Vehicle Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present an absolutely exceptional
and extraordinarily rare coachbuilt aluminum bodied example of this
1947 4.25L 6 cyl Bentley Mark VI sedan with it's original Bentley
construction amp; test records amp; build sheets. Renown Rolls
Royce amp; Bentley coachbuilders 'Freestone amp; Webb' built to
order and delivered this all aluminum bodied 'Top Hat' Sports
Saloon to 'E. Gomme Ltd' of High Wycombe, England on 2/4/1948 after
almost two years of coachwork at their 'Freestone amp; Webb'
Willesden, London shop. The car was imported to the U.S as per its
'Schoellkopf' card to Mr Stephen Hall of Glastonbury, CN on
9/29/1970.Bentleys first post-war model, the Mark VI featured an
updated version of the companys pre-war six-cylinder engine, now
with a high-lift camshaft and dual SU carburetors for more
horsepower. The Silent Sports Car was now available, for the first
time, with a factory-built Standard Steel Saloon body, but some
buyers still elected to specify custom coachwork by one of the few
remaining European firms.The car offered here was one of a dozen
bodied by the coachbuilders 'Freestone amp; Webb' to their design
no. 3038, a beautifully proportioned saloon with curvaceous razor
edge lines, in this case with a sliding sunroof and rear fender
spats. It was delivered in February 1948 to E. Gomme, Ltd., a
prominent British manufacturer of modern furniture. Subsequent
owners included Stephan Hall of South Glastonsbury, Connecticut,
who registered the car with the Rolls-Royce Owners Club in
September 1970. It formerly won several awards in British car club
competition.Today the saloon presents as a tidy and well-sorted
driver, the purpose for which it has been enjoyed by the Calumet
Collection, wearing an older restoration in two shades of creamy
buff with pride. Notably, the interior, swathed in Connolly leather
with beautiful rich woodwork, is particularly comfortable and
sumptuous. Further, the car is offered with full sets of road and
hand tools, as well as its original handbook.Accompanied by copies
of build and ownership documentation, this fabulous early post-war
coachbuilt Bentley is sure to provide years of touring pleasure for
a new caretaker.This Mark VI has an all aluminum body designed by
'Freestone amp; Webb' coachbuilders and bears no resemblance in
either build quality or value to the standard factory pressed steel
cars. They were outfitted, at great expense, to the specifications
of the buyer. This meant that they were often very varied with
unique specifications and therefore each creation was a unique
design. The brakes are servo mechanical assisted and the driver's
window mechanism is a unique special lever that does not roll up or
down but whereas the entire window fully opens and closes with just
a slight upward or downward movement of a swivel arm.Freestone amp;
Webb's work on bespoke Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars became known as
the 'Top Hat' and popularized the Razor Edge style. Delivering up
to 15 cars per annum they showed their cars at the London Motor
Show and won the Gold Medal in the private coachbuilders
competition nine years in a row! Formed in 1923 by V.E. Freestone
from Crossley Motors amp; A.J. Webb who came from a French firm of
coachbuilders, they concentrated on building bodies to private
order on the Rolls Royce amp; Bentley chassis with an output of
some 15 cars a year. This car is reportedly only one of 5 DHC by
this coachbuilder and on the death of A.J. Webb in 1955 the firm
was taken over by H.R. Owen Ltd of Berkeley Square, London, part of
the Swain Group.The Livery for this car was finished in a very
'Pale Yellow', an almost White exterior with a 'Saddle/Tan' reveal
with a darker Tan amp; Red coachline matched to a sumptuous
'Saddle' leather interior. The car has lovely original timber with
'Widow's Peak' door sill design, original R70 Lucas center driving
light, the Freestone amp; Webb 'Top Hat' roof line and classical
razor edge design, which was widely copied afterwards by the other
Rolls/Bentley coachbuilders. The car has closed rear quarters,
painted matching wheel discs with chrome centers and complete hand
and road tools and it's original owner's handbook.'E. Gomme Ltd'
was founded by Ebenzer Gomme in 1898 and the family firm pioneered
the concept of modern style dining room suits, sideboards, tables
and chairs and during WWII built aircraft frames. By 1938 the
company employed over 800 people and after the war was one of the
largest modern furniture manufacturers in the world. By 1980
Gomme's employed over 2,000 people with several hundreds with at
least 25 years of service. Their renown G-Plan range of modern
furniture from the 1950's sold direct to the public had become an
industry pioneer and was phenomenally successful but by the late
1980's competition from abroad had slowly taken away their market
share and in 1989 the company was sold.In 1946 Bentley introduced
the Mark VI which stayed in production until 1952 with just over
5,200 examples built in total. The Mark VI's were large and
impressive and marked the first automobile completely constructed
by Rolls Royce and signified their desire to move towards a
'Standardized' body construction. Prior to this all Rolls Royce
amp; Bentley's were provided only a rolling chassis to the
commissioned coachbuilders. The vehicle was then outfitted under
the directions of the individual buyer. This car is one of the very
few fitted with a 'Freestone amp; Webb' coachbuilt body, reportedly
one of 12 with very few known to remain, and even fewer in all
aluminum.The car has the legendary Bentley 4257cc (4.25 litre)
F-Head inline six cylinder engine with twin SU carburetors and
aluminum cylinder head. Power was sent to the rear courtesy of a 4
speed manual gearbox with a single plate clutch and synchromesh on
2,3 and top. Top speed is around 94 mph. Servo assisted drum brakes
provided the stopping power and the suspension were independent
with coil springs (still wrapped in their original factory leather
buckled straps!) One of the very few Bentley Mark VI's sent to the
individual Rolls Royce/Bentley coachbuilders such as Freestone amp;
Webb, H.J. Mulliner, James Young, Hooper, Franay amp; Park Ward.The
car drives extraordinarily well with the very smooth shifting
original 4 speed manual transmission matched to the original 4.25L
6 cylinder engine for an extremely strong and responsive drive and
with the car driving as straight as an arrow with no strange road
wobbles, shakes or rattles, a truly remarkable and daily driver
with supremely smooth and easy transmission shifts in all gears!
The car has adjustable ride control, Lucas fog lights, sealed beam
third headlight, sliding sunroof and a mohair headliner.The Mark VI
was both the first car from the Rolls-Royce factory with all-steel
coachwork and the first complete car assembled and finished at
their factory for Bentley. These very expensive cars when new were
a genuine success and the chassis continued to be supplied to
independent coachbuilders as they had been since inception. Like
pre-war Bentley's they were large, stately and impressive and
featured rear hinged 'suicide' doors at the front with concealed
hinges, a sliding sunroof, a permanently closed windscreen with an
electric defrosting and demisting unit hidden in the scuttle and a
second heater that made use of the coolant and was fitted with an
electric fan beneath the left front seat. Twin screen window wipers
were fitted and provision was made for the fitting of a radio with
a short and flexibly mounted aerial that could be swung up above
the center of the screen.A four-speed syncromesh manual
transmission was fitted in all Bentley MK VI's with the change
lever to the right of the driver on RHD cars and...for more
information please contact the seller.