This car stopped us in our tracks when we spotted it sitting, regally, surrounded by cigarette-smoking chaufeurs, recently in the genteel inner circle of The Regents Park.
Obviously of a rare breed, this is more than a shooting brake. It’s a bespoke conversion known appropriately as the Val D’Isere and is a full-sized, five door stretched estate version of the standard eighties/nineties Bentley Turbo R.
Yes, you could give esteemed creator of bullet-proof vehicles Robert Jankel your standard Bentley, and they would give you back this high end Ski-trip hopper.
There was even an option for a 4WD system where the front two wheels were driven by an independently aspirated motor until the speed ticked up 30 MPH – perfect for negotiating those tricky alpine passes during the season.
It’s obviously an outrageous design – built for folk for whom the very notion of owning a high-end SUV was abhorrent. It had a real presence on that London street corner.
But we like to think of it as the ultimate surf wagon.
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