Bentley Series III 1963 - Continental Chinese Eye BC66AX 2-Door

Following a comprehensive, in excess of 1,200 hours, body restoration and a superb, top-quality re-paint, this is an extremely smart example of a sought after and desirable car. Beautifully finished coachwork, complemented by excellent chrome work, lovely refurbished interior, supple leather, and newly re-finished wood. New, fully lined hood also fitted, and the car looks wonderful in its tasteful colour scheme. The work is documented with invoices and a 15minute video of stages of the restoration taking place. Drives very nicely indeed and all in all is as good as you could hope to find! In fact, perhaps unusually, the car looks even better in the metal than maybe it comes across in the photos. Comes with a large history file, which includes, amongst many other things, a 1960s green logbook and the car is offered newly MoT tested. Chassis No. BC66XA Reg No. 519 EGK Snippets: G. E. M. S. Nobel George Ernest Michael Sinclair Noble (1919/1993) was a secret agent, a journalist & a sculptor! He joined up at the start of WWII and after Dunkirk he became an officer in the VIII army in Libya prior to being posted to Italy. His task there was to assist postwar relationships between Italy and Great Britian, this led him, alongside the writers Afeltra, Fini & Buzzatiin to establish the Gionale Lombardo. This in turn led him to meet Ida Borletti the daughter of the industrialist & politician Senator Borletti who was also the owner of the Corriere Della Sera newspaper. Ida Borletti was 20 years older than Noble and he felt that one wife was not always enough, which led him to drink. Michael & Ida would attend the San Giacomo Hospital for his daily detoxification meeting arriving, but of course, in their Rolls-Royce! As a consequence of this treatment Michael volunteered at the Psychiatric Hospital in Verona alongside the sculptor Castagna which was where he met & encouraged the artist Carlo Zinelli (also a patient) whose talent in turn led to the formation of a gallery for the in-patients to display and sell their art in. It is not known if BC66XA spent much, if any time, in Italy as by 1967 the car was with Noreen, Countess Raben, she was the daughter of Colonel Sir Abe Bailey & his 2nd wife the Hon. Mary Westenra both of South African descent. Mary Westenra was the daughter of 5th Baron Rossmore and an early Anglo Irish aviator, during WWI she volunteered as an aviation mechanic & in 1927 she gained her licence to become a solo pilot, that same year she became the 1st woman to fly across the Irish Sea and also set a world height record in her de Havilland, her passenger was Louise de Havilland! Mary Westenra continued to set flying records & was she pioneered the use of aerial photography in combination with archaeological surveys including the Kharga Oasis in Egypt.