Notes, citations and references follow:
Note:
Drawing in the style of Cecily Jenner.
Above: un-numbered, unsigned, undated drawing
Above: Rolls-Royce drawing RBS. 1287.; signed ‘Aln’ (Bill Allen); dated 27/2/51
Above: Rolls-Royce drawing RBS.1054.; signed CKJenner; dated 17/(indistinct)/50
Above: Rolls-Royce drawing RBS.1072.; signed CKJenner; dated 27/(indistinct)/5(indistinct)
Above: Although RBS 1072 shows a model already in production, the development of the MkVIII program included comparison drawings between it and the MkVI. I would suggest RBS 1072 was prepared in the same scale as RBS 1054 for this purpose.
ABOVE: HJ Mulliner drawing 7277; signed Herbert Nye; dated (indistinct/indistinct/54)
When I make the comparison of frontal views from the Rolls-Royce drawings I can locate, I note the similarity in style of the un-numbered drawing with RBS 1054 and RBS 1072. The shading under the vehicle appears to be similar across the three, as is the use of single-point perspective in the rendering. I also note the presence of the caption ‘PERSPECTIVE IMPRESSION’ across the three.
The frontal view of RBS 1287 does not feature shading under the vehicle, is not rendered with single-point perspective and does not feature a specific caption.
I also note the main titling for the un-numbered drawing; ‘BENTLEY CORNICHE II’ and the main titling for RBS 1072; BENTLEY MARK VI 4 1/4 LITRE.’ are in a similar hand-rendered italicised serif font.
I cannot locate any HJ Mulliner frontal view drawings, but I note the general differences between
the presentation of Rolls-Royce drawings and the presentation of HJ Mulliner drawings.
I have formulated my suggestion that Cecily Jenner may be the person who drew the un-numbered set of drawings shown at top from these comparisons.
Citations:
(1) McLellan, John; Bodies Beautiful. A History of Car Styling and Craftsmanship; pub. David & Charles; Newton Abbot, England; 1975; p 109.
(2) Evernden, Ivan; as quoted by Dennis May; ‘Genesis: R-Type Continental’; Automobile Quarterly; Volume VI, Number 4; pub. Automobile Quarterly Inc.; New York, USA, Spring 1964; p 375.
(3) Bennett, Martin; Bentley Continental, Corniche and Azure 1951-2002 Revised Edition; pub. Veloce Publishing Ltd; Dorchester, England; 2009; p14.
(4) Bobbitt, Malcolm; Rolls-Royce & Bentley. Sixty Years at Crewe.; pub. Sutton Publishing; Gloucestershire, UK, 1998; p 76.
(5) Bobbitt, Malcolm; Rolls-Royce & Bentley. Sixty Years at Crewe.; pub. Sutton Publishing; Gloucestershire, UK, 1998.; p 77.
(6) Bennett, Martin; Bentley Continental, Corniche and Azure 1951-2002 Revised Edition; pub. Veloce Publishing Ltd; Dorchester, England; 2009; p 27.
(7) Author uncredited; ‘The Continental’; The Rolls-Royce Bulletin; January 1954; as reproduced by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/The_Continental.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
(8) Author uncredited; ‘The Continental’; The Rolls-Royce Bulletin; January 1954; as reproduced by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/The_Continental.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
(9) Chapman, Giles; ‘The Image Architect’; Classic & Sports Car; pub. Haymarket Magazines, Middlesex, UK; December 1996; p 112.
(10) May, Dennis; ‘Genesis: R-Type Continental’; Automobile Quarterly; Volume VI, Number 4; pub. Automobile Quarterly Inc.; New York, USA, Spring 1964; p 377.
(11) Chapman, Giles; ‘The Image Architect’; Classic & Sports Car; pub. Haymarket Magazines, Middlesex, UK; December 1996; p 112.
(12) Feast, Richard; The DNA of Bentley. Rich Heritage. Challenging Future; pub. Motorbooks International; Minnesota, USA; 2004; pp 105, 108.
References, authors credited:
Alfieri, Bruno (Ed.); Pininfarina Catalogue Raisonné 1930-1990; pub. Automobilia; Milan, Italy; 1990.
Bayley, Stephen; Cars: Freedom, Style, Sex, Power, Motion, Colour, Everything; pub. Conran Octopus Ltd.; 2008.
Bennett, Martin; Bentley Continental, Corniche and Azure 1951-2002 Revised Edition; pub. Veloce Publishing Ltd; Dorchester, England; 2009.
