Your classic Bentley MKVI
BENTLEY MKVI OWNED BY Peter Fawcett FROM Sheffield, south Yorkshire
FIRST CLASSIC 1931 Armstrong Siddeley Twelve DREAM CLASSIC Frazer NASH-BMW 328
BEST TRIP Flat-out from England to the Languedoc (and back), four-up in a Volvo Amazon 122S
Having been badgered for decades by Bentley Drivers’ Club members to buy myself “a proper car”, I have finally succumbed in the shape of a ‘big-bore’ MKVI Standard Steel saloon, supplied new by Scottish Motor Transport Sales and Service Co Ltd of Bon Accord Street, Aberdeen, and registered EST 1 on 3 July 1952. The original owner retained EST 1 for his subsequent 1957 Rolls-royce Silver Cloud; the MKVI was re-registered YST 343.
This is my first Bentley, but in 52 years of essentially eclectic car ownership, I have embraced other ‘proper’ marques including Alfa Romeo, Armstrong Siddeley, Bristol, Lancia, Porsche and Singer.
My first encounter with the MKVI came in 1951, when The Autocar sampled a ‘small-bore’ example; its road test of a 4566cc ‘big-bore’ MKVI in 1952 – identical, as it happens, to my recent purchase – was even more eulogistic. Declaring the Bentley, at £4473 14s 5d, to be ‘by no means a cheap car; in fact, it is one of the most expensive vehicles produced in any country’, testers found the performance, comfort and handling to be exemplary, the steering ‘light [with] good self-centring action’, and ‘mechanical servo brakes provide remarkable retarding power’. Moreover, it praised the styling by Ivan Evernden and ex-gurney Nutting man John Blatchley: ‘Judged from outward appearances only, the Bentley has the air of a thoroughbred.’
In the same year, The Motor tested the very same car, registered NTU 703, claiming it to be: ‘The fastest production model of the marque for 21 years.’ To match the MKVI’S maximum speed, it was necessary to return to 1930 when a supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley attained 103mph and an 8 Litre saloon reached 104mph; NTU 703 hit 100mph on test.
I disposed of three Singers to begin the search for a suitable MKVI. Aware that bulbous coachbuilt bodies can be troublesome, I opted for a Standard Steel saloon, the styling of which I find to be much superior to some of the output from coachbuilders such as Park Ward and James Young, but I was aware of Pressed Steel’s bodies’ propensity for rusting. Upon inspection, most dealers’ offerings seemed over-priced while exhibiting generous applications of filler, and were duly rejected. But YST 343 appeared for sale online, advertised privately. The car looked immaculate in its original Velvet Green (Thornley and Knight X21416, according to the Crewe build sheets). The interior was unrestored and unspoilt, all tools were still intact and the engine was quiet with excellent oil pressure.
The vendor was the Bentley’s fifth owner and the (genuine) mileage from new was approaching 105,000. Declared faults were a malfunctioning brake servo and a tendency to overheat when standing in traffic. The deal was done and I drove my new acquisition home without incident, a sybaritic experience of Bentleydom behind that ‘Flying B’ mascot.
Having ensconced the Bentley in my garage with a view to rectifying the faults, I encountered a local Rolls-royce-trained mechanic who had worked on MKVIS for most of his career. The outcome was a full brake overhaul with reconditioned servo. I took the blocked radiator matrix to my local specialist, who re-cored it, and I replaced the two sets of condensers and contact breaker points with electronic ignition. It ran cool on a subsequent fast 160-mile trip to a regional BDC meeting, without any loss of coolant, and maintained steady oil pressure.
So, an immaculate, delightfully original and rust-free 1952 Bentley MKVI now resides in my garage; its elegance, refinement, performance and ability to induce a profound sense of well-being are a welcome revelation, no doubt accounting for The Autocar trumpeting: ‘Briefly, it is a car for the connoisseur who can afford to pay the price.’
Ironically, a MKVI is manifestly more affordable now than when new in post-war ‘austerity’ Britain, when its list price of £4473 could well have funded at least two semi-detached houses!
‘Aware that bulbous coachbuilt bodies can be troublesome, I opted for a Standard Steel saloon’