1954 Bentley R Type Automatic Sports Saloon B15ZX

A late ‘Z’ series example, bright & cheerful in an unusual & attractive colour scheme of buff & fawn with red leather interior &fresh red carpets. The car is sound, smart and in good order, running nicely with excellent compressions and it benefits from work in recent times, including major attention to braking system, new exhaust system, new fuel pump, new battery, etc, in 2024, and various other attention in preceding years. In all this amounts to about £18,000 having been spent. Beneficial for safety reasons, the car is equipped with flashing LED indicators (at the front, incorporated into the sidelight nacelles) in addition to the original trafficators (also flashing), which all operate from the same switch. Also upgraded are the tyres, which are Michelin radials, and the car is fitted with an up-to-date radio too. All-in-all, in conjunction with the automatic gearbox, the car is easy to drive & practical to use in modern traffic conditions, which the car will keep pace with nicely. Offered serviced, prepared and newly MoT tested.

Chassis No. B15ZX Reg No. THU 750

Snippets: Evacuee & Advertising

The first owner of B15ZX was Thomas William Cliffe Glover (1900/1980) of Bristol who in his youth attended Colston School which was founded in 1710 by the philanthropist Edward Colston. In October 1918 aged just 18, Thomas enlisted in order to serve with the Royal Air Force – this new service was as a result of the Royal Flying Corps & the Royal Naval Air Service amalgamating on the 1st of April 1918. After WWI Thomas Glover left the family printing concern to start his own advertising agency which in 1948 merged with Pethwick of London to become the Glover Pethwick Group, their 5 companies were based between Bristol & London with clients including SAAB & the Cyprus Sherry Trade. During WWII his son Derek (age 13) was evacuated from Bristol, as were so many other children & during a scouts’ outing to Cader Idris in the Welsh Mountains, Derek went missing, the huge search involved farmers, soldiers, troops, police & an aeroplane but to no avail, his body was never found.

It would seem from the chassis cards that B15ZX was with the Glover family until the 1980s when it was acquired by Edward Philip Reeder of Arizona whose career included serving as the Assistant City Attorney of Phoenix.