Bennett, Martin; Rolls-Royce, the History of the Car; Oxford Illustrated Press; Oxford, UK, 1974.
Bird, Anthony & Hallows, Ian; The Rolls-Royce Motor-Car and the Bentley Since 1931; pub. B.T. Batsford Ltd.; Fifth Edition 1984.
Bobbitt, Malcolm; Rolls-Royce & Bentley. Sixty Years at Crewe.; pub. Sutton Publishing; Gloucestershire, UK, 1998.
Bobbitt, Malcolm; Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Bentley T-Series. Camargue & Corniche. Revised & Enlarged Third Edition; pub. Veloce Publishing; Dorset, England; 2004.
Bourne, Martin; ‘John Blatchley 1913 – 2008′; Roll-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/History/People/John_Blatchley.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Brooks, John; ‘Built for Image: Embiricos Bentley’; Drivingline.com; 12 Aug 2013; http://www.drivingline.com/2013/08/embiricos-bentley-history/; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Buckley, Martin; ‘Bentley R-type Continental – Beauty and Brawn in Perfect Harmony’; Classic & Sports Car; Haymarket Consumer Media; January 2008; published online 24 Feb 2014; http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/csc-features/bentley-r-type-continental-%E2%80%93-beauty-and-brawn-in-perfect-harmony; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Chapman, Giles; ‘John Blatchley: Shaper of the Modern Rolls-Royce’; The Independent; 4 Apr 2008; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-blatchley-shaper-of-the-modern-rollsroyce-804558.html; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Chapman, Giles; ‘The Image Architect’; Classic & Sports Car; pub. Haymarket Magazines, Middlesex, UK; December 1996.
Craig, John H., ‘The Design & Development of the Silver Cloud/S Series’; The Flying Lady, the magazine of the Rolls-Royce Owners Club; sep/Oct 2005; as reproduced by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/The_Silver_Cloud_Series/Origins_and_Designs.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Dalton, Lawrence; Rolls-Royce. The Elegance Continues; pub. Dalton Watson Ltd; London, UK; Revised Edition 1973.
Elmgren, Gunnar; ‘Bentley R Continental’; Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Enthusiasts in Sweden; article published online 2012; http://www.rrec.se/artiklar/historia/bentleycont/continental.htm; last accessed online via Google Translation 28 Feb 2015.
Evernden, Ivan; ‘Royce The Designer’ as reproduced by Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/History/People/Frederick_Henry_Royce/Royce_The_Designer_by_I_Evernden.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Feast, Richard; The DNA of Bentley. Rich Heritage. Challenging Future; pub. Motorbooks International; Minnesota, USA; 2004.
Georgano, G. N.; The Classic Rolls-Royce; pub. Bison Books; 1983; Greenwich, USA.
Harvey-Bailey, Alec;’”EP” – Eric Platford: The Chief Tester’ The Rolls-Royce Bulletin No. 173, March 1989; as reproduced by Roll-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/History/People/Eric_Platford_The_Chief_Tester.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Holt, Richard; ‘Lot Watch: Pininfarina Rolls-Royce’; The Telegraph; 30 Aug 2014; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/motoring/43613/lot-watch-pininfarina-rolls-royce.html; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Lamm, Michael; ‘Playing All the Angles: The Fastback Body in America.’; Collectible Automobile; pub. Publications International Ltd.; Lincolnwood, USA; February 2005.
May, Dennis; ‘Genesis: R-Type Continental’; Automobile Quarterly; Volume VI, Number 4; pub. Automobile Quarterly Inc.; New York, USA, Spring 1964.
McLellan, John; Bodies Beautiful. A History of Car Styling and Craftsmanship; pub. David & Charles; Newton Abbot, England; 1975.
Owen, Richard; ‘1937 Talbot Lago T150C SS’; Supercars.net; http://www.supercars.net/cars/1787.html; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Prunet, Antoine; Pininfarina. Art and Industry 1930-2000; pub. Haynes Publishing; Sparkford, England; 2000.
Ramsey, Jonathon; ‘Bentley 4¼-liter Embiricos special comes home’; Autoblog.com; 20 Aug 2012; http://www.autoblog.com/2012/08/20/bentley-4-litre-embiricos-special-comes-home/; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Roßfeldt, K. J.; ‘Bentley R and Bentley Continental (1952 – 1955)’; Rolls-Royce and Bentley Photos, Reports and Books from the Archives of K.-J. Roßfeldt; last updated 1 Feb 2015; http://www.rrab.com/br.htm; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Roßfeldt, K. J.; ‘Car of the Month – September 2008. Bentley R Continental, 1954, #BC46D. H.J. Mulliner Fastback Saloon’; Rolls-Royce and Bentley Photos, Reports and Books from the Archives of K.-J. Roßfeldt; http://www.rrab.com/sep08.htm; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Steel, Rodney; Bentley. The Cars From Crewe.; Dalton Watson; London, UK, 1988.
