This Sad, 150,000-Mile Bentley Mulsanne Deserves To Be Rescued

We have a bit of a soft spot for old Bentleys here at Car Throttle. A little while back we bought a 1989 Eight for the princely sum of £5000, making it the UK’s cheapest Bentley with an MOT at the time. While most of the cars we buy for YouTube end up getting moved on when we’re done with them, the Eight is still kicking around and in use.

What we have here is a purchase that requires a great deal more bravery than our £5k Eight, though. It’s a 1987 Mulsanne going under the virtual hammer via Car and Classic and with three days left at the time of writing, the bidding is at just £1100. A quick glance at these pictures should tell you why, but let’s take a closer look anyway.

The luxo-barge has been off the road for years, but remarkably, its 6.75-litre V8 still starts and runs. The gearbox is stuck in reverse, though, with the fault likely lying in the selector mechanism. Oil pressure is said to be good, as is compression.

The underside of the car is “structurally decent,” the detailed auction page notes, but the bodywork is in a poor state, with significant rust dotted all around the car. The rear wheel arches, front wings, and boot have all bit hit hard with the tin worm. There’s a broken headlight, both rear wings are dented, and the boot doesn’t quite close.

The news is slightly better inside, where the Slate leather seems to be in reasonable shape. The wood veneers are cracked, though, and there’s a handful of missing trim pieces including a couple of ashtrays and some switchgear.

The mileage is best described as ‘heroic’, with the odometer sitting at 152,667 miles. It has a “substantial file of bills” up to 125,000 miles, beyond which point the record gets ‘sketchy’. The Mulsanne spent some time in a private collection, but the owner died before having a chance to restore it.

The current owner purchased it from their estate along with 10 other cars but doesn’t have the time to get the languishing Bentley, which has been sat without an MOT since 2009, up to scratch.

The Mulsanne in a sorry state, and we suspect its most likely future use lies in becoming a parts donor. It doesn’t look completely beyond saving, though. Feel brave enough?