Click on the buttons below to browse our site.

The Real Car Co Ltd.

Specialist dealers in early Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars.

1948 Bentley MKVI Open Special.

Click on the images below to enlarge them. To return to this page afterwards, click the 'back' button on your browser.

Perhaps rather basic in some ways, but this special is well and truly tried and tested, having been with one owner for forty years, and used extensively by him for multiple European tours to Spain, Italy, France, etc. Equipped with a 4.9 litre S1 engine and high ratio back axle, the car is tremendous fun to drive, and the power to weight ratio makes for exciting performance! Chunky, purposeful look, functional design and a big ‘grin factor’, all add to the appeal of this fun machine. We have just succeeded in re-instating the original registration number, KKP 1, which adds extra appeal!

Chassis No. B299CD.                                  Reg No. KKP 1.                         £32,500.

Snippets:  Engineers & Record Speeds .  Initially delivered to the firm of Kent & Sussex Contractors of  Sidcup, within 3 years B299CD had changed hands to be with N J Rush who lived on the exclusive gated residence of Forest Ridge in Keston.    The property of Keston Lodge was first advertised for sale in 1802 & purchased by Sweeney Toone (a director of an East India Company), his son Francis inherited the property & Francis retired there from Canton in the late 1840s.   In 1873 the widowed Marchioness of Salisbury married Edward Stanley (15^th Earl of Derby) & they purchased Keston Lodge when they had to vacant the nearby Holwood House (a country retreat for Pitt the Younger).  In 1882 the Earl managed to buy Holwood Estate & moved back, in 1892 after the death of the Earl the Countess returned to Keston Lodge where she remained until her death in 1900.  Between 1900 & 1923 Keston Lodge was  home to Lady Ashton, widow of the 17^th Earl of Derby. In 1923 the property developer Frederick Rogers purchased 143 acres of land from the estate of the Earl of Derby on which to create a private estate.  There were 4 Rogers brothers who went to Australia in the late 19^th Century & made their money as travelling salesmen, two of their sisters had emigrated to Seattle, USA & when Frederick visited then in 1911 is was impressed by the spacious suburbs & had the dream of creating something similar in outer London, Keston Park was the result.  During the 1950s residents of Keston Park included Margaret Thatcher & Bill Wyman.

 A further 4 years saw B299CD registered with W Brunning at his firm “New Ideal Homesteads Ltd which was formed in 1929 by Leo P Meyer when he left his building firm Blackwell & Meyer to set up on his own.   After two more owners Greville Smith (1963) & Hill (1970) one of who converted the MK VI into a Special B299CD arrived with R. A. Palmer who took the car to the BDC Speed Trials in Ghent, Belgium in 1974 & was awarded the Antwerp Motor Union Trophy by Mrs. M. Bentley for the fastest recorded time of 114mph! 

Would you like more information? Go to 'Contact us'.
To return to Cars for Sale Click here or the 'Up' button on the left.