1995 Bentley Continental R Coupé

Footnotes

By the end of the 1970s, Bentleys accounted for a mere 3% of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars' production, clearly a situation that could not be tolerated if the once-famous marque was to avoid extinction. The solution was to seek to re-establish Bentley's credentials as the purveyor of high-performance luxury cars, and in a move calculated to evoke memories of the company's glorious past achievements at Le Mans, the name 'Mulsanne' was chosen for the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit's counterpart. This strategy would succeed brilliantly. Launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1982, the Mulsanne Turbo provoked a rash of headlines in the motoring press hailing the return of the 'Blower Bentley' - the 'Silent Sports Car' was back.

Bentley's 1980s resurgence had hitherto relied exclusively on models whose basic architecture was shared with other Rolls-Royce products, but on display at Geneva in '85 was 'Project 90', a mocked-up coupé intended to gauge public response to the idea of a high-performance car unique to Bentley. When the real thing - the Bentley Continental R - was unveiled six years later, the waiting crowd burst into spontaneous applause. Styled with the assistance of consultants International Automotive Design, the Continental R benefited from computer-aided design and wind tunnel testing in the devising of its sleekly streamlined shape. Despite the need to incorporate non-traditional features such as doors recessed into the roof, the result looked every bit a Bentley, albeit one restated for the 1990s. Also new was the gearbox, a four-speed automatic with an 'overdrive' top ratio, but the main focus of interest was the newcomer's performance. Needless to say, this was outstanding, the combination of the Turbo R engine in the new wind-cheating shape cutting the 0-60mph time to under 6 seconds and boosting top speed to in excess of 150mph.

Resident in the Cheshire area, the (unknown) first owner of this example kept the car until 1997, by which time it had covered some 30,000 miles. The second owner, London-based Tempo Music, kept the Bentley until 1999 (at 44,000 miles) when it passed to Dr Ian Entwistle and his son, based in the Wirral. By the time the Entwistles sold the car to the present owner, an R-REC member, in 2011 the mileage total had risen to 67,000. The current odometer reading is circa 77,000 miles.

There are servicing and maintenance bills for the last three owners. These include Hanwells, London (£4,500); Balmoral and Flying Spur (£8,500); and Harwoods, Taylors, and Castle Works (£21,500). Sold to fund the restoration of a 1935 Rolls-Royce 20/25, this elegant modern Bentley is offered with the aforementioned service history, current MoT and a V5C registration Certificate.