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Grotty old Bentley Eight - should I?


motorpunk

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7 minutes ago, xtriple said:

And there in lies the rub the Grosser is worth a fortune and costs one to maintain, the Royce product costs a fortune to maintain and is worth three fifths of fuck all. Something amiss there I think.

Rarity value comes into play, as does the history of some of the Grosser’s owners. That ever-reliable source Wikipedia reckons 2,700ish 600s were made, vs. 30,000 Rolls-Royce SY-series cars. Of course, that has to balance with the fact that if you painted the 600 in a yellowy-creamy colour it would look like every other taxi in Berlin from a distance...

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Silver Spirit is the only car I've ever had that still gives me nightmares though is a very nice waft - I drove mine to Norway which was a nice road trip but it never made it back. After one winter largely sitting in a heated garage the list of new issues was terrifying. Odometer died. Electric windows died. Electric seats too. I remember starter being a particular git to replace. Rust issues too. Fluid seepage everywhere and anywhere and lost a few cylinders as well as developing a nasty manifold blow. An XJ-S V12 is budget motoring by comparison (I've had 4 XJ-S's for my sins, they're way less complex to work on imo). Insurance was cheap though. Fuel averaged 14 mpg. If you're prepared for it to be fecked beyond all economical repair then go for it. Would make one of AS's better threads. 

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1 hour ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Ah, I meant the W109 6.3 and W116 6.9. These were @ Rolls money new but the standard of engineering was on a different level at Stuttgart.

 

The 600 is a supercar. Don't forget that pre war, neither Rolls nor Bentley made anything as good as a 540K Benz. The 600 was probably the most expensive car to build, let alone sell.


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It’s hard to believe now what a big deal this Giant Test and cover was at the time, I remember seeing it on the BBC News and in newspaper articles, which I found very exciting as a 13 year old regular Car reader.

It could well have been the moment I decided I wanted to be a chauffeur too.

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7 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Excellent, it's only taken 30 years.

 

They're still worth about a third of a 6.3 Mercedes. A Shadow 1 is okay I guess but I'm not a fan having driven a couple. They really do drive like an old Yank.

 

There is also this elephant in the room - if you must have a big thirsty rot prone British car, there is something that is so infinitely superior on every level:

 

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Funny you should say that. I had almost exactly the same car, same colour, for a roadtrip last year. I bloody loved it. It’s in the current issue of PPC. 
 

 

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Check they are the right size, earlier cars ran smaller discs and are about a third of the price above from FS  (I mean they are about £150 not £450) but the two sizes are NOT interchangeable and nor are the disc.

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Right. I think you lot have talked me out of it. I think (third hand story) the owner dumped it years ago after a major MOT fail, didn't pay the bill, and just fucked off. Tracing them, placating a narky garage owner and dealing with the inevitable aggro of bringing it back to life is all more than I want to deal with at the moment. Looking at 'good' ones for £6k ish, in Turbo R spec, makes more sense when life gets back to normal.  Maybe. 

Thanks for the comments and advice :)

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  • 6 months later...
On 3/23/2020 at 12:38 PM, inconsistant said:

Boo!

 

Just followed the link to MotorPunk and bought the issue 1-4 for £20 deal. Hopefully will find time to read them some time soon..!

Just spotted this - did you enjoy it? I am so proud of those magazines, I put everything into them. Feedback and a mention online would be appreciated, there's still back copies for sale by the publisher. 

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And I came back to this thread not to plug my old magazine, but to update on this. Yeah, there's the tingle of excitement when you see a thread like this bumped back to life, isn't there? Well I'll cut to the chase. I did not buy it. But I did see it move from the garage, driven by an exceptionally scruffy looking man and I thought - "fair play, the thing does work as a car, after all". And then, not 100 yards later, it sort of settled on it's haunches like an arthritic, overweight black Labrador, and expired. It was last seen 50% on the road, 50% on  the pavement, 100% in everyones way, with no sign of the owner. It was removed some time later. 

I dodged a bullet.

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5 hours ago, motorpunk said:

And I came back to this thread not to plug my old magazine, but to update on this. Yeah, there's the tingle of excitement when you see a thread like this bumped back to life, isn't there? Well I'll cut to the chase. I did not buy it. But I did see it move from the garage, driven by an exceptionally scruffy looking man and I thought - "fair play, the thing does work as a car, after all". And then, not 100 yards later, it sort of settled on it's haunches like an arthritic, overweight black Labrador, and expired. It was last seen 50% on the road, 50% on  the pavement, 100% in everyones way, with no sign of the owner. It was removed some time later. 

I dodged a bullet.

Yes and the brakes can lock on if the hydraulics fail I think. Make a nice garden shed.

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Engine wise these cars aren't unduly complicated - just that there's lot of stuff buried in the engine bay.  To be honest, there's more mystery components in the engine bay of my Jag than in a Rolls or Bentley of a similar era. 

The hydraulic side of things isn't as scary as a lot of people might have you believe...It's just a slightly bigger version of the system used by Citroen from the same era really and isn't that terrifying if you're willing to do some homework and learn how the system works.

The thing that these cars don't handle well though is disuse.  An old Roller or Bentley (assuming it's not rotten!) isn't necessarily a terrifying prospect...even a bit of a shabby one...IF it's been in regular use.  One that's been sitting for years?  Run.  Run for the hills unless you have very, very deep pockets. 

They are truly gorgeous things when in good order though...I WILL have a Silver Spirit in my drive one day.  It will be that lovely metallic blue, beige leather with piping to match the exterior, a late S1 car so it has nice things like fuel injection and ABS, but early enough that it predates them absolutely ruining the dash.

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