Bentley Azure: Engineered by Pininfarina

It might come as a surprise to some, but Bentley chose the great Italian design house and manufacturer of low-run specials primarily for its skills in engineering, rather than styling, when it selected Pininfarina to both design the roof mechanism and produce complete bodyshells for the Azure.

At the time, the convertible version of Crewe’s Continental two-door coupé was one of the most expensive cars in the world. In the United Kingdom it carried a price tag of £215,000 – a premium of some £40,000 over the coupé.Pininfarina took two years to carefully design the complicated fold-back mechanism which made the fabric roof totally disappear when down. And not only that, it was also contracted to provide complete bodyshells from underpans and sub-assembly components supplied by Park Sheet Metal in Coventry. All final assembly was done at Crewe.


The cars were produced for the world’s wealthiest from 1995 to 2003. This particular Azure, a 2003 version to ‘Mulliner’ specification, was sold new in Monaco at a price in excess of 350,000 euros. It will be offered for sale by Artcurial at its 10 June Paris sale. Estimate: 85,000 to 100,000 euros.

Related Links You can find out more about this 2003 Bentley Azure Mulliner, which will be offered for sale by Artcurial at its 10 June 'Automobiles sur Les Champs V' Paris sale, in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: Steve Wakefield( Classic driver)
Photos: Artcurial

en panne !

VAUGHN GITTIN JR.’S FIRE DRIFT

What do you get when you mix a Ford Mustang, a few jumps and a whole lot of fire? You get Monster Energy Fire Drift starring Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his RTR Mustang.

If Michael Bay were to produce a drift film, it would most likely come out looking very much like this.

Enjoy!

Ducati 1098S - Shed X ‘Malizia’

Written by Phil Guy.

The genesis for the latest to roll out of Sydney’s Shed-X came almost a year ago, when their first build, a wicked café/street hybrid dubbed ‘Bastardo’, caught the eye of a potential buyer. The buyer had a problem, though. To free up some cash for ‘Bastardo’ he needed first to sell his mint 1098S, but in a flooded market he was getting little joy. At about this juncture we can assume the term ‘trade-in’ was uttered. And thus ‘Malizia’ was born. "As soon as I test rode the 1098S," Neil from Shed-X explains, "I knew we could do something with it to make it more enjoyable around the streets".

To achieve that, the 1098S was stripped down and the frame de-tabbed. But how to get the stance just right? "We decided the only way we could get the seat and tank angle the way we wanted was to make our own sub frame from scratch, and make a mould for two seat styles so we could get the look we wanted," Neil says. "We are now producing these items, so if you are not in Sydney and want to re-invent your 1098, 848 or street-fighter, we can send you the bolt on parts."

They also fabricated the 2-into-1 exhaust, then mated it to a Radical Ducati megaphone by Spark – by all accounts, it sounds awesome. The original running gear has been kept, because, well, would you replace a barely run-in 1098S running gear? Stock suspension and brakes have also been retained. The wiring harness was adjusted to relocate the ECU, rectifier, and new 12-cell, anti-gravity Li-ion battery. Indicators are in-house fare. 

‘Malizia’ (translation: malicious) pumps out about 160bhp, which is the same as the stock 1098S. She has shed about 12kg though, so Neil’s hunch that something could be done to make it more enjoyable around the streets seems about spot on.

And what will we see roll out of Shed-X next? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what the buyer of ‘Malizia’ rides in on.

from PIPEBURN