diff --git a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AbstractHttpConnection.java b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AbstractHttpConnection.java
index a032b38b17b..4f736343cd8 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AbstractHttpConnection.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AbstractHttpConnection.java
@@ -180,20 +180,22 @@ public abstract class AbstractHttpConnection extends AbstractConnection implemen
 
             String method=_exchange.getMethod();
             String uri = _exchange.getRequestURI();
-            if (_destination.isProxied() && !HttpMethods.CONNECT.equals(method) && uri.startsWith("/"))
+            if (_destination.isProxied()) 
             {
-                boolean secure = _destination.isSecure();
-                String host = _destination.getAddress().getHost();
-                int port = _destination.getAddress().getPort();
-                StringBuilder absoluteURI = new StringBuilder();
-                absoluteURI.append(secure ? HttpSchemes.HTTPS : HttpSchemes.HTTP);
-                absoluteURI.append("://");
-                absoluteURI.append(host);
-                // Avoid adding default ports
-                if (!(secure && port == 443 || !secure && port == 80))
-                    absoluteURI.append(":").append(port);
-                absoluteURI.append(uri);
-                uri = absoluteURI.toString();
+                if(!HttpMethods.CONNECT.equals(method) && uri.startsWith("/")){
+                    boolean secure = _destination.isSecure();
+                    String host = _destination.getAddress().getHost();
+                    int port = _destination.getAddress().getPort();
+                    StringBuilder absoluteURI = new StringBuilder();
+                    absoluteURI.append(secure ? HttpSchemes.HTTPS : HttpSchemes.HTTP);
+                    absoluteURI.append("://");
+                    absoluteURI.append(host);
+                    // Avoid adding default ports
+                    if (!(secure && port == 443 || !secure && port == 80))
+                        absoluteURI.append(":").append(port);
+                    absoluteURI.append(uri);
+                    uri = absoluteURI.toString();
+                }
                 Authentication auth = _destination.getProxyAuthentication();
                 if (auth != null)
                     auth.setCredentials(_exchange);
diff --git a/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpsProxyAuthenticationTest.java b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpsProxyAuthenticationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4b28b88b673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpsProxyAuthenticationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+// ========================================================================
+// Copyright (c) 2009-2009 Mort Bay Consulting Pty. Ltd.
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+// are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+// and Apache License v2.0 which accompanies this distribution.
+// The Eclipse Public License is available at
+// http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+// The Apache License v2.0 is available at
+// http://www.opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
+// You may elect to redistribute this code under either of these licenses.
+// ========================================================================
+
+package org.eclipse.jetty.client;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.security.Authentication;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.security.BasicAuthentication;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.client.security.Realm;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ConnectHandler;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.nio.SelectChannelConnector;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+/**
+ * This UnitTest class executes two tests. Both will send a http request to https://google.com through a misbehaving proxy server.
+ * <p/>
+ * The first test runs against a proxy which simply closes the connection (as nginx does) for a connect request. The second proxy server always responds with a
+ * 500 error.
+ * <p/>
+ * The expected result for both tests is an exception and the HttpExchange should have status HttpExchange.STATUS_EXCEPTED.
+ */
+public class HttpsProxyAuthenticationTest
+{
+    private Server _proxy = new Server();
+    private HttpClient _client = new HttpClient();
+    private boolean authHandlerSend;
+
+    @Before
+    public void init() throws Exception
+    {
+        // setup proxies with different behaviour
+        _proxy.addConnector(new SelectChannelConnector());
+        _proxy.setHandler(new ConnectHandler()
+        {
+            @Override
+            protected boolean handleAuthentication(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, String address) throws ServletException,
+                    IOException
+            {
+                if(!request.getHeader("Authorization").isEmpty()){
+                    authHandlerSend = true;
+                }
+                return super.handleAuthentication(request,response,address);
+            }
+        });
+        _proxy.start();
+        int proxyPort = _proxy.getConnectors()[0].getLocalPort();
+
+        Authentication authentication = new BasicAuthentication(new Realm()
+        {
+            public String getId()
+            {
+                return "MyRealm";
+            }
+
+            public String getPrincipal()
+            {
+                return "jetty";
+            }
+
+            public String getCredentials()
+            {
+                return "jetty";
+            }
+        });
+
+        _client.setProxy(new Address("localhost",proxyPort));
+        _client.setProxyAuthentication(authentication);
+        _client.start();
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void destroy() throws Exception
+    {
+        _client.stop();
+        _proxy.stop();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void httpsViaProxyThatReturns504ErrorTest() throws Exception
+    {
+        sendRequestThroughProxy(new ContentExchange(),"google",7);
+        assertTrue("Authorization header not set!",authHandlerSend);
+    }
+
+    private void sendRequestThroughProxy(HttpExchange exchange, String desiredBehaviour, int exptectedStatus) throws Exception
+    {
+        String url = "https://" + desiredBehaviour + ".com/";
+        exchange.setURL(url);
+        exchange.addRequestHeader("behaviour",desiredBehaviour);
+        _client.send(exchange);
+        assertEquals(HttpExchange.toState(exptectedStatus) + " status awaited",exptectedStatus,exchange.waitForDone());
+    }
+
+}