custom bodied streamliner

Description for Bentley roadster 1953

1953 STEEL REBODIED BENTLEY ”SULTAN" Former Editor of HOT ROD Magazine Terry Cook of DELAHAYE USA first saw Ronald Benach's 1948 Type 175s Delahaye with Jacques Saoutchik coachbuilt body, restored by Fran Roxas, at Pebble Beach 2000. (See photo of of turquoise Saoutchik Delahaye streamliner). Cook was overwhelmed and hired pro car designer and Art Center grad John Caswell to create a modern day interpretation of a big, fully pontoon fendered car as a tribute to Saoutchik. It was dubbed project SULTAN out of respect for the many cars famed Russian coach builder created in the 1920's and 30's for Kings and Potentates (some of the most beautiful and most expensive cars in the world.) Photoshop renderings show what completed car will look like. Primered steel body photos show what the unfinished looks like now. Starting with his scale drawings, John worked with pro clay modeler Todd Storrs in Detroit to build a 1/4 scale clay model which was then digitized. Working with Steve Wilkonski of Revolution Design in Michigan to create the car digitally, a wood body buck was built at a yacht builder in Thailand. Over several years a steel body was then hammered from that buck by Car Kolor in Saatahip, Thailand. It was shipped to San Bernadino, CA where Little Louie Check hand formed the ornate decorative exterior brass body trim shown. Red plastic taillights (See photo) were cast to fill the four foot long rear fender and decklid brass spears. The car is now in master panelbeater Tommy Caruso's shop in Plainfield, NJ having the larger brass exterior trim, the grille, the windshield frame, trunk and interior sculpting done. Two Caruso-built cars have won the coveted Best of Show Award at the Pebble Beach Concours twice in the past twelve years! The unfinished steel body, which was built in Thailand, is shown here presently in and grey primer and brownish yellow primer where the preliminary bodywork has been done. The color photoshop renderings of SULTAN attached show a variety of possible color schemes with either chrome or gold plated exterior trim. Customer picks the final colors. The car is being built as a rebodied Bentley with title and matching VIN plate for the firewall so it can be registered as a Bentley. We started with a 1953 Bentley chassis, stripped it to bare metal and added a modern independent front suspension and late model Ford 9-inch rear using coil over suspension. Brown's Metal Mods in Port Leyden, NY completed the chassis and mounted the body on the frame. The rebuilt Bentley automatic transmission was installed. Firewall, full floorboards and front and rear wheel tubs were fabricated and installed in the car. Trunk floor is designed with a well to house the spare tire. We wanted something totally unique for this one of a kind car so we had John Caswell design an asymmetrical interior with a single driver's seat, wrap-around couch and fold down table. The trunk compartment would contain three piece custom fitted luggage in the front portion (See foto of white foamcore luggage mockup.) The car has a rare B80 Mark Five Rolls-Royce straight eight new old stock engine still in the crate waiting to be installed. It includes five wheels and wide whitewall tires. The body and roiling frame, including the engine, transmission, smaller brass body trim and three custom made taillights is for sale unfinished, as is, for $153,000, including Bentley title and matching Bentley VIN plate. Trades considered. DELAHAYE USA would like to complete the project for a new owner for aprojected prioce of $150,000 to $200,000. We have been working on this car since the last century! This is an enormous car over 18 feet long. Easily the most spectacular undertaking of all the cars designed and created by delahayeusa.com. Not included with the car or the above pricing, we have the digital design and could build a matching speedboat which could be towed by the car (See photoshop rendering of black boat).