John Cleese clearly has a soft spot for his old Bentley Eight…and is going to elaborate lengths to sell it.
He has agreed to have lunch with whoever buys it and give an handwritten story of some of the car’s most famous passengers, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, his co-stars from the film A Fish Called Wanda.
He is also offering a signed photograph of the classic scene of him ‘thrashing’ the red Austin 1300 in Fawlty Towers.
Cleese, 73, has put his 1987 Bentley, which is currently in storage, up for auction on the website of the Original Memorabilia Company with a starting price of around $4000.
In a description he writes, ‘Twenty-five years on it is a little faded, and needs some TLC to restore its natural beauty including some attention to the battle scars from a quarrel with a gate post the last time I drove it, but it remains a fabulous car to drive and is the most beautiful car I have ever owned.’
The money will come in handy for the four-times married Monty Python veteran.
In his acrimonious 2009 divorce settlement with his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger, Cleese was ordered to pay $18 million in finance and assets, including $800,000 a year until 2016.
It prompted him to embark on his ‘Alimony Tour’ to meet the costs.
His divorce from second wife Barbara Trentham cost him $4 million in 1988.
The terms of his divorce from first wife Connie Booth, who co-wrote and starred with him in Fawlty Towers have never been made public.
Earlier this year he married fourth wife, Jennifer Wade.
On the website, Cleese says that the car, which has just over 73,500 miles on the clock, is in ‘excellent condition mechanically’ and has ‘just sailed through its MOT’.
The limited edition prints are signed by Cleese.
by Lorelle Heath
