Kinks star’s Bentley goes up for sale
A 1960 Bentley S2 owned by Kinks singer/songwriter Sir Ray Davies will go under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ sale on May 13.
The car was bought by Sir Ray in 1970 after the Kinks’ single Lola went to Number 1 in the charts. He was persuaded by his family to invest in a big car, unusual for him as he didn’t actually drive at the time, in fact he didn’t start driving until he was 44.
“We lived in a little semi in Muswell Hill and the neighbours were in shock and awe when they saw this huge black Bentley drive up along the narrow shingle path to the house,” he said.
It was in the same car that Ray wrote the group’s next single.
“While on holiday in Cornwall I sat in the back seat of the Bentley and wrote a follow up to Lola called Apeman on a Spanish guitar which I carried in the back.”
The Kinks used the car in a photoshoot for the Preservation Act 1 album and it still exists in some old black and white footage of the band posing as gangsters outside KONK studios in London.
“When I moved to Surrey in the ’70s the car came down with me, I still could not drive, I had never driven the car which gives it some element of Kudos,” adds Ray. “It was occasionally taken out for special events like weddings and family outings. The Kinks took it once on the road in England but the fans started writing on the car with lipstick and our then manager Ken Jones promptly retired my car to the garage.”
The Bentley has been in long-term storage since 1991 and now requires some restoration work. It is offered for auction direct from the ownership of Sir Ray, estimated at between £25,000 and £30,000.