A good, sound and very useable example of an early MKVI finished in black with beige leather interior which – being an early car – is of the plain, non-pleated design, with two armrests to each front seat. This, together with inertia reel seatbelts to the front and a nicely-working sliding sunroof make the inside a very nice place to be! We have a file of maintenance and repair invoices totalling about £39,000 since the 1980s, and the car has covered about 2,300 miles in the hands of the last owner since he bought it from us in 2016. A comprehensive service was carried out in 2022 costing £2,600, since when just 100 miles have been covered. We feel that the car would benefit from a certain amount of cleaning and cosmetic improvement, but this is by no means urgent, and more importantly, the chassis, underbody and coachwork are all reassuringly sound. Running and driving nicely, equipped with a well-suited set of Avon Turbosteel tyres, correct headlights, centre spotlight, etc, and offered prepared and newly MoT tested.

https://youtu.be/W5pzfD8-KhE?si=qsdOEWzxL72qLrcm

Snippets: Carpets & Beer

Sir Alfred Hammond Aykroyd 1894/1965 (AKA Flash Harry) was a scion of two industrious families – the Hammonds Bradford Brewery (his mother Emma was the granddaughter of James Hammond) and the Ffrith Carpet (Sir Alfred’s great uncle was Sir Algernon Ffrith). Hammonds Brewery was initially founded by Joseph Pullen who in 1860 sold his brewery to James Hammond. When James Hammond died in 1875 he owned a staggering 35 public houses! In 1919 Sir Alfred married Sylvia Thorne the widow of Lt. Col. Foster Newton Thorne whose family had owned Southover Grange in Lewes from 1572 to 1901. Lt. Thorne was killed during WWI whilst serving with the Sussex Regiment in Shatt al Adhaim, Mesopotamia, he left his wife Sylvia with their 11 month daughter Vivian. In 1947, the year that he bought B119BG Sir Alfred became Chairman of Ffirth & Sons, Director of Hammonds Brewery & was in receipt of the Baronetcy – a busy year by all Accounts – he was already a director of Martins Bank! After Sir Alfred’s death in 1965 the Bentley was acquired by Ralph Parker of Datchet, a lifelong bachelor he kept B119BG until his death in 1998 when the car was inherited by Roland Bryant. Sadly Roland & his wife didn’t have a garage in which to keep the car and it was sold to Mr W. F.Cooper of Southampton.