Millionaire has to sell his Bentley collection to pay for his divorce
A multi-millionaire is reluctantly selling his collection of ‘some of the finest Bentley cars in existence’ because of his divorce.
Robin Cannon, 67, has seven Bentleys and one 1959 Chevrolet Corvette. He split with his ex-wife in September 2019 and has since decided it is ‘sensible’ to auction off his beloved set, which is expected to bring in over £1.5 million.
Mr Cannon has had his cars moved into storage because the previous couple’s £5 million Jacobean country mansion, Newton House in Newton Surmaville, Somerset, has already been sold.
When he lived there with his wife he had a custom-designed, museum-quality and climate-controlled garage built to house the collection and four other cars.
Although he had wanted to drive the classic cars, a foot injury, linked to his diabetes, left him unable to operate manual vehicles.
Mr Cannon, who owns a chain of care homes, said: ‘I am a very keen aficionado of Bentley and I appreciate the history of the car and the development of them both synthetically and mechanically.
‘I didn’t realise at the time that my damn foot would take so long to heal.’
The Bentleys span 80 years of the British marque and they include an ‘outstanding’ 1929 WO Bentley 4.5-litre that was given to Bentley financier Geoffrey Joel before it was exported to India in the 1930s.
After being lost and rediscovered in Afghanistan in the 1970s it was driven back to England on a four-week, 5,700-mile journey. It is valued at £700,000.
The group of cars also include a 1951 Bentley Continental S1 Fastback valued at £400,000, a 1961 Bentley S2 Continental worth £300,000 and a 2014 Bentley Continental convertible worth £75,000.
Although Mr Cannon said he is ‘under pressure’ to sell the cars as part of his divorce, he underlined that it was not a ‘distress sale’.
The collection, which Mr Cannon has had for five years, goes up for auction with Duke’s Auctioneers of Dorchester, in Dorset, on March 11.
He said: ‘No collector likes parting with his or her collection and it does sadden me to see them go.
‘I am assured that there has been quite a lot of interest in them already and I hope they all end up going to good homes.’
One of Duke’s auctioneers, Guy Schwinge, said: ‘This is a magnificent collection of some of the finest Bentley motor cars in existence. The auction is an opportunity for serious collectors to buy the best.
‘Mr Cannon, a passionate collector with an eye for the very ear, has reluctantly decided to sell his beloved collection.
‘The WO Bentley is quite simply an outstanding piece of British motoring history. Only 665 of tase cars were made and this one has a spectacular history which is very attractive to the most exacting collectors.’
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