Biting questions of style and chicanery

IN a fast-moving episode where too much car news is barely enough, we ask the big questions no one else will.

The 1931 Bentley 8-Litre Sports Coupe. Picture: Simon Clay/RM Auctions

IN a fast-moving episode where too much car news is barely enough, we ask the big questions no one else will.

Which society dentist is selling his car collection? What is the greatest coach-built Bentley model in existence? Which German luxury carmaker and their dealers are backdating when their new cars are sold to keep up its bonuses and cut their customers’ warranties short?

Look, some of my best friends are dentists. It’s a crook job. You put your hands down people’s mouths, small children fear you and people tell bad jokes about you. The dentist of the year gets a little plaque; a dentist who doesn’t like tea is called Denis and the Buddhist refused a Novocain injection during root canal treatment because he wanted to transcend dental medication.

But the introduction of cosmetic dentistry has seen the tooth pullers scrape in some serious money. Jimmy Hull is England’s wealthiest dentist. He invented the sport nearly 30 years ago, building up a chain of 48 houses of pain. He sold a share in his practices in 2006 for $160 million.

Jimmy also managed to build up one of the country’s largest car collections, which he is selling for somewhere north of $200m. The cars are not only in sterile condition but they come from the owners of some very famous mouths. An Austin from Winnie Churchill, Dick Mountbatten’s Mini Van, Elton John’s Bentley and Mike “The Bike” Hailwood’s E-Type are included.

I know a lot of kiddies read this column. So boys and girls don’t follow your parents into investment banking, BMW servicing or shale gas — listen to Uncle John and get into the implants and whitening caper as soon as you can. Then you’ll be smiling!

Talking of Bentleys, the good folks at RM have got a beauty up for grabs at Monterey in August. Of course it’s the 1931 Bentley 8-Litre Sports Coupe Cabriolet by Barker. Barker started building coaches in 1710 and after he had built a few for Charlie Rolls, Chuck fell in love with his bodies and tried to get all his customers to have one fitted. RM is offering one of two ever built and my guess is this was the one constructed for brick and cement maker Mal Stewart. If the market stays up, I think you could be looking at somewhere around $5m.

Meantime there’s a really nasty trick some dealers of a luxury German brand are using to earn a monthly bonus. The manufacturer pays a bonus if dealers hit a monthly sales target. Some dealers who are behind will tell head office they have sold cars that are still in the showroom and claim the cash. The problem is that from the moment they are registered, the warranty clock is ticking. Some dealers hold cars with six months of warranty already gone. Naturally the customer isn’t told this.

The same dealers are selling cars with 90km on them as new cars. In the industry below 25km is regarded as the maximum a new car should have on the dial After that it’s a demonstrator. It is clear the manufacturer knows what is going on and is covering up for the dealers. We are doing some serious work on the manufacturer and the dealer. Send me an email with your stories.

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