Walker, Nick; A-Z of British Coachbuilders 1919-1960 Revised Edition; pub. Herridge & Sons Ltd.; Devon, UK; 2007.
References, authors uncredited:
Author uncredited; ‘Bentley, from 1946 to 1955’; http://carcatalog3.free.fr/hist16a.htm; last accessed online via Google Translate 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘Bentley (GB) 1919-; Auto Encyklopedia 1945-1969; http://www.oldtimer.400.pl/bentley.html; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘Bentley Repeats History‘; Past and Present Column; Classic and Sports Car; pub. Haymarket Magazines, Middlesex, UK; April 1996.
Author uncredited; ‘Carrosserie Vanvooren’; Wikipedia; last updated 12 Oct 2014; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrosserie_Vanvooren; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘George Moseley’; Obituary, The Times; 13 December 2002.
Author uncredited; ‘The Continental’; The Rolls-Royce Bulletin; January 1954; as reproduced by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club; http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/The_Continental.php; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘The Salon Privé Sale 2014. Lot No.: 130. 1951 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Coupe by Pininfarina’; Silverstone Auctions, Warwickshire, UK; https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/rolls-royce-continental-coupe; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘The Scottsdale Auction 16 January 2014. Lot 185. 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental ‘Fastback Sports Saloon Coachwork by Franay’; Bonhams, USA; http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21392/lot/185/; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘Those Unseen’; The International Club for Rolls Royce and Bentley Owners — Desk Diary 2008; http://www.virtualonlinepubs.com/article/Those_Unseen/28420/3254/article.html; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘1928 Rolls-Royce 20hp/Derby Bentley Project’; The Real Car Co. Ltd, Gwynedd, UK; http://www.realcar.co.uk/20hp_gkm20.htm; last accessed online 5 Mar 2015.
Author uncredited; ‘W.O. Bentley’, Wikipedia; last modified on 22 Jan 2015; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._O._Bentley; last accessed online 28 Feb 2015.
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It sounds like there are more questions than answers about the “R-Type.” As car buffs, we tend to look upon the designing of classics as some momentous occasion, but more often than not, the actual designers of the car saw them as “just another job.” John Blatchley must have been a pretty humble guy.
The other problem is that we try to assign a shape to a single set of hands, which is not always the case. Despite the necessary equivocation in this article, I’m pretty certain in my view of the authorship of this car’s shape.
Just a few years ago, I found a 1967 Rolls Royce coupe that needed only very minor restoration. Silver Shadow, not yet called Corniche. The car’s design was the successful effort of John Blatchley. That car (and the Corniche series that followed) was near perfection in its subtle shaping and style. It got hand washed, waxed and polished a lot! Definitely shares the Continental family influence.
Thank you for a well written effort.
Thoroughly researched and superbly written work again, Don.
Regarding the Bentley Speed Six in the photo with Woolf Barnato — is it the “Blue Train” Bentley that he used in a cross country race against an express train? If so, I have an old 1980s Road & Track article with a detailed history and extensive photographs of this car. It probably will tell you nothing that you don’t already know, but you may want a scan for your collection if you don’t already have it. I would be pleased to make and send one.
Legend has the fastback was the Blue Train Special. But when I was researching this piece I came across more recent scholarship stating it was another Bentley used by Barnato for this.
Fun stuff Thanks
Great read Don, One of the panel beating workshops in my home town was owned by a guy who was actually a coach builder who served his apprenticeship at H J Mulliner, while these were in production, he was a very good panelbeater, I have seen one of these Continentals close up as a teen it was amongst a large collection of cars owned by a local grazier he used to buy a new toy every year when cashing his wool cheque in England and had several Bentleys a BMW (the first I ever saw) and a specially ordered Holden Belmont V8 manual(4speed) LSD equipped wagon as his farm car, Getting that Holden built and delivered was a mission in itself two were built after the original was “lost” in transit to Sydney wharves.
Would have been nice to have a chat. I met a guy last year, still in his twenties, who has an apprenticeship at a Classic resto place and he’s learned how to use the wheel to shape metalwork. Lucky guy, won’t be too many left with that skill.
