Coys Auction - True Greats
Royal Horticultural Halls
Elverton St
Westminster
London SW1
Tuesday 7 December 2010
When the new Silver Cloud II and its Bentley S2 sibling, the first V8s the company had produced since 1905, were announced in 1959, they swiftly became extremely successful. The official catalogued Drophead Variant was the Mulliner Adaptation, an extremely handsome design adapted from the standard steel car, hence its showroom designation. Price of course had an inhibiting effect on sales of these open cars, but one of the very few made is today’s splendid example. B402CU was commissioned in 1961, and was destined for one of the best-known and most successful businessmen of the day. Liverpudlian John Moores, later to be knighted as Sir John, made his first fortune in the 1920s and 30s from his hugely successful football pools company, before diversifying into retail sales and other fields. He was also a celebrated philanthropist, endowing the John Moores University in Liverpo