MOTOR CARS | 295
4Bentley’s magnificent Continental sports saloon has been
synonymous with effortless high speed cruising in the grand
manner since its introduction on the R-Type chassis in 1952.
Unlike the ordinary, factory-bodied, ‘standard steel’ R-Type, the
Continental was bodied in the traditional manner and first appeared
with what many enthusiasts consider to be the model’s definitive
style of coachwork - the lightweight, wind tunnel-developed
fastback of H J Mulliner.
The Continental’s performance figures would have been considered
excellent for an out-and-out sports car but for a full four/five seater
saloon they were exceptional: a top speed of 120mph, 100mph
achievable in third gear, 50mph reached in a little over 9 seconds
and effortless cruising at the ‘ton’. Built for export only at first, the
Continental was, once delivery charges and local taxes had been
paid, almost certainly the most expensive car in the world as well as
the fastest capable of carrying four adults and their luggage. ‘The
Bentley is a modern magic carpet which annihilates great distances
and delivers the occupants well-nigh as fresh as when they started,’
declared Autocar.
With the arrival of the final generation of six-cylinder cars - the all-
new Silver Cloud and Bentley S-Type - the Continental lost some of
its individuality but none of its exclusivity. Eulogising about the new
S-Series cars, introduced in April 1955, Autocar wrote, ‘the latest
Bentley model offers a degree of safety, comfort and performance
that is beyond the experience and perhaps even the imagination of
the majority of the world’s motorists.’Later, in October that same year, the Bentley Continental became
available on the ‘S’ chassis. ‘It brings Bentley back to the forefront
of the world’s fastest cars,’ Autocar remarked of the H J Mulliner-
styled fastback which, arguably, was the quickest four/five-
seater saloon of its day. The S-Type’s new box-section chassis
incorporated improved brakes and suspension and an enlarged
(to 4,887cc) and more powerful version of the existing inlet-over-
exhaust six-cylinder engine, which for the first time was identical in
specification in its Rolls and Bentley forms.