Unusual Issues In Stranger Locations: A Bippu Bentley

Earlier within the 12 months, I made a decision to show a Speedhunting journey all the way down to Hiroshima into a little bit vacation with my companion.

At one level throughout the getaway we discovered ourselves in a flowery little bistro which seated all of 10 clients and served delicate dishes in fast succession. Being extra of a ramen and faucet beer bloke I felt a little bit out of my depth, however when the chef requested if we knew concerning the automobile museum on Kurahashi-jima, I used to be rapidly introduced again into my consolation zone. A automobile museum on an island? Now that wanted some investigation.

A fast search on Google Maps unearthed the F.H.Royce Museum. Footage of basic automobiles, chandeliers, an opulent gold-trimmed chaise and an proprietor who appeared a little bit like a wax dummy from Madame Tussauds, meant a street journey was inevitable.

The journey all the way down to the south coast of Kurahashi-jima is price it only for the surroundings. Archipelagoes spanned with suspension bridges, dotted with fishing villages and inhabited by eagles and hawks – it was breathtaking.

As we quickly discovered, the F.H.Royce Museum itself doubles as a restaurant and resort, and even has its personal non-public seaside.

Inside, you’ll discover an extravagant, fluorescent pink-embellished ballroom and a lounge stuffed from ceiling to wall with mannequin automobiles of all makes and fashions. It’s completely excessive, however completely superb on the identical time.

Is that Dominic Toretto’s Charger on high of an ornate vintage buffet?

Sadly, the museum’s eccentric proprietor, Mr. Hidenori Hayashi, was unable to satisfy with me – I’d have actually liked to satisfy the person that constructed this place – however a member of his employees (absolutely tuxedoed up with pink uwabaki, I’d add) was available to present us a little bit tour.

I’ll admit, many of the info he advised me went in a single ear and out the opposite; a burble of dates and manufacturing numbers that had been unattainable to recollect.

However amidst all of the basic and classic equipment sat one thing a lot totally different. The elephant within the room was a bippu (VIP) model 1996 Bentley Continental R.

Positive, the museum assortment was just about all Rolls-Royces and Bentleys and this was one of many latter, but it surely positively got here as a shock. Or possibly it shouldn’t have given what I had already seen elsewhere within the venue.

This explicit Continental R was certainly one of that final coach-built automobiles to go away the Mulliner Parks Ward manufacturing unit in Willesden, London. However it’s what was performed to the enormous coupé after it left the UK that’s necessary right here.

Someday throughout its life in Japan, this Bentley was given the best royal wide-body remedy. Customized vented fenders have added 140mm, pushing out the automobile’s total width to a maniacal 2.01m (6.6ft).

However not solely has it gone out, it’s additionally gone down – method down over large 22-inch wheels.

They are saying it’s all within the particulars although, so I hope you’ve seen the embossed Bentley brand on the boot, the jewel-encrusted badges, the smoked headlights, fake stacked exhaust suggestions and a sprinkling of LED lights for some further sparkle.

Now, I’m certain lots of you might be questioning the worth of such a distinctive styling alternative. I’m too, and I ponder whether having the one certainly one of one thing goes to drive the desirability of this automobile, or whether or not it implies that there’s just one for a motive. I’ll allow you to determine.

Mr. Hayashi clearly loves this factor, therefore why he added it to his assortment. He additionally drives the bippu Bentley frequently, which is superior.