Plenty actually I met the top Tasmanian panel beating apprentice for 1998, I was living in his dads pub they did a lot of panel forming work ie given a HQ door sawn in half make the other half and fusion weld it back together, that guy is last known working restoring cars in Shepparton, Over here the skilla abound hundreds of cars are shipped to NZ for restoration work each year, my doctor and his son are Jaguar specialists but do Bentleys and Rolls Royces to order, the skills are being revived.
Are they still using the ‘English Wheel’?
On a recent episode of one of the (many, many) auto resto shows now on the (many, many) cablenets, they showed the fabbing of an aluminum hood scoop using an English Wheel. I think it was on the Canadian series, “Restoration Garage.”
Looked something like this…
Fantastic article! And so very well researched. And with so much information i did not know about previously. Good work!
The R-Type Continental will forever be the most beautiful car in the world for me, at least in the top five, if not the top second, shared only with the Citroen DS. Of course, it’s a personal opinion, but which ever way you look at it, it is very hard to disregard the Contiental as anything else than pure poetry and beauty.
Perhaps this comment should’ve been put in the previous article, but there are certain connections between Rolls-Royce and Pininfarina that they have been curiously discreet about. I was thinking of the design of the Silver Shadow, and how much of a Pininfarina design it actually looks like, especially from the rear. I know it’s a case of convergent evolution, and that at certain times, certain design aspects are shared across the industry. But even though it differs ten years between the Peugeot 403 and the Silver Shadow, there’s just too much of the artists touch to disregard Pininfarina in having his hands over that design. If not anything else, perhaps a final touch up?
That’s amazing, Ingvar. My original draft for the Blatchley biography had the same observation re: Silver Shadow/403.
Btw, the original PF 403 was actually a 1951 shape. It’s a bit hard to see here but the wheelarches have trailing ‘speedlines’ in the coachwork.
That’s interesting, never seen that 403 prototype before. The later production version looks cleaner more slab sided, but that design actually looks quite stylish, especially with that bar over the grille. Almost like the firm Darl’Mat and their customized 203’s.
Sorry, just to clarify. I definitely see the similarities between the Silver Shadow and the 403, but I’m quite sure PF had no direct hand in this shape.
Martin Bourne had this to say about the Shadow’s prolonged gestation:
‘Much has been written recently about the Silver Shadow, and for many this will be the car for which John Blatchley will mostly be remembered. For reasons many and varied, like the Merlin aero-engine before it, the birth was long and went through many stages. The first lines went down in 1954, but the car was not to be launched for another ten years, during which time everything except the doors had been altered, sometimes two or three times. On the other hand, when creating anything time is the enemy, together with the constantly nagging thought at the back of one’s mind that there is always a better way. So through those ten years covering the on-off-on-off history of the project, hardly a day went by when some small detail of its appearance was not being considered.’
I came across OLG 490 (Olga) in a London showroom (Jack Barclay?) about ten years or so back. She had been fully restored, by the well-known Woods brothers in Essex I think, Some early photos of her show her painted in her original dark metallic grey. Apparently she had been refinished in a lighter, more silvery colour in the early to mid fifties and it was this colour that was chosen for the restoration all those years later on the grounds that this is the way the old gel had been for most of her life. Olga, being a lightweight prototype, was fitted with one-off aluminium bumpers which were recreated by the Woods bros at a suitably legendary cost. Such is the reputation of the Woods concern that I believe they were entrusted with a full overhaul of the factory Silver Ghost, AX 201.
After covering 250,000 miles in testing, Olga was to be scrapped as per every RR prototype. Stanley Sedgwick convinced RR to sell her to him and they had Olga completely overhauled, IIRC to R spec (she was originally a Mark VI).
Sedgwick wrote a book about his ownership of Olga, but I sold it a long time ago.
I may be wrong, but I have a faint recollection it was former Aston Martin-owner Victor Gauntlett who owned Olga at one time, perhaps in the 80’s?, and that it was he who restored her to the condition she is today. Or that he was involved somehow.
Yes, Victor Gauntlett. That definitely rings a bell.
Guess who’s qualified as the newest member of Mystery Inc? And Blatchley would have got away with it if it wasn’t for you… Congratulations, Don!
The details are invaluable and the conclusions indisputable. That’s why I love CC.
Wonderful analysis and explanation of how the most elegant and appealing postwar Bentley design came to be, thank you! The R-Type Continental Mulliner fastbacks have long been a favorite, delightful the few times I’ve had the opportunity to see one at Hershey.
None of the designers involved need to feel embarrassed that the 1948-49 GM C-Body Cadillac Sedanette et al might have influenced their results…..they were some of the late Earl era best efforts……an elegant, fine design in its own right.
