King Farouk’s bread and butter car

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Dictators, despots, autocrats and totalitarians have a taste for expensive cars. Nothing new to that. And the late King Farouk of Egypt was certainly no exception. He owned a plethora of exclusive four-wheelers. Among them a Mercedes 540K that he’d received as a wedding gift from Adolf Hitler; a Figoni et Falaschi (edit: Saoutchik. Edit2: not Saoutchik but another car thean the one pictured here! see comments) bodied 1947 Bentley Mk6 that he supposedly continued to drive on the island of Capri where he was exiled to in 1952; a Ghia bodied 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter that ended up in the US after only a year and even the futuristic Dan LaLee Streamliner Special.

But there were more. Many more (just one line up here). Some more mundane ones, too. And Coys now offers another one of those. It’s an Austin A90 convertible which was first delivered in April of 1950, finished in Seafoam Green with Maize trim, and supplied with an optional radio, which is still fitted today. Unlike most of the other cars, Farouk is said to have taken the A90 on his later exile to Switzerland, where it later fell into the hands of an A90 enthusiast.

Coys: “In the late 1990s the Atlantic was repatriated into the UK and the long term of ownership of a Mr. David Wilkins, who commissioned a comprehensive restoration over the coming years. After completion the car was then shown on the club stand at the 2014 NEC Classic Car Show. A well known car in Atlantic circles, this nicely restored example, finished in Ice Blue metallic with a Royal Blue leather interior, is supplied with a file of invoices, correspondence, copies of previous title documents, a newly issued MoT certificate, original parts and service manuals and even its original Egyptian registration plate. An interesting choice for the collector, with a fascinating history.” Worth the 32- to 42,000 GBP estimate?

(Words editor, pictures Coys of Kensington)

  

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