VIDEO: Bentley Mulsanne #1 auctioned at Pebble Beach for $500,000

After marking its highly anticipated debut at Pebble Beach, it was straight off to the auction block for the all-new Bentley Mulsanne, where Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen and Richard Charlesworth, head of the Bentley Heritage Collection, joined auctioneers Gooding & Company in selling off chassis #1 to the highest bidder.

The Mulsanne is touted as the first Bentley designed and produced entirely at the company's Crewe headquarters in England since the legendary 1920's-era 8-liter Bentley, and to mark the occasion, Gooding wheeled W.O. Bentley's own personal ride, the second 8-liter chassis ever made, onto the stage before bidding began. Gooding opened the bids for Mulsanne #1 at $500,000, but after receiving no bids at that price, bidding quickly stepped down to $300k, only to climb back up to the half-million mark where it sold to an undisclosed collector over the phone.

Proceeds from the auction are earmarked towards the Phil Hill Foundation, the official charitable organization of the Concours, and you can watch the bidding (and hear oh-so-British auctioneering) unfold in the video after the jump.

[Source: YouTube]

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