1952 Bentley Mark VI Cabriolet

This chassis was ordered through the Geneva agent, S.A. Garage de L'Athénée, by Monsieur A. Walter Gemuseus of Zurich. It was given coachwork by Swiss coachbuilder Hermann Graber of Basel. Special features requested included a steering column in the lowest possible position, a metric speedometer, 'no horns or fog lamp,' double-filament headlights, and a special Swiss long-wave radio.

The car was delivered to Monsieur Gemuseus on 1 June 1952 and it wore 'two-seater coupe' coachwork. At some point in its life, it was converted into the cabriolet coachwork that it wears today.

The ownership history of the car includes residing in the care of Mr. Singh of California, who later sold it to Gene Epstein in the early 21st century. Mr. Epstein treated the car to a ground-up restoration, and refinished in the body in forest green and black two-tone. The interior features tan leather upholstery. The driver's door contains a cubby with two crystal decanters and four glasses, while the luggage compartment contains proper sets of hand and road tools, a period Norelco Sportsman electric razor in its original box, a Coracle wicker picnic hamper with full complements of flatware and plastic food boxes, and a three-piece set of period fitted luggage.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2017

This 1953 Bentley Mark VI was originally built with two-door fixed-head bodywork by Carrosserie Graber and was displayed in that configuration at the 1952 Geneva Auto Show. Following the show, the car was returned to Graber and reconfigured as a Drophead Coupe. Very few similar drophead coupes were produced on Mark VI chassis, and they were known for their smooth, modern, pontoon fender lines with integrated headlamps and flowing slab sides, giving them an appearance reminiscent of a Talbot-Lago. This car has won an AACA National First Prize, in addition to awards at multiple concours d'elegance.