Classic & Sports Car UK – September 2019

coachbuilttwo-doorsthattookupto sixmonths

toproduceandcostdoublethepriceofthe

standardSilverShadoworT1.Bodies(sharing

almostnothingwiththeShadow)werebuiltat

HytheRoadin London(ona floorpansupplied

byPressedSteel),senttoCreweforthedrive-

trains,thenreturnedtoLondonforfinishing.

Despitetheeconomicandsocialwoesofthe

’70s,theCornichewasat theheightof itspopu-

larity,butasa convertible,nota fixed-head

coupé.The 1975 announcementoftheCamar-

guehadmadethefixed-roofCorniche,withits

superficialresemblancetotheStandardSteel

SilverShadow,eversoslightlysuperfluousto

buyerswith£33,000tospendwhen,foranother

£7000,theycouldhavea Camargue.

Thissuper-rareCornichetellsthestorynot

onlyofthedeclineinpopularityofthehand-

somefixed-headmodel,butalsothesaddecayof

theBentleynamegenerallyin theconsciousness

ofbuyerssincethemid-’60s.Intheeraofthe

SilverCloudsandS-typestherewasnearparity

ofsalesbetweenthetwomarques,sohowdid

Bentleydeclinetojust6%oftotalCrewesales

duringtheShadow/T1period?Ofmorethan

40,000Shadow-basedcars,just 2585 camewith

the‘FlyingB’between 1965 and1980.Ofthose,

mostwerestandardT1andT2four-doors.

Just 27 CornichecoupéscamewiththeBentley

grillebetween 1971 and’76.

Thiscar,chassisCBH24209,is thelastofthe

sixso-calledMk1Aright-hand-drivecarsbuilt

betweenOctober 1975 andJuly1976.Halfwere

forUKbuyers,therestforTokyo,Dublinand

Australia.It wasfinishedon7 July 1976 fora

recentlyincorporated(butevidentlysuccessful)

firmofmetal-finishersinShropshire,and

ordered,viaBroughtonsofCheltenham,in

SilverMinkwiththethen-popularEverflexroof.

ItshistorybetweenthenandHillier’sfirst

encounterwithit in 2016is unknown,butit had

clearlybeenfairlywelllookedafter.

“Itwasquitea nicecar,”heremembers,“but

withcracksandsinkageinthepaint.The

customer,ChrisChambers,didn’twanttopaint

it at first,buttheproblemwasthatwhileit was

verypresentableinsomeways,anyattemptat

halfmeasureswouldmakeit looklikeJoseph’s

coat.It wasthesamestorywiththeinteriorand

enginebay:doit properly– orleaveit alone.”

134 Classic & Sports Car September 2019

Harvey Bailey handling

kit inspires confidence

in the corners, almost

completely eliminating

understeer without

spoiling the majestic ride

the differently configured exhaust system,
unique to the ’76 cars. Trifling stuff, maybe, but
important if you need to know such things:
there’s a little anorak inside us all, after all. This
is just the icing on the cake for a car I consider to
be one of the best-looking post-war Rolls-Royce
or Bentley models that, while never having the
cachet of its glamorous two-door Continental
predecessors, has an understated chic of its own.
Another clue to the rising appreciation of
these cars is the fact that owners are starting to
spend real money on getting them right.
“The market changed the moment Bentley
brought out the Continental GT,” says Ray Hill-
ier. “When the marque’s exclusivity began to
evaporate, people started looking at the older
cars – suddenly they were interested in looking
after them properly. Models that don’t have the
value in them, maybe, but they just want them
right anyway. We know people who have gone
into a modern Bentley and come back to the
older models. I don’t want to knock the new car,
but it’s a different animal. Even with a standard
Shadow or a Spirit people are spending money
because they like how they drive, although part
of the problem with the older cars is that they
take huge abuse and keep going – people don’t
know there’s anything wrong half the time.”
With the Corniche, buyers are beginning to
realise how rare and special they are. These are

‘There’s a silky isolation,

a spooky freedom from

wind noise around the

doors, and no more than

a hum from the V8’