large luxury performance saloon built between 1980 & 1992. It’s named after the famously fast Mulsanne Straight on the Le Mans 24-hour race circuit.
From 1986, the 6.75-litre V8 engine featured the more reliable Bosch electronic fuel injection coupled with their tried and tested, venerable three-speed automatic transmission. The Bentley engine delivers large amounts of torque making it a lovely car to cruise around in.
Just 909 standard Mulsannes were ever built - and of that limited run the owner believes only 111 right-hand-drive examples were ever supplied, making this genuine UK car exceptionally rare.
In recent years they have grown in popularity amongst classic car enthusiasts and are becoming increasingly hard to come across.
HISTORY
First registered on the 2nd of June 1987 in Leeds according to its registration number. The current owner purchased the car around 10 years ago with approximately 112,000 on the clock. It came with a large file of service and repair receipts from between 2006 and 2012 showing a large amount had been spent on suspension, brakes and various other bits.
It ran well and the only thing the car really needed doing was attending to the rust on the 4-wheel arches.
An engineer by trade and a self-confessed serial car restorer, the arches were all replaced with genuine replacement panels. The whole bottom half of the car was repainted, and the owner has enjoyed 10 years of enjoyable and trouble-free motoring ever since.
Over the last few years, the car has sat garaged and unused and, with many more projects still in the offing, this luxury GT needs a new home.
PAPERWORK
There is a V5c in the vendors name along with a number of old registration documents. There is also a file containing receipts for work carried out by previous owners, along with receipts for parts under the current ownership.
A workshop manual & owner’s manual, along with 2 sets of keys are present, no service book though we’re afraid.
The current Mot is valid until January 2022.
INTERIOR
The cream with blue piping leather interior still has heaps of old-world luxury and charm about it with wooden door cappings, dashboard, fascia and steering wheel finishing the look and feel off nicely.
Overall, the interior is in good order with the inevitable patina of age on the leather seats, which still look inviting and very comfortable. The blue contrasting piping is all there, and the carpets still have plenty of life left in them…not so the driver’s over-mat, which has definitely seen better days. The driver’s seat is, as one would expect, is the most worn and has a small hole low down on the outer bolster.
The beautifully chromed switchgear is all present and correct and still looks pretty good. However, the book-matched door capping is losing its lacquer in several places, and is cracked along the tops. The wood itself remains good and, like the veneers elsewhere in the car - including the steering wheel - retains a great colour and a deep, rich figuring.
The rear picnic tables though are in very good condition and add a real touch of style.
A good clean and some leather treatment will make a whole lot of difference to the cabin of this Mulsanne and will quickly restore even more of that Bentley classic charm.
EXTERIOR
The Bentley looks good. It sits squarely and purposefully on clean and undamaged 17” alloy wheels, all with good tyres. The mid-blue metallic paintwork still holds its shine but would certainly look even better after a good wash and polish. This will really bring out the gold coachline, which is unbroken, and straight and true as the day it was applied. There are a few chips to the paintwork but there are no signs of any blistering paint or corrosion.
The chromework on the car all seems in very fine shape with hardly any signs of discolouration or pitting and all sit on good rubber seals which similarly show no fading or fraying. there is a tiny amount of delamination on the top corners of the windscreen. Seals around doors and windows are largely very good, with only one or two small areas frayed, such as the hinge-side top of the off-side rear door. There is a small amount of corrosion at the base of the Flying B on top of the majestic front grill, which is also in great shape.
The shut lines all round are good and the doors all open and close with a reassuring solidity, showing no signs of sagging. The sills and the base of the 4 doors all appear free from any rust, and the large bonnet and boot sit squarely and correctly.
Glass is good all around, although there is some slight delamination of the windscreen in the top corners, and the black vinyl roof appears in sound condition also except for a few small bubbles here and there.
Under the bonnet looks fairly good, the under-bonnet sound-proofing is still in good shape, and there are no obvious signs of any oil leaks or signs of major corrosion, with all hoses being well secured and all appear supple and clean.
The underneath of the car certainly looks weathered from its time on the road, but both the underside of the body as well as chassis and suspension components look in good shape. Under-sealing is pretty intact, and there is a little surface rust along some leading edges, but cross-members and brackets look sound.
MECHANICS
The car is reported to be in good mechanical condition having been regularly run and serviced by the current owner himself during his 10 years of ownership.
He reports no known issues and confirms that everything works, and the car starts and drives just as a Bentley should.
He has re-commissioned the car over the last 6 months and reports that it’s ready to go with all electrics functioning correctly including the air-conditioning. He has done all filter and oil changes, fitted new brake pads, and plugs and distributor cap are all new.
THE APPEAL
The Bentley Mulsanne was built as a real gentleman’s performance car, providing the occupants with comfort and luxury and plenty of power to make long journeys and touring a real pleasure.
A rare and sought-after car already, demand is only likely to grow as motoring enthusiasts and collectors alike come to regard the Mulsanne as an interesting and very nice car to own and enjoy.
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