THE OTHER MCLEOD CARS

Roderick Mcleod died in 1986 at the age of 94, and it’s only since then that the full tale of his many custom-bodied cars has come to light. This is largely thanks to Klaus-josef Rossfeldt who published some history on his website rrab.com, and to Bernard King of Complete Classics publishers, who has built a database of every Bentley and Rolls-royce ordered by Mcleod, revealing two later additions previously unknown.

After B22AK, the subject of this article, Mcleod ordered B50MD, a shortened version of HJ Mulliner’s standard ‘lightweight’ design and the only four-door body he ever commissioned. This car was sold recently in the USA and survives in good condition.

The next one, possibly the most interesting of the lot, wasn’t so lucky. BC50D was an R-type Continental with a close-coupled design, less overall length and large rear quarter windows. It was destroyed by fire in August 1960... ...by which point Mcleod had taken delivery of an S2 Continental, BC106AR, with a shortened chassis and extremely abbreviated tail.

Four years later, a similar job was performed on an S3 Conti’, BC38XC, leaving it with a steeply sloping tail and stumpy fins; unkind observers might note an Austin 1100 resemblance. Owned from 1979 by Engelbert Humperdinck, and was sold at auction in 2018 for £124,700.

Bernard King’s research has shown two elusive latecomers – both R-R Silver Shadow MPW two-door saloons, ‘shortened as traditionally required by this customer and ordered with matt paint’. Completed in January 1967 and August 1969, chassis numbers CRH1644 and CRH6934 were re-registered post-mcleod as BLH 210S and BLN 272H. No photos have been found of either, but one was repainted red, according to the DVLA. It that rings a bell, please contact the magazine.