We have a special treat for any vintage car enthusiasts who come to Inish Beg. During your holiday at Inish Beg, you may view our collection of classic cars, which includes:
Purchased June 2001. In restoration 2001 to March 2005. One of the very first Fiat 500's built. Only driven 250 miles since.
Delivered to Jean Gapiard of St. Just sur Loire on 6th April 1939. Acquired by Paul Keane on 12th December 1974 and owned by him since
When acquired, the car was found to have done a very low mileage (probably less than 6,000 miles) as it had been laid up soon after its delivery to the first owner due to the outbreak of WW2. It was purchased by F Cochran in the 1960’s and a service in May 1963 showed a mileage of 5658.
It was laid up from 1964 for ten years in a damp garage resulting in some rot in the front ash pillars which came to light when I acquired it in 1974.
Restoration commenced in 1975 with Martin Bolitho, Paul Grist, and latterly John Foy working on the engine (with some input from Fiennes Engineering and P& A Woods ), the frame being remade by C.G. Jarvis and the interior being restored by John Foy. Delivered to me in August 1990 – 15 years later.
Since then the car has been driven for approximately 1,000miles p.a. except for 2002 when it joined the BDC New Zealand tour and covered more than 5,000 miles there, in 2005 when, together with 67 other Bentleys it was driven from Freemantle in Western Australia to Brisbane in Queensland via the Nullarbor desert, Adelaide and Sydney, a distance of 7,000 miles and in 2010 when, again with 50+ Bentleys, it travelled from Perth to Brisbane via Darwin covering 7,500 miles.
Fortunately, the light weight body makes this a lively and responsive car to drive.
Purchased April 2000. 300 built; 21 survive. A rare deluxe soft top variant of the Messerschmitt microcar.
In total approximately 40,000 Messerschmitts were produced between 1952 and 1964, the vast majority with a clear plastic rigid dome roof. The king of microcars.
