For Sale: 1996 Bentley Brooklands in Ft Worth, Texas

In 1999, the Rolls-Royce/Bentley divorce was being finalized, with Rolls-Royce going to live with BMW and Bentley awarded to VW. As a result, this low-mileage 1996 Bentley Brooklands is among the last of the big cruisers fully designed in-house by Bentley engineers and built by old world craftsmen. Original sticker price? Right around $165,000 before options, shipping, and taxes. Assume the original owner was into this one for about four times the current asking price.

Today you can enjoy that sybaritic hedonism in grand style without spending several years' salary to do it. The flagship Brooklands is instantly recognizable anywhere, and putting a train's cow-catcher on the nose would not improve its ability to part slow-moving traffic. In typical Bentley fashion, the bodywork is beautiful, tasteful, elegant, and sublimely finished to the highest standards thanks to a recent repaint in the original cream color. Even parked next to an S-Class Mercedes, the paint on this Brooklands is notably nicer, and they painted the chrome bumpers and grille to give it a monochromatic look more akin to the racy Turbo R, which is perfectly OK with us. There has never been any damage, no accidents, and the car has obviously been professionally maintained from day one by someone who cared. It cuts an imposing figure, and will never, ever be mistaken for anything else on the road. Show up in this one and people figure you're a captain of industry or a movie star, and no one will ever guess that you paid less than a new Cadillac Escalade for it.

Nobody else does interiors like the British, and this one is like a gentlemen's club that can do 140 MPH. The hand-crafted interior features creamy smooth Connolly leather, detailed stitching unique to Bentley, veneered woodwork, Wilton carpets, smooth chrome switches, and a complex curvature for the dash panel and center console. Is it art? Well, perhaps, and once you've settled in there you'll feel like a million bucks. There's some slight wear to the driver's seat bolsters, but that's only because the hides are not over-processed, and can be easily touched up. Big, simple gauges are spectacularly retro, and every single component feels expensive under your fingertips, with everything made of some natural material: wood, leather, or chrome-plated steel. And if you're lucky enough to be a passenger, the rear seat is commodious with more stretch-out room than a Suburban. Bentley quality even extends to the trunk, which is upholstered better than the interiors of most production cars today.

Power comes from Rolls-Royce/Bentley's legendary "six and three-quarter litre" V8, which makes more than "adequate" horsepower in Bentley tune. It's more than enough to make this car formidable on the highway, and it wafts along in eerie silence at anything below 100 MPH. The ultra-smooth powertrain also includes a 4-speed automatic gearbox, whose quick reflexes make the big car feel 2000 pounds smaller when the road starts to get challenging. Actually, its mannerisms make it feel like a car that's begging to be driven with the hammer down, just like the Bentleys of yore, but it's actually most comfortable simply wafting along, practically eliminating any tactile evidence of the real world outside the windows. With a fully independent suspension, disc brakes the size of trash can lids, and fat 235/70/16 radials on handsome Bentley alloys, its ability to hustle will astound you, but it'll do it in total silence.

Join the A-list for pennies on the dollar; we'll happily remove the sale price so nobody will ever know how little you paid for this incredible car. Call today!