Lot 202: 1985 Bentley Eight Saloon

The repositioning of the Bentley marque as Rolls-Royce’s enthusiast, high-performance partner had begun in 1982 with the introduction of the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo, yet one crucial element of the package remained relatively undeveloped: the chassis. As it happened, the modifications necessary to enable the greatly increased urge to be exploited to the full - firmer damping and altered spring rates - debuted in 1984 on the evocatively named yet normally aspirated Bentley Eight. By giving the Bentley Eight a simple mesh grille in vintage Le Mans style, its designers created a distinctive new model, furthering the marque’s revival as Rolls-Royce sporting partner. Conceived as an ‘entry level’ Bentley, the normally aspirated Eight was pitched against the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7-Series yet was more expensive than its German rivals at a little under £50,000 when launched in 1984. The saving of some £5,000 over the price of a standard Mulsanne was achieved by a slight reduction in interior specification - straight-grain walnut rather than the traditional burr, for example - yet the overall effect remained virtually unchanged. ‘Inside it’s still luxury with a capital ‘L’ and the big, leather lounge chairs with their every-which-way power adjustment remain a potent statement of this,’ observed Motor.
A clean and apparently well maintained vehicle, this Bentley Eight was supplied new via H R Owen on 4th June 1985 to Herbie Frog Ltd, this being the trading name of Mr Geoffrey Klass who transferred ownership to the current vendor on 12th July 2005. We are advised that no service records are available relating to Mr Klass’s period of ownership, but all invoices for maintenance carried out since then come with the car. ‘B618 YYH’ has seen relatively little use while in the vendor’s hands, and the recorded mileage of circa 62,000 is believed genuine. Finished in Masons’ Black with beige hide interior, the car is offered with the aforementioned service invoices, current road fund licence/MoT and Swansea V5 registration document.