Bentley - Bentley Mk6 Special
From the 1970's onward it became a popular pastime with Bentley Drivers Club members to convert the plentiful Mk6 and R Type Bentleys available into "Specials". The cars were mechanically sound but their all steel bodywork was invariably in need of too much work, and removing this tonnage for something lightweight made for a good performing car. But just as the bell shape of the standard deviation curve, many examples (although fun to use) were fairly hideous, with complete cars built by Harry Rose (owner of the Birkin Blower), Syd Lawrence, Alan Padget and others. By far the best looking of these Bentley Specials were built by Derry Mallalieu who built perhaps as many as 40 examples. The Mallalieu cars had a lot of work done to the chassis frame by moving cross members and cruciform rearwards to enable the running gear (and therefore radiator) to be moved back, giving much better proportions to the finished car.
There were other examples transplanted with a V8 engine by, for example, Johnard, marketed as the Bentley Donnington (also offered with a 6 cylinder engine), built in the 1970's, with a total of 16 produced. The company was started by John Guppy, whose father in the "old days" was a partner of famous Bentley man Don McKenzie in McKenzie - Guppy the Bentley restorers.
Tyre size for the Bentley Mk6 Specials: The ideal tyre for all these cars is the Blockley 6.50x16 tyre, built to L section dimensions so they are plenty big enough, which will fit the 16" wheels and look just perfect on any Bentley Special. These are a very period looking tyre and look just the part. The Johnard Bentley Donnington cars were fitted with smaller 15" wheels that had 205/70VR15 tyres as standard. But if you wanted to go a little larger we also manufacture a 215/70VR15 tyre. Other Bentley specials fit 19" or 21" wheels for which we also provide any size required. Whatever the Bentley special, Blockley will have produced something suitable to fit the wheels! See full details of a selection of these tyres below:
