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10 n e w h a v e n B I Z | N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T R E N D I N G A Rare Marque of Distinction MY SWEET RIDE By Michael C. Bingham C hris Nicotra estimates there are only a dozen Mark VI Bentleys still in existence from 1946. at was the first year the Bentley factory in Crewe, England resumed man- ufacturing automobiles for the civilian market following six years focused solely on the manufacture of aircra engines during World War II. One of that dozen — a Mark VI four-door standard steel sports saloon — now belongs to him. Nicotra, 46, principal of Apollo Investment & Real Estate Holdings and co-principal (with his father Dennis) of property-management company Olympia Properties, both in New Haven, discovered the rare jewel just this summer. e discovery was fortuitous, in a way, as 2019 marks the cen- tennial of Bentley Motors Ltd., founded in 1919 by W.O. Bentley in Cricklewood, North London. In 1931, with the world economy plunged into depression, Bentley was acquired by Rolls-Royce. Be- tween the two of them, they have represented the most prestigious motor-car marque on the planet ever since. Nicotra's Mark VI was originally ordered by and delivered direct from the Crewe factory to British department-store magnate John Musker, whose Home & Colonial Stores Ltd. was one of the UK's largest retail chains. Aer Musk- er passed away, the vehicle was acquired in the mid-1970s by a retired World War II general (cor- porals and sergeants mostly don't drive Bentleys) who brought it to the United States. at gentleman passed away in 1999, and the Bentley had been sitting in a Maryland garage ever since. Nicotra bought it this sum- mer from the gentleman's 89-year- old widow — sight unseen. Nicotra had the vehicle shipped from Maryland to Black Horse Garage in Bridgeport, which went through the car "from A to Z," Nicotra explains. Aer all, the Bentley hadn't even been started since the Clinton administration. "I had to have it," Nicotra explains, simply. "Number one, I love cars that are all original. Everything about this vehicle was all original — from the paint, to the engine, to the drive train, to the interior. It was like a piece of history preserved." All that, and it had just 66,000 miles on the odometer — less than 10,000 miles per decade since it le the factory. He paid about $75,000 for the vehicle, becoming only the third owner of a piece of history pre- served, and a work of automotive artistry. But unlike most works of art, it moves. e right-hand-drive beauty is powered by a 4.25-liter F-head straight-6 engine with a 4-speed gearbox that shis on the floor. e first time Nicotra finally got behind the wheel, "I could not wipe the smile off my face," he recalls. "I literally felt like I was stepping back in time. And the car just turns heads — it is just such an incredible piece of history." Nicotra's Mark VI was just the 91st car to leave the Crewe factory aer postwar production resumed — and since production was cur- tailed way back in 1939 on the eve of the German invasion of Poland that ignited World War II. While some might be tempt- ed to seal such a rare jewel in a hermetically sealed chamber, Nicotra actually drives his Mark VI — to the store, to his son's school, wherever. "Cars are meant to be driven," he says simply. He also allows that, "When I pull up to school — or anywhere, for that matter — jaws drop. "I'm not going to put 10,000 miles on it," he says. "But it's a car — it wants to be driven. And it pleases so many people, and turns so many heads. So it's worth it." During World War II the Bentley factory in Crewe man- ufactured Rolls Royce Merlin engines for Spitfire fighters and other British warplanes to defeat the German Luwaffe. It is a historical irony that since 1998 Bentley Motors Ltd. has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group of Wolfsburg, Germany. Weird how life works sometimes. n Chris Nicotra's Mark VI Bentley left the Crewe factory in December 1946 — just months after civilian motor- car production resumed following the interruption that was World War II.

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