Tabla de contenidos para Issue 41 - March/April 2024 en Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver

The two grand marques of Rolls-Royce and Bentley may not be the first that spring to mind when you read the term ‘family car’, but we have several subjects in this issue that suggest they should be. If you take a bit of licence with that definition, anyway. After all, an estate version of a large saloon can hardly be anything other than suitable family car, or so you might think until you meet the remarkable Bentley Val d'Isere on page 26. Yet the reality is a little different: thanks to a reduced rear overhang, Turbo R performance and clever part-time 4WD, it's more like a prestigious four-door GT for trips to the Alps…but with unique Royal origins. So how about the glorious Silver Cloud II on page 12? It…

Rolls-Royce were wise to introduce an entirely new powerplant in a tried and tested model. Revolution was a dirty word to most traditional Rolls-Royce customers, but they could stomach a bit of evolution – if tastefully presented. So the engine Rolls-Royce had been developing for five years to replace the venerable inlet-over-exhaust straight six made its debut in a car that already been on sale for four years. There were other differences between the Silver Cloud and Silver Cloud II, but they were not vast, and most were beneath the skin. The steering box moved to make room for the wider engine, and the oneshot lubrication system made way for sealed bearings. Changes to the interior would continue through the model's production run. It was the engine, then, that set…

SPECIAL FEATURE BENTLEY VAL D'ISERE ‘I have a fascination for all things rare and quirky – that's the baseline.’ So says Martin Lee, the creator of a small collection that reflects this attitude in every car. None more so than its centrepiece, Bentley Val D'Isere chassis 44245. Fewer than 20 of these estate cars were produced of Jankel Design, the independent coachbuilder and specialist vehicle producer we featured in some detail back in the May/June 2023 issue, when Marinus Rijkers told the story of Jankel's stretched limousines. It's hard to be sure quite how many were created because definitive production records have not come to light. What we do know is that the majority of them were ordered by one client. Between 1989 and 1992, eleven Val d'Iseres were built…

FEATURE CAR 1968 ROLLS–ROYCE SILVER SHADOW For a great many people, owning a classic car is something to dream of when retirement comes. Perhaps a lump-sum from the pension or a bit of cash freed up by downsizing from the old family home, and away they go – let loose on the classified ads. Such a move continues to bring joy and satisfaction to thousands of new converts every year, and we applaud it – but what if you don't feel like waiting that long? Stuart and Catriona remember discussing something of the sort on their wedding day, almost ten years ago. Catriona's long time family friends Robin and Chris Marshall had owned their 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow for as long as Catriona could remember, and Robin had long since…

ANNUAL RALLY & CONCOURS D'ELEGANCE 2024,21-23 JUNE, BURGHLEY HOUSE The Club will be returning to Burghley House in 2024 for its flagship event. With over 750 Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars expected to arrive at Burghley House over this weekend, the Annual Rally & Concours d'Elegance is a sight to behold for all car enthusiasts. In 2024 the RREC is bringing back some key features of previous Annual Rallies, including auctions, a hog roast, members’ spares and the Club Shop, plus more traders and food vendors. It's set to be a brilliant event, and we warmly invite you to attend. TECHNICAL SEMINARS (MEMBERS ONLY) There are currently five technical seminars in the diary for 2024, with plans to extend this programme of events throughout 2024. Seminars confirmed so far cover a…

What we know of the other Val d'Isere cars is largely thanks to Marinus Rijkers, who has assembled photos of a few of them with chassis numbers of those sold to Brunei on his website, rrsilverspirit.com. Of the Brunei cars, we can say that one was completed in 1989, two in 1990, seven in 1991 and the car in our pictures, the last one, in 1992. Colours included at least one yellow example with red and yellow hide to the interior, while a white example with a UK plate is doubtless the car Martin Lee once spotted in Knightsbridge. Of three Val d'Iseres photographed on UK plates (not including this one), only an H-registered silver car with grey hide appears on the GOV.UK database, though this is now listed as…

In 1965, Rolls-Royce launched the Silver Shadow and its Bentley equivalent, the T-series. Compared to their predecessors, these SY models – as they were collectively known – were forwardlooking machines intended to wrest back the title of ‘The best cars in the world’ from rivals such as Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac. They featured fresh, modern styling totally on trend for the mid-1960s, introduced monocoque construction and adopted both load-levelling and braking systems run by high-pressure hydraulics. The development track that led to the Silver Shadow and T-series, though, was long and convoluted. It lasted almost a decade and, along the way, saw some fascinating prototypes appear – even if they were usually well away from the public gaze. Among these experimental vehicles were the Rolls-Royce Tibet and Bentley Burma, two…

