Some cars are surely just not meant to be anything but luxury road cruising vehicles, but that doesn’t mean that with a bit of inspiration you can’t turn something that exists in the mind as one thing into something entirely unexpected.
We’ve seen off-road Bentleys before; last September a Bentley that was featured in the National Geographic TV series was put up for auction on eBay selling for around £40k. Depending on your viewpoint, this is possibly a more impressive looking Bentley off-roader – a 6-litre W12 engined Bentley Continental GT from Classic Youngtimers, who are based in the Netherlands.
Having existed quite comfortably as Bentley originally intended for 52,000 miles, Classic Youngtimers decided to give this GT a completely new lease of life. If the Mad Max era future had fully equipped high tech workshops, the mechanics may’ve just come up with something like this.
The car’s suspension has been raised by around 3 inches for mud plugging ground clearance and to also allow the inclusion of custom 20-inch wheels. The wheels really make the car, finished in shiny black and clad in all terrain rubber. Naturally the air suspension has been modified for off-road use too and black ‘fender flares’ compliment the black and silver look nicely.
A bespoke roof rack houses four LED Hella lights rather akin to the Mini Rally from the seventies, which had extra lights front-mounted on the grille – the roof seems a safer option for longevity. Up there with the lights also sits the spare wheel.
Power comes form the aforementioned W12 6-litre with a standard Torsen based permanent 4-wheel drive, with off-road ready torque of 479lb ft and 552bhp. 0-62mph takes this GT 4.8 seconds and top speed is 197.6mph. This thing will most definitely be fun to drive.
As I write, this one-off Bentley Continental GT off-roader is actually, despite the publicity, still available to purchase from Classic Youngtimers for 80,000 euros – that’s around £70k – and includes a full service history dating back to 2004 when it emerged from the hands of Bentley into the welcoming arms of Paris.
Classic Youngtimers say the car is perfectly fine to handle and cope with normal road conditions as well as off-roading, though the addition of a custom rear skid plate might not be needed. So who is a car like this for? Well, anyone with a huge sense of fun, impeccable taste – and maybe a long drive that needs resurfacing.
Share your opinion in the comments below!
Images: classic-youngtimers.com
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