Bentley Azure

6.8 Convertible

Bentley has a long and successful history of designing and building appealing convertible models. In the early years of the brand, more than a hundred years ago, the bodies were built by special coachbuilders, such as Vanden Plas. It remained that way after the Second World War, until the last coachbuilders ceased operations well into the 1960s. Except for the Mulliner Park Ward company that was affiliated with the Rolls-Royce & Bentley factory and continued the construction of Bentley convertibles (Bentley Corniche and Bentley Continental). When the Bentley Mulsanne came onto the market in 1980, all kinds of designs were made to introduce a new convertible based on this model. Only in 1991, when the sporty coupe Bentley Continental R was launched, a basis emerged for a new convertible. It was the well-known Italian design agency Pininfarina who partnered to design the new convertible and was subsequently contracted to take care of part of the construction. The new convertible was the Bentley Azure, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1995. For the first time, the factory produced a convertible that was only available as a Bentley, not as a Rolls-Royce. For the first time, a fully automatic hood construction was used whereby the entire hood sunk into the rear deck when folded and did not remain partly on top of the bodywork. The performance was also impressive because the familiar 6750 cc V8 engine had been upgraded to 385 hp and the top speed was over 240 km/h. Not only the torsional stiffness was praised, the car press was also very enthusiastic about its driving characteristics.
In short, the Bentley Azure is one of the most elegant and successful convertibles made at the factory in Crewe, England. The car remained in production until 2002 and no fewer than 1087 were produced. Only 14 of these were delivered new in the Netherlands. For that reason alone, it is a rare appearance in the Netherlands.
The Bentley Azure at Kaeve Cars was delivered new in Florida in the United States of America in 1999. The color scheme is Peacock blue with a blue hood, Cotswold leather with French navy stitching, French navy top roll (top of dashboard) and French navy carpets. Later the Azure had a German owner. Since November 2019 it has had a Dutch registration. Since then, the Azure has regularly been seen in clubs, taking part in many car events. The car is in excellent condition with the proper attention being paid to the roof construction.

Work carried out 21-06-2023 at 61,120 km;
- Head gasket replaced
- Vacuum hoses replaced
- Valve seals replaced
- O rings replaced
- Hydraulic pumps overhauled
- Oil and filter replaced
- Coolant replaced
- Brake fluid flushed
- Elastic straps of the hood replaced