2000 Bentley AZURE AUTO

In the care of the vendor for the past four years, this wonderful black-on-black-on-black Bentley Azure was first registered on the 27th of September 2000 and yet still shows just 41,500 miles and three previous owners.

Beautifully detailed inside with nickel and aluminium trim, it features many optional extras including a Bentley Continental T-style console with a chrome starter button and aluminium gearshift, perforated black leather seats, drilled alloy accelerator and brake pedals plus mesh inserts on the front bumper and wings and a large oval exhaust.

Offered in an exceptional condition, it has always been kept garaged and only driven on high days and holidays. Very well looked after and impeccably maintained, its recent MOT set the owner back almost £900 thanks to his insistence that the car receives everything it needs, regardless of the cost.

Barely used in the last two years, it has been professionally stored in a climate-controlled environment for many years. Now offered for sale as part of the rationalisation of his classic car collection, this is your chance to get your hands on one of the world’s most luxurious convertible cars for a fraction of its almost £1/4 million showroom price …

Black is a very difficult colour; while it might look sensational it does have a tendency to show up every little scratch, flaw and blemish and this makes the Azure’s presentation all the more impressive because it really is incredibly clean.

Professionally valeted and detailed, it gleams in an almost unholy way; black is not a popular colour for modern Bentleys, a state of affairs we are at a loss to explain having seen this one, especially when finished with this example’s plethora of chrome mesh grilles.

The panel gaps are good too, and there is a distinct absence of the sort of dents, dinks and other car-park damage that even the most carefully curated cars inevitably collect and while this can be partly chalked up to the car’s climate-controlled storage, the vendor’s insistence on employing a chauffeur for social events ensured a constant presence protecting it while it was parked up…

The five-spoke, 18-inch alloy wheels are in great shape too, and they’re shod - of course – with matching Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres that have covered less than 2,000 miles since being fitted

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you an insight into their attitude towards maintenance.

The black folding hood is taut and free of damage. It rises and falls as it should, and gives the Azure almost saloon-like levels of weather protection and insulation against both the weather and wind noise.

The chromework, mesh grilles, light lenses, glass, and other exterior trim is all manufactured to a gloriously high standard and still looks utterly sublime.

Faults? None; while there might be the very odd stonechip we can’t see anything that would bother us in the slightest bar a very small section of missing stitching around the rear window – and even this could be professionally repaired very easily.

Update 01/10/20: The vendor has just discovered a slight alignment issue with one of the hood latches, most likely through lack of use, which he has warranted to have rectified prior to collection by  the new owner.

If you’re impressed by the car’s coachwork then the interior is going to blow your mind; a symphony of black leather and wood offset by chrome and alloy trim, it is as impressively preserved as it is imposing.

The heated and electrically adjustable black leather seats are wonderfully conserved, surely being just as plump and supportive as they were when the car was new? The leather finish is only very lightly creased too, and the overall effect is of a car with only a few years under its belt rather than 20 – but then it’s spent well over a decade of that in storage, so perhaps its condition shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise…

We are especially taken with the array of dials and gauges. Distinctly old school in appearance and layout, they sum up the wonderful way the car’s designers blended the old and the new.

The lambs-wool over-mats are also worth mentioning for the sheer depth of their pile. Practically pillowy soft, no other feature better sums up the money-no-expense approach taken by the firm when they specified the interior appointments.

The rest of the interior looks just as good and we have been assured that it all works as it should but then you’d guessed that already, hadn’t you?

Oh, and the Motorola International 2700 carphone is a lovely period touch. We don’t know if it works but then that’s hardly the point, is it?

The servicing regimen is as impressive as the rest of the car:

• 27.06.2000 and 414 miles – Customer assurance check by Broughtons of Birmingham

• 05.06.2001 and 2,889 miles – service by Broughtons of Birmingham

• 25.10.2001 and 9,961 miles – service by Broughtons of Birmingham

• 21.03.2002 and 16,643 miles – service by Broughtons of Birmingham

• 24.07.2002 and 22,765 miles – service by Broughtons of Birmingham

• 04.02.2003 and 24,022 miles – service by Bentley of Birmingham

• 13.04.2004 and 28,171 miles – service by Bentley of Birmingham

• 14.04.2005 and 32,575 miles – service by Broughtons of Cheltenham

The vendor believes the car was in climate-controlled storage between 2005 and 2015 and so was barely used. The mileage as recorded on the car’s online MOT history seems to support this.

• 11.03.2015 and 35,408 miles – service by Shadow Vehicle Services

The vendor bought the car in July 2016 and the car has been serviced by an ex-Bentley mechanic since that time. Sadly, there is little paperwork to support this but he tells us that he has spent an estimated £4,500 on servicing and maintenance in the past four years, with every little niggle being sorted out as it arose.

The latest work was for the last MOT. This involved fitting a new gaiter on the steering rack, along with a new battery, the pair of which cost him almost £900…

As such, he tells us that the Azure is running and driving beautifully. As you might have guessed, the Azure’s MOT certificate, which is valid until July 2021, was gained without a single advisory point.

The photo gallery shows that the engine bay and underside are in exactly the sort of condition you’d expect. While we know that this sort of summary is a bit boring to read, it is exactly the sort of thing you want to see when you’re considering buying a car of this value.

The Bentley has a number of expired MOT certificates and tax discs (remember them?) plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years.

It also still has its original owner’s handbook, book pack, and storage wallet plus the stamped service history and two sets of keys.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

Please note the “B3 AST”ly cherished registration is available by separate negotiation.

Any Bentley Azure is a very special motorcar but this black-on-black-on-black example is without question the nicest and most impressive we have ever seen.

Immaculately presented and well maintained, its imposing presence invokes, we are told, only the friendliest of interactions; whereas he was worried that a convertible Bentley might invoke jealous and hostile reactions, the vendor’s experience is that motorists and passers-by have only good things to say about it.

This might sound counter-intuitive but it is an occurrence that is supported by our experience: any car with a showroom price of £230,000 might be expected to arose strong passions but the Azure’s very Britishness seems to mitigate hostility – and that nigh-on £1/4 million price tag puts our estimate of somewhere between £56,000 and £63,000 into perspective, doesn’t it?

So, if you fancy a gloriously over-the-top hand-built British convertible capable of topping 150mph and showing a clean pair of heels to most hot-hatchbacks, then we’ve got just the car for you. Fully fettled, this is a fine example of one of the firm’s final hurrahs before EU testing cycles and the sound of VW’s accountants sharpening their pencils drove the company into mediocrity…

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor near Fleet in Hampshire; 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’.

This vehicle is not with us at The Market’s HQ, which means we have had to rely on the owner’s description of it, in conjunction with the photographs you see here, to compile the listing.

With this in mind, we would encourage potential bidders to contact the owner themselves and arrange to view the car in person, or to arrange a dedicated video call in which they can view the car virtually and ask questions.