Is this 'special' up to the Bentley standard?

Specials: the beginning of endless discussions in the classic car world. Some time ago, we had such a discussion with JP from Victorycars and he told us about a Bentley special that he had on his stock list. To be honest, we were not immediately convinced, so he invited us over to take the special for a spin and experience the car first-hand.  
 

The basis of the car is a 1938 Bentley Wraith chassis with a Bentley Sedanca de Ville body on it. However, the most special part is its engine. A real piece of craftsmanship.

First, some information about the man who built it: Gary Wales. He is well known for his specials such as La Bestioni. It took Wales 10 years to build this Bentley 'Royal Custom', which can be seen in the details. 

For the engine, he used 2 Rolls engines, 5.75 l 8-in-line, with crankshafts geared together on a common crankcase – the same design that Ettore Bugatti used for the U-16 aircraft engine. When we started the engine, you can hear the gears. It sounds a bit mechanical as a result of the common crankcase gears. 
 

At the beginning of our ride, the car didn’t have the power that I had expected; yet, after just a couple of minutes, I could feel the engine getting cleaner and the drive getting better and better by minute. 

The amount of power that the car has is perfect for serious touring. We were lucky; the sun started to shine, so we opened the roof (made out of the hide of an elephant) and we went for cruise.    
 

The interior is what you can expect from a Bentley: extremely comfortable. The dashboard, however, is a bit filled. Because there are two engines, there are also double the amount of instruments.
 

Our conclusion is that JP successfully convinced us about the quality of this car. What an amazing vehicle!  It is indeed a special built by a hobbyist, made out of different parts of cars, but it looks as if it were an original factory built car – a car that they could have been made at the Bentley factory. 
 

We were so enthusiastic about this car that we invited this Bentley ‘Royal Coupe’ special to be present at our PreWarCar.com- PostWarClassic.com stand during the 2017 Interclassics Maastricht. 
 

The classic car show Interclassics will take place next week (January 12th – 15th, 2017) in the South of the Netherlands. If you are interested to see the car for yourself, please come visit us in the North Hall. You won’t be able to miss this big beautiful red car!