Pics of my "new" Bentley

I've kept this one a secret for quite awhile while I was working on it, but finally, I've got it fully restored and ready to show off. The story goes that about 6 months ago I found this 1983 Bentley all alone and neglected, kind of beat up but fixable. It looked like the owner hadn't touched it in years and I thought that I could make it live again. I made an offer ( a really low offer) just to see if the owner would take it and to my surprise he just wanted it gone and so he signed it over to me.

Whenever I've had some spare time I've been working on it, tracking down parts, cleaning, redoing the wiring (what a pain) etc. As we all know some parts just don't exist anymore and I found myself having to make my own bits and pieces to complete it. Fortunately the wooden bits were still in excellent shape and didn't require any work. I'm certainly not a master carpenter so that was quite a relief.

Anyway, I just finished the last step last night by replacing the battery and fired her up. Everything works beautifully. Today I washed and polished her so that I could get some decent pictures. I dare say that it looks factory fresh.

She started right up, all the electronics work and I took her for a little test spin. She ran perfectly, almost alarmingly smooth. Not a single hiccup or glitch anywhere.

One reason why I really like the older stuff is that the controls are generally a lot simpler and tend to make one feel more involved. The controls are all easy to reach and simple to operate. Sometimes things just feel right. I felt the same way when I first drove my Alfa gtv6.

So it's taken awhile but I feel that the effort was worth it. I really did enjoy the restoration process and hope to start on another project soon.

Without further ado, the pics!
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Wait....did I do this right?

That wood paneling is just a sticker. Bentley you cheap ********