Gentleman's Express: 1951 Bentley R-type Continental

• 
• 

With its upright radiator grille, winged 'B' mascot and wood and leather interior, you could be forgiven for labelling the Bentley R-Type Continental as 'traditional'. Back in 1951, however, this was a state-of-the-art motor car and a huge leap forward for the British marque. In fact, so radical was the Continental that the management nearly didn't give the go-ahead to production at all. Fortunately, they saw sense and over the next four years some 800 examples of the ravishing Continental were built.

The initial template for a 'Continental' model was born before WW2, the experimental 'Embiricos' and Corniche cars being the first steps towards a car designed and built for high-speed cruising on the new and growing road network of Europe. Postwar, the idea was revived and talented team including Ivan Evernden, John Blatchley and Roy Robotham pooled their resources to design what would become the most exciting and beautiful postwar Bentley ever built.

Lauded in period for its superb speed (almost 120mph at a time when most cars struggled to do half that), excellent aerodynamics and superlative styling, the Continental is now, quite rightly, one of the most collectible cars of all time. In the latest issue of The Automobile magazine you can read about the history behind the car's creation, an appraisal of its visual appeal and an account of what it is like to live with this most radical of 'traditional' motor cars.

Photographs by Nick Clements  

Kommentar abgeben...