FEATURE CAR BENTLEY BROOKLANDS Monique Bass has become used to surprising people. Sometimes this is fun, and there's a bit of satisfaction to be gained from the look on people's faces when Monique explains how it's her car, no-one else's, and how she's responsible for all the preparation work and detailing that's turned it into a multiple prize-winner. But it's tinged with sadness, too, as Monique's love for cars was shared for 40 years with her late husband, Richard. So classic car shows and even the cars themselves will always serve as reminders of Richard and of their long and happy time together, but also bringing an understandable sense of loss. ‘Richard and I built a business restoring Land Rovers,’ says Monique. ‘We'd take one on for a customer and…

PERSONAL CHOICE CRAIG DELLANDREA I had never really considered buying a ‘PMC’ until my mechanic Erik mentioned that his dream car was a Bentley Turbo R. The steady stream of older vehicles that had come in and out of my life until then had been mostly German or Swedish. So I did some reading and decided a Turbo R sounded interesting. I resolved, however, not to buy one until Eric had gotten one for himself and learned how to fix them. I was concerned an old Bentley might not be as reliable as an old Mercedes or BMW. In the middle of April 2020, I received a notification from the local online marketplace telling me a 1989 model had been listed for only $15,000 Cdn. Since I had never seen…

STAFF CARS 1972 BENTLEY T Since writing my “new boy” article (thanks Ed) in the November/ December issue, I have been continuing to use my Bentley throughout the late autumn and winter. My schedule of places to go and people to see didn't start well when a suicidal pigeon flew out of a hedge and smashed the near-side top corner of the windscreen. Fortunately, I wasn't too far from home and the driver's side was unblemished (good old Triplex toughened glass!), but I didn't want to drive it like that so it had an enforced period off-road until Lancaster Insurance / Auto Windscreens could source and fit a new screen. One of those times when one is grateful for insurance, however! Once out and about again I posted some pictures…

COVER STORY 1961 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD II For many of us, it's the cars we loved as children that become the classic cars we acquire as adults. Whether it's the family Cortina we fondly recall being driven to school in, or the Bentley Turbo R briefly admired while dominating traffic during a day trip to London, those memories resonate through the decades until, yep, that's it – you end up buying the car that made such an impact on you as a kid. In the case of Derek Lopez, it was a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that so greatly impressed and affected him as a youngster. However, it wasn't the full size version but the Matchbox model of the 1960s that convinced him that, one day, he'd have to own the…

Send an email to rrb.ed@kelsey.co.uk or write to: The Editor, Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL A PHANTOM FAN Thank you for giving proper pagespace to a Rolls-Royce Phantom VII in your January/February 2024 issue. The car in question is an unusually attractive and interesting one but such were the customers attracted to the re-born Rolls-Royce, almost every example from the first few years of Phantom production has something of a story, before production ramped up and the model range increased. I know RR&BD has featured Goodwood Rolls-Royces before, but it's often been accompanied by something of an apology, along the lines of ‘we know there are those of you that don't care for this era of Rolls-Royce…’ Quite…

It's just over half a century since Robert Penhallow started work as a chauffeur, led into the profession by his father. John Penhallow began driving in the days when having a chauffeur was the norm for any company director, or even many well-off families. At the time Robert started, there were still large chauffeuring agencies that would supply a driver, with or without a car, as required, for a day, week or a month – whatever the client needed. ‘That's how it began for me,’ says Robert. ‘My father put me in touch with the agency. Later, he and I worked together at Granada TV, driving for the senior executives and all sorts of guests and visitors. It was very strict in those days – you had to wear a…

Welcome to our fourth Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver technical guide. After winter preparation tasks on the Arnage last time out, it's back to our 1990 Rolls-Royce Spirit II for the most advanced job we've looked at so far: fitting a new steering rack. This is quite complicated and requires specialist tools, so no shame in thinking ‘I'll leave this one to the professionals’. It's a really interesting repair though, and I'll walk you through a steering fluid refill at the end –that's something everyone can do. First, how do you know if a replacement rack is required? Key signs include heavy and/or lumpy steering (sometimes called ‘notching’), grinding sounds and leaking. Be sure though. Is it definitely the rack? If so, going for replacement might be less time consuming than…