1989 Rolls-Royce / Bentley Turbo RL

Based on the VIN, the mechanicals and the plaque in the door shut, we can identify this car as a Bentley Turbo RL. But, it was factory-bodied and finished as a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur - the long wheel-base version of the Silver Spirit - at the request of the owner.

Why not just buy a Roller in the first place? Well, the Spur was more softly sprung and didn’t have the turbocharged performance of the Bentley.

Why not just buy the Bentley then? Well, the owner preferred the aesthetics and perhaps also the cachet of a Rolls-Royce exterior.

The car was first registered to Rolls Royce Motors themselves on 16 January 1989 for direct export and re-registered to its first owner - a real estate investor and classic car collector based in Geneva - just two days later.

After five years of regular use, the car was put away in private storage and brought out again in 2016.

Two years later, the owner commissioned New York graffiti artist Alec Monopoly (real name Alec Andon) to create some vibrant artwork across the car; live and in-person at a private event for family and close friends.

Alec Monopoly came to public attention during the banking crisis of 2008 when in protest he started using the top-hatted Mr Monopoly as a metaphor for corporate greed. Since then, many of his works include the iconic character as well as Scrooge McDuck and Richie Rich - typically surrounded with money bags and dollar bills.

Although his work started as graffiti on abandoned buildings and later on canvas, he has also applied his signature creations to numerous luxury cars including Rolls-Royce, Bugatti and McLaren. Ironically, Monopoly is now extremely wealthy and has an extensive prestige car collection of his own, although apparently none have been “tagged” by him!

After over 30 years in single family ownership, this one-off art car is offered for sale.

The exterior is pretty much all Rolls-Royce. It is finished in Acrylic White paint across the bodywork and has a cream coloured Everflex (vinyl) up the A pillars, across the roof and down the C pillars.

This vinyl roof, along with the external badging and of course the iconic radiator and Spirit of Ecstasy mascot are pure Silver Spur adornments not typically seen cloaking a Turbo R.

The car sits on 15-inch Turbo R Ronal alloy wheels, which are in good order and all but the left rear have RR centre caps. They are fitted with recent Avon Turbospeed tyres showing good tread depth.

Now for the graffiti. Alec started the decoration by spraying a stylised version of his name in red on the boot lid, the left rear door and the right rear wing. With a brush, he also added a monochrome Mr Monopoly head on the bonnet.

On the driver’s door he painted the top half of the same character in full colour carrying two money bags amid several brightly coloured dollar bills fluttering across the side of the car. On the right hand side, the head and shoulders of Scrooge McDuck are represented, waving his stick through a similar flurry of bank notes.

The inside of the car is upholstered in a soft Magnolia leather with beautifully veneered and polished wood panelling on the doors and across the fascia and centre console. The handles and other fittings are all finished in chrome.

The instrument panel is also handsomely appointed, again with wood veneers surrounding Jaeger dials, the air conditioning controls and a period-correct Blaupunkt Bamberg cassette radio.

In the back, the luxurious appointment continues - the compartment in the back of the driver’s seat contains glass tumblers and decanters for a little refreshment on the move.

The floor throughout is covered with leather-edged beige carpeting but all four footwells also have lambswool rugs so deep and thickly piled that you’ll forget what shoes you’re wearing.

The rear boot is nicely lined with the same underlying beige carpet as the interior, edged in the same magnolia hide and only lightly marked in places. Inside the boot is an original RR/Bentley tool box, which looks complete, along with an unused pair of cotton workshop gloves.

Underneath the bonnet - which still carries its thickly quilted insulative lining - the engine bay looks very clean and well cared for. Indeed during its early life - when the car did most of its 77,000 km - it was regularly serviced, as it has been since coming back out of long term storage.

Just under a year ago it was given a thorough going over by the Bentley Service Centre in Gstaad and runs and drives exactly as it should.

The undersides of the car are also remarkably clean, with a good coating of underseal across the chassis structures and floor pans. There are also paint marks on some of the fixings underneath - a further sign of recent good maintenance usually done to confirm that they have been torqued up correctly.

The car comes with its original blue card registration document and full owner’s book pack including the service record which shows the following entries:

Nov 1989 - 11,388 km - Autodiffusion, Meyrin-Geneve

Sep 1990 - 27,240 - a/a

Aug 1991 - 40,337 - a/a

Jun 1992 - 48,952 - a/a

Unknown - 59,255 - a/a

Mar 2016 - 76,765 - Garage Auto-Rallye, Le Grand Saconnex, Geneva

An additional service is also shown on an invoice:

Sep 2022 - 76,802 - BI Collection BE AG, Gstaad (Bentley Service Centre)

The work included changing the fluids, a new battery, new belts, replacement alternator and A/C compressor.

Is it just a car? Is it collectible art? Is it both? No doubt such questions were pondered on when this Bentley was consigned, but the fact that we have it on this platform means that the Bonhams Contemporary Art department bowed to the Collector Cars team.

Judged purely as a car, this is an excellent but unusual example of a mid-production Bentley Turbo RL that visually identifies as a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur. An ideal purchase for either Rolls-Royce or Bentley enthusiasts looking to put a one-off late-eighties classic into their garage.

As a piece of pop art, it is an iconographic reflection of greed and wealth in modern society, featuring the Monopoly Man and Scrooge McDuck surrounded by dollar bills. Alec Monopoly art has wide appeal and is very collectable, with celebrity patrons including actors Seth Rogen and Adrien Brody, and musicians Miley Cyrus and Snoop Dogg.

So does this dual appeal widen the market to collectors who fall into either camp? Or does it narrow it to those who are in both? We’ll all just have to wait and see. One thing is more certain - you won’t find another like it.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Geneva, Switzerland. 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’.