2001 Bentley Arnage Red Label

This particular car comes to us from a Worcestershire dealer, who acquired the car from a wealthy deceased owner’s estate. Registered on 1st March 2001, its mileage now stands at a shade under 66,000 and its overall appearance – inside and out – is very handsome indeed… and that’s some understatement.

There are four owners in the logbook, and it survives in unmolested, unmodified form. Although you wouldn’t quite describe it as factory fresh, it has received plenty of very expensive care over the years.

The vendor tells us that it recently came back from a Bentley main dealer with a clean bill of health, and zero faults requiring attention. He recently completed a 300-mile journey in the car and describes it as effortlessly getting up to speed, where it becomes a real ‘wafter’, free from any noises or vibrations, and requiring only a tickle from the throttle to keep it there. Gear changes are reportedly seamless, and the ride is smooth – if a little firm, as should be expected from any Red Label.

Taking the Red Label moniker to its logical extreme, this particular car has been specced in gorgeous Fireglow red. All of the chrome trim is in excellent order, and you have to stand very close to the vehicle to notice any blemishes in the paintwork. The galvanic corrosion which can plague the Arnage around its door handles has not affected this car.

The bumpers (complete with parking sensors front and rear) are clean and tidy, and the lower area of the front bumper recently received a little fresh paint by the vendor. Everywhere else the car appears to be wearing its original paint.

Zoom in to our photos and you’ll find some minor stone chips and very small scratches on the front of the nearside wing mirror, and a tiny amount of bubbling around the 18in wheels. There are also one or two small bubbles around the door bottoms – nothing severe, and these points are well worth refurbishing to match the overall high standard. We have also photographed a faint scratch on the bootlid.

The car sits on matching Pirelli P Zero 275/45 tyres with plenty of tread, although the spare is a Kumho that’s seen some action and looks a little cracked.

The leather-cocooned interior is also in extremely lovely condition. The red theme continues, but the designers had better taste than to go overboard; here we have a combination of cream leather seats and mouldings with deep red highlights and piping, and cream stitching – a bright but pleasingly restrained palette.

There’s no damage to the seats, only gentle creasing around the driver’s seat bolster. The two-tone leather-clad wheel is also very fresh, with all its stitches intact. There is however a small bruise in the top right corner of the dash leather, which we have photographed; fortunately it’s in quite a discrete position. The switchgear is all undamaged, and the walnut veneer surrounding the cabin is lustrous, glossy and beautifully preserved.

Although you’ll see a little loose edging trim around the driver’s footwell overmat, the carpets themselves and mats overall are clean and in good order, with very little wear to speak of. Even the moderate wear on the pedals suggest that this car has never been driven in anger.

We’re not aware of any signs of water ingress from the sunroof or elsewhere. The spare wheel well is bone dry, and the spare wheel cover and tool kit are present and correct.

Gadgets include the original Motorola International 2700 telephone, housed in the centre cubby compartment, and Alpine Car Navi navigation system with a dash-mounted controller and a CD memory in the boot. Up front there’s a CD player behind the walnut-clad door. The vendor hasn’t tested the phone and can’t vouch for it, but reports that absolutely everything else is in full working order – from the electric seats and windows to the parking sensors and satnav (which involves guidance from a recorded voice).

This Bentley’s underbelly is where it has received the most significant work, thanks to a nasty MOT failure back in 2017 due to corrosion of – among other things – its subframes. These and other affected items (such as brake pipes) were all replaced. The happy result is that this car hasn’t been troubled by rust issues for a few years now, but it’s a reminder that any Arnage of this age needs checking for structural weaknesses.

The previous owner has had the good sense to have some underseal professionally applied, which should keep rust at bay. Judging from the history, this was probably done by Glasgow Bentley in 2018, so presumably it was not a slapdash affair. It certainly looks fine.

Some discrete cracks can be found around the lower areas of the front bumper where it tucks rearwards, visible only from underneath (presumably the result of contact with wildlife). They’re not severe but the perfectionist might see them as cause enough to renew this section.

That vast V8 fills the engine bay, which is very smartly presented. There’s not much to see as space is so limited, but there do not appear to be any leaks of fluid or other causes for concern. This verdict was apparently shared with the Bentley technician who saw it within the last few months.

Sometimes these Rolls Royce V8s suffer head gasket issues, but this particular example seems never to have been affected. Judging by the service history, this engine probably has its original head gaskets – another sign of a gentle, well-serviced life.

There’s a significant stack of invoices, worth perusing, and mostly dating from around 2015. Before then, the services are evidenced by stamps in the logbook rather than receipts, so it’s possible that the car received further work (possibly head gaskets). We don’t really know.

From 2015 it’s all well documented. The car has a current MOT which lasts until 21st October 2021. Impressively, the car passed its last four MOTs without a single advisory – although it has moved less than 1000 miles in that time.

Look further back through the MoT history and you’ll see signs of a well-used car. The majority of its miles were in the first few years of its life; since 2008 its use seems to have been more sporadic. As mentioned earlier, 2017 and 2018 were troubled years, with three fail certificates in a row, and black marks for various areas of corrosion – now thankfully a distant memory, and we don’t believe any would have required welding.

In 2015 the owner paid Bentley Cardiff around £1,750 to put the heater back into operation. A rear damper was replaced the same year for £1,210, followed by a front damper the following year for £1,880.

The vehicle’s last service was only a few hundred miles ago, although this was in September 2019, so strictly speaking the new owner may wish to consider a service required due to the time elapsed. (We reckon the estimate reflects this.)

But it’s ready to drive and enjoy right away.

Given the potential for sky-high bills, a ‘bargain’ Bentley can turn out to be anything but. With this level of engineering and luxury on offer, anything too cheap and care-worn could bring you major headaches.

But given the attention that this thunderous missile has received in recent years, and its pretty modest overall mileage, our estimate of £12,000 - £16,000 will leave the next owner with an astonishing amount of car for the money. This is priced well under what you can pay for an Arnage, hopefully enabling the buyer to have some cash left over to address the car’s very minor imperfections, if he/she should wish. Not that this should be considered a necessity, because this is an absolutely beautiful machine.

You’ll need enough finances in reserve to be able to commit to the car’s future maintenance, which for a Bentley will never come cheap if you get the right people to do it. But it’ll be worth every penny.

Inspection is encouraged, within Govt. guidelines of course. This particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.