Lot 332: 1951 MK VI Bentley "Empress" Two-Door Coupe

Few bespoke coachbuilders could rival the proud history of Hooper, founded in 1807 in London’s Haymarket and holders of the Royal Warrant from 1830. They were the first company to body a motor car for Britain’s Royal family, building the Mail Phaeton bodywork fitted to the Daimler delivered to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1900, and their unrivaled list of distinguished patrons included the Royal houses of Germany, Japan, Egypt and Persia.

In the 1950s Hooper’s brilliant chief designer, Osmond Rivers, created some of the most flamboyant and luxurious car bodies of the era, exemplified by the series of “Docker Daimlers” built at the behest of the wife of Hooper’s parent BSA group chairman Sir Bernard Docker to prove that British coachbuilders could outdo anything produced by their Continental rivals.

Very much in the same idiom is this gorgeous Mk VI Bentley with two-door razor-edge “Empress” coupe coachwork, one of perhaps three cars built in this style on what is arguable the best postwar Bentley chassis. In its current ownership since 1990, in 1992 this lovely car underwent a ground-up and fully documented three-year restoration at Kent Bain’s Automotive Restorations of Stratford, Connecticut, with particular attention to the ash framing of the body. The owner describes the car as “superb in every respect and very tough to fault, as well as being exceptionally beautiful.” In support of his statement, this outstandingly rare Bentley has been twice entered for the Greenwich Concours, and won a prize on both occasions.