As car journalists, we’re kind of duty-bound to get a bit overexcited about fast estate cars. ‘All the car you’d ever need’ – that’s the cliche we like to trot out, fully aware that actually, very few people actually need to outdrag a Porsche 911 while transporting a grandfather clock. Still, there’s something inherently appealing about the combination of speed, practicality and luxury, and, they’re all present and correct here, in this 1983 Bentley Mulsane Turbo ‘Shooting Brake’.
Now, we’re going to nitpick a bit, because (take note, Mercedes) this isn’t a shooting brake. They have three doors, like a Ferrari FF or a BMW M Coupe. What this is is an estate car, but Coway – the Lancashire-based coachbuilder that converted it – calls it a shooting brake, so we’ll roll with it through gritted teeth.
Bentley Mulsanne Turbo ‘Shooting Brake’ – boot
It’s one of 12 thought to have been converted to this spec by Coway. Ignore the fact that it looks a bit… hearsey, and that it’s been decked out in a fairly challenging mustard over claret paint scheme, and there’s a lot on offer.
Chief among these is Bentley’s six-and-three-quarter-litre V8 (the only engine whose displacement simply must be written out fully like that), in single-turbo guise. That delivers circa 385bhp to the back wheels through a three-speed automatic. Nothing mind-blowing by modern standards, then, but it should be plenty of shove in the real world.
Bentley Mulsanne Turbo ‘Shooting Brake’ – interior
It’s also a Bentley of the 1980s, which means its interior – thankfully trimmed in a much more subtle cream colour, although still with claret accents – is a veritable smorgasbord of squishy leather, polished wood and thick, shaggy carpet.
It’s also been kitted out with parking sensors (handy, because it’s about the same size as Dorset), a modern head unit with sat-nav and a CD multichanger (retro!), and, to fully lean into its estate-ness, roof bars.
Bentley Mulsanne Turbo ‘Shooting Brake’ – rear
It’s covered just over 37,500 miles from new and, for the first 21 years of its life, it lived on the Channel Island of Jersey, a place where the fastest you can legally drive is 40mph. Presumably, that monster of an engine never got above tickover during that time. It started life as a regular Mulsanne Turbo saloon, and it’s not entirely clear at what point it was wagonised.
Two owners later, this ultra-plush dog hauler is up for auction with Collecting Cars, where, as we write this with two days left on the sale, the highest bid is £9100. It’s not been serviced since early 2019, mind, so whoever does pick it up will probably want to get some maintenance done before they head off on the world’s most incongruous tip run.
