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Bentley Mulsanne vs Car Crusher Doesn't End Well for the Luxury Sedan

While some cars spend decades in junkyards waiting to be saved or to become donor vehicles, others don't get that lucky and end up in the crusher. This 1987 Bentley Mulsanne had a similar fate and it's now a flat pile of metal.
crushed 1987 Bentley Mulsanne 7 photos
Photo: Cowboy Car Crushing/YouTube
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And yes, it's a sad sight. Not only because the first-generation Bentley Mulsanne was a cool car, but also because the British company didn't make many of them. But I guess these guys had a good reason to send the four-door to the crusher. Maybe it simply wasn't worth saving.

In just a few minutes, what once was a luxury rig of the 1980s becomes a flat pancake at the bottom of a mobile car crusher. Two more vehicles get stacked on top to form a pile of scrap metal and plastic that will probably be transported to a recycling facility.

Named after a high-speed section of the 24 Hours of Le Mans course, the Mulsanne was first introduced in 1980 as a replacement for the Bentley T2. The four-door sedan remained in production for a whopping 12 years and featured a 6.75-liter V8 engine.

From 1982 to 1985, Bentley also offered a turbocharged version of the V8. While the naturally aspirated mill delivered 200 horsepower, the Mulsanne Turbo came with 300 horses on tap. Despite the long production run, Bentley sold only 2,019 units, so the first-gen Mulsanne is rather scarce.

But the sedan you see here might not be a Mulsanne. That's because Bentley also offered an entry-level alternative to this nameplate from 1984 to 1992. It was called the Eight and it was about 10% less expensive than the Mulsanne.

Featuring cloth upholstery instead of leather (until 1987), the Eight was mainly distinguished by a front radiator with a wire mesh instead of vertical slats. Since the Bentley crushed here doesn't have a grille, it's impossible to tell if it's an Eight or a Mulsanne.

Anyway, the Eight is just as scarce because Bentley put together only 1,736 examples from 1984 to 1992. Both models were replaced by the largely similar Brooklands in 1992.

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About the author: Ciprian Florea
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Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
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