Friday 27th November 2009

Bentley Catches The Charity Bus

Classic Routemaster gets Bentley makeover; Crewe design team auction artwork

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The staff at Bentley Motors in Crewe have handed over a former London Routemaster bus to the St Luke's Hospice, after lovingly restoring it in true bespoke Bentley style.

The Routemaster took 2000 hours to complete, and 59 staffmembers volunteered their time. As the pictures show, many original features have been saved (including the used ticket box which has become a collection box) while the bus has been adapted to meet the needs of St Luke's.

This has meant using the leather for which Bentley cars are synonymous throughout, all hand stitched with the St Luke’s and Bentley logos. Other skilled craftsmen from Bentley’s woodshop, toolroom and maintenance departments developed bespoke work surfaces, rails, kitchen unit and shelves to help St Luke’s staff in their public awareness and fundraising activities.

Bentley production manager in charge of the project, Gary Lazenby, said: "This has been a real labour of love for all those involved. Bentley staff are incredibly proud of the cars we produce but applying those skills to a bus was a totally new experience for all. We are very grateful to the many local suppliers who provided materials free of charge to help make this iconic vehicle fit for a new lease of life."

The bus, named Luke, will be used as a travelling shop for colleges and universities as well as an education and awareness base to visit schools and other events. There will also be an on-board charity shop to help the hospice raise funds while on the road.

Meanwhile, the Bentley design team have also been turning the hands to charity work, creating some stunning Bentley-themed works of art that will be auctioned at Bonhams in London on Tuesday next week. (Dec 1st)

We've posted some examples below to give you a flavour of the fabulous works up for grabs (along with some more piccies of the bus), but if you want to find out more, you can see all the images and artworks at the Bentley Passion website here.

 

[Nickellarse]

Wow!

Good to see Bentley doing lots of work for charity mate!

That is one seriousley nice bus.

[Belfast Boy]

Excellent stuff, good luck!!!

[Greenpis]

Saw this when I visited the factory, lovely workover for an old workhorse and a worthy cause.

[tombstone]

Fantastic! Well done to everyone involved!




..mind you though, where's the big BHP bio powered engine...must of been tempted surely?? )

[drewcole81]

Now that would be the kind of public transport that I'd use!

[jep]

This is wonderful - a fantastic gift for a very, very wonderful group of people.

We laid my Gran to rest on Monday, after she spent the last 7 weeks in St Luke's, Winsford, and they were the kindest, most helpful souls I have met.

Good stuff Bentley, you've brought a smile to my face, and a tear to my eye.

[LukeBird]

Cracking work Bentley!

[leon9191]

tombstone said:

Fantastic! Well done to everyone involved!


..mind you though, where's the big BHP bio powered engine...must of been tempted surely?? )

Im thinking its probably got a big old gardener (or alike) diesel motor that would run on chip fat so that’s kind of bio fuel!

Brilliant work though, nice thing to see.

[nadirv8]

pimp by bus!

[Art_Vandelay]

Love how they haven't completely gutted it whilst "Bentley-fying" the bus. When I first saw this news item I thought it would be all wooden staircases and great big leather seats. A lot of hard work no doubt but a very worthy cause

Now, if only Bentley would turn their magic towards the local public transport, I fancy a Bentley style Metro

[Escort Si-130]

I have seen better interior resto's than this on Routemasters. About the only thing I guess good about this one is it has Bentley leather as PH mentions. hey could have throw in some chrome front wheel nut rings. Bentley could have put in a 260bhp Cummins ISCe engine in, or fettled with the original AEC engine. Plus since the seats have been removed it could be even more lighter so would shift if they fitted a Cummins engine or even a Bentley one, lol.
Its all good anyway as its done for charity.

[ph123]

... and the artwork up for auction (is it Tuesday 1st Dec at Bonhams?) is just AWESOME. On show this weekend at that London Mayfair Bentley showroom. Hope bidders ensure they get top dollar for their fanatic efforts for the cancer care and research center at The Christie Hospital, Manchester ... dig deep people ... come on !!

[the Fantom]

I always wondered where they got the inspiration for Bentley cars' wheels. Now I know.

[TVRWannabee]

What great work! Well done, Bentley.

My only reservation is: it's going near school kids? Marker pens? Not a good idea.

[soad]

Top work there, looks bloody awesome!

[davidspooner]

jep said:

This is wonderful - a fantastic gift for a very, very wonderful group of people.

We laid my Gran to rest on Monday, after she spent the last 7 weeks in St Luke's, Winsford, and they were the kindest, most helpful souls I have met.

Good stuff Bentley, you've brought a smile to my face, and a tear to my eye.

Really touching, well done Bentley. Wonderful to see such a heart warming post on PH.

[The Leaper]

Please can I hire it to take to Le Mans 2010?

R

[Balmoral Green]

ph123 said:

... and the artwork up for auction is just AWESOME.

I got the catalogue through recently, it came with the quarterly Bentley magazine. Would like to see them for real though.

[ph123]

on

http://www.bentleymotors.com/world_of_bentley/char...

[anonymous-user]

Am I the only sane person here!?

What exactly is a hospital going to do with a tacky Bus?