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Details
1951 BENTLEY MK VI DROPHEAD COUPE
COACHWORK BY PARK WARD
Chassis No. B377LGT
Engine No. B188G
Champagne over black with tan leather interior and black soft top
Engine: six cylinder, pushrod inlet over exhaust valves, 4,257cc., Gearbox: four-speed manual, synchromesh on top three ratios; Suspension: independent front by wishbones and coil springs, rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs; Brakes: servo-assisted hydraulically operated drum to front, mechanical drum to rear. Left hand drive.
For the first four decades of this century it had been the universal custom of luxury car marques to send their completed chassis to selected coachbuilders, who would build a body to their customers' requirements. In the middle 1930s Rolls-Royce management commissioned small batches of sports saloon and drophead bodies of standardized design and construction to be fitted to their Bentley chassis. Such was the success of this strategy that in the austere times of the late 1940s they took the next step and announced that in future the bulk of their production would be Bentleys with the factory's own all-steel coachwork. In London there existed a group of capable coachbuilding houses, admittedly depleted in numbers since their heyday, who could still create an automobile to please the most discerning of patrons.
Chassis B377LGT is a Park Ward bodied drophead coupe and is one of very few left hand drive versions with this style coachwork. Displaying handsome flowing wing lines, the car is an original model that has apparently only ever had minimal restoration other than paintwork and soft top. The attractive combination of champagne top half over black wings with tan leather upholstery works well in our opinion. The history for the car is unknown, although it carries a lube sticker from a garage in Framingham, MA dated 1969 at which time the mileage was 62,630, while the recorded mileage now shows 69,379 and the current owner is confident that this is original. An even earlier sticker from Inskip in New York probably indicates that they were the original dealers for the car. Indeed the car shows all signs of being a lovely original model; the chassis is not detailed or undercoated so that everything is visable and in "great original condition" to quote the current owner. The interior leather and wood trim is all very good and unrestored and apart from the top and headliner, which are fresh, the cosmetics are nice with a mellow feel about the car. Prior to the current owner, the Bentley had lived on a country estate for some ten years and was regularly inspected and driven. It is offered with the original Owner's manual, all the original tools, jack and handle as well as grease gun and even the flashlight affixed in the engine compartment.
Altogether this appears as a highly original car which is also one of very few left hand drive versions of the Park Ward drophead coupe.
COACHWORK BY PARK WARD
Chassis No. B377LGT
Engine No. B188G
Champagne over black with tan leather interior and black soft top
Engine: six cylinder, pushrod inlet over exhaust valves, 4,257cc., Gearbox: four-speed manual, synchromesh on top three ratios; Suspension: independent front by wishbones and coil springs, rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs; Brakes: servo-assisted hydraulically operated drum to front, mechanical drum to rear. Left hand drive.
For the first four decades of this century it had been the universal custom of luxury car marques to send their completed chassis to selected coachbuilders, who would build a body to their customers' requirements. In the middle 1930s Rolls-Royce management commissioned small batches of sports saloon and drophead bodies of standardized design and construction to be fitted to their Bentley chassis. Such was the success of this strategy that in the austere times of the late 1940s they took the next step and announced that in future the bulk of their production would be Bentleys with the factory's own all-steel coachwork. In London there existed a group of capable coachbuilding houses, admittedly depleted in numbers since their heyday, who could still create an automobile to please the most discerning of patrons.
Chassis B377LGT is a Park Ward bodied drophead coupe and is one of very few left hand drive versions with this style coachwork. Displaying handsome flowing wing lines, the car is an original model that has apparently only ever had minimal restoration other than paintwork and soft top. The attractive combination of champagne top half over black wings with tan leather upholstery works well in our opinion. The history for the car is unknown, although it carries a lube sticker from a garage in Framingham, MA dated 1969 at which time the mileage was 62,630, while the recorded mileage now shows 69,379 and the current owner is confident that this is original. An even earlier sticker from Inskip in New York probably indicates that they were the original dealers for the car. Indeed the car shows all signs of being a lovely original model; the chassis is not detailed or undercoated so that everything is visable and in "great original condition" to quote the current owner. The interior leather and wood trim is all very good and unrestored and apart from the top and headliner, which are fresh, the cosmetics are nice with a mellow feel about the car. Prior to the current owner, the Bentley had lived on a country estate for some ten years and was regularly inspected and driven. It is offered with the original Owner's manual, all the original tools, jack and handle as well as grease gun and even the flashlight affixed in the engine compartment.
Altogether this appears as a highly original car which is also one of very few left hand drive versions of the Park Ward drophead coupe.