Bentley owned by Gregory Peck for 34 years goes to auction
Gregory Peck loved his 1961 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur so much that he kept it for 34 years. The very same car is set to be auctioned on 17th January by RM Auctions.
Offered without reserve and with a guide of £137,000 to £182,000 ($225,000 to $300,000), the four-door car was sold by Christie’s on behalf of Gregory Peck (1916 – 2003) in 1996 and fetched £29,329 ($48,300). The purchaser was the grandson of Peck’s friend Dr Armand Hammer, businessman and philanthropist Michael Hammer.
Originally commissioned by a Mr Jean Lambert, the car was reassigned to Mrs Corinne G. Kocens of Houston, Texas after he withdrew his order. Kocens had little opportunity to enjoy the car as she passed away the following year and was sold shortly after to Peck – who allegedly bought the vehicle to celebrate the release of To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Bentley has been recommissioned during Hammer’s ownership and now features British Racing Green paint, a light tan interior and green carpeting. Special features number electrically operated windows, full air conditioning and a Sundym glass windscreen.
123 inches in length, this “piece of Hollywood history” is a spectacular beast. It will undoubtedly be the star of RM Auctions’ Arizona sale.
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Photo credits: © 2014 Courtesy of RM Auctions
Gregory Peck completed filming of the Omen, he would never again commentate on the project until his death in 2003. In June 1975, just two months before the cast was due to go on location to film the project, Peck’s son had killed himself with a bullet to the head. Peck set off for London in September in a sombre mood which was not soothed when his plane was hit by lightening above the Atlantic.
Several people were of the opinion that the devil would not allow such a film to be made, many mysterious events surrounding the original filming of the Omen has plagued cast members ever since.
I will give this auction a miss.
I wish I’d never got rid of my 1960 S2. A wonderful car and a delight for touring from one good dinner to the next in France. Also, one could be divinely pompous, peering down one’s nose at the plebs …
Great for parking too. Pull up outside Claridge’s, drop the keys with the doorman, enter by the front door,exit by the side door and wobble up to my club 75 yards up the road. Have a jolly lunch with my chums, wobble back (steadier by this time) and appear out of the front door. The car would be sitting with 20 feet of the main door, having been given preference over any of the vulgar Rolls or Panzerwagons of the arrivistes. Give the doorman a couple of quid. Oh, for those heady days …
At one hotel in Bordeaux, the porter went rushing down the street when I arrived and I couldn’t understand why. A few minutes later he came back with a Gendarme and some no parking signs, which he erected right outside the front door. On returning, the duty porter would rush out and take the signs away, so I could park securely in plain sight of the door. A great passport.
Fantastic beast – bet you don’t get many miles to the gallon out of that one! But an impressive silhouette nonetheless tbh!