I totally agree on you re: the GM fastback; it’s one of Earl’s peaks. I think there was a more than a modicum of snobbery around US cars when most of the histories of this car were written.
It’s Christmas in March. These have always been one of my favorite cars, and now you’ve unveiled their origins splendidly. Many thanks.
Thanks for your encouragement on this one, Paul.
The de Haviland Comet in the background is pretty awesome as well. That’s the original one before they realized the square windows and rivets caused fatigue cracks that tended to make them blow up in the air.
The Imperial War Museum in Duxford, south of Cambridge, has one.
Fun Comet fact – it lent its nose section to the Sud Aviaion Caravelle, the first jet with tail mounted engines (and triangular passenger windows!), and the inspiration for the Douglass DC-9.
One thing about the Comet not often pointed out is, it was built by a company with little prior experience in cabin pressurization, or even all-metal construction. By contrast, the major American builders had covered this ground before WW2 (e.g. 307, 049, DC-4E). Many documentaries & websites claim that the metal fatigue problems discovered were a scientific novelty, but this is untrue; by the time of the official inquiry, Boeing had completed their Dash-80 which had (a few) rounded windows. There’s no evidence they had to “go back to the drawing board” on account of the Board’s report; they already knew what they were doing.
In short, deHavilland blew it, but everyone, even the Americans, wanted to cover this up.
Excellent article Don, interesting to see the evolution of the car. The Bentley Continental series must have more body styles applied than nearly any other postwar car.
This is a tremendous article. Somebody start paying this guy. 🙂
An impressive piece of work, Don.
I’m very interested in Ciceley Jenner . Even now it’s unusual for women to be in car design, and working for a conservative company during that period must be a tale to tell.
I couldn’t find much about her apart from RR/Blatchley histories. There were some of her non-automotive watercolours featured online, but I can’t find them now. She was definitely the exception in a male-dominated trade, but her drawing skills – both technical and expressive – were certainly up to scratch. Without trying to be patronising, I think she found her way in because of the shortage of males available during the war. She and Bill Allen I believe came from within the Engineering Department, as did her replacement Martin Bourne when she retired in 1959.
Two great pieces of work here – the car and the telling of the story.
Thanks Don!
Very interesting account. I think however you cannot put a finger on a single figure – this looks to me like a classic team effort, with many stylistic and aerodinamic influences being taken into account. It’s tempting to speculate how things might have developed had there been no WWII – I think the Continental might have seen the light of day in 42, bearing in mind that the competition was working on similar concepts…
The Corniche 4 door was strongly supported by RR; I think it was going to be an officially sanctioned vehicle. Apparently 6 bodies were prepared before the war intervened, and all have been lost IIRC. It’s an interesting car; certainly not a performance saloon like the Continental but I think it’s more indicative of what might have come about in 1942.
Another great account–the depths of your scholarship on this subject are impressive! Also to see all of those plans and line drawings from various stages of development is just fantastic. Thanks for all your efforts on this article and the previous one about Blatchley specifically–very entertaining reads.
Abso-freaking-lutely brilliant article Don! I love all the prototype drawings and photos; they and the historical background really bring the creative process to life. Nice, nice.
Hello Don from another Kiwi. I edit the bi-monthly magazine of our wee local R-R & B club, and am about to write a grovelling apology for having wrongly credited Mr Blatchley for the R Type Continental design.
Thank you for your fine article.
Tom, it is my opinion that John Blatchley was the primary stylist of the car under the authority of Ivan Evernden. I believe Blatchley denied credit for a number of reasons; that it was not to his specific tastes and that it overshadowed the work for which he was directly responsible, most particularly the Silver Shadow. But I believe the shape that emerged was from his hands, if not heart.
There is no-one else who could have been responsible; my research indicates Mulliner were involved directly only once the shape had been decided in the wind tunnel. I find it very difficult to believe that Rolls-Royce would have permitted the Mulliner stylists into the wind-tunnel prior to a contract being signed, let alone being responsible for the shape itself. Of all the stylists mentioned in this piece from both R-R and Mulliner, John Blatchley stands head and shoulders above in both capacity and experience.
The Continental was an important model for Crewe. Too important to have been left in the hands of anyone but their best stylist. Perhaps I expressed this opinion too tentatively within the article.
Wonderful article and copious research.
Some of us have long been curious about the R-R Silver Cloud/Bentley S-Series being influenced by the 1941-47 Packard Clipper; compare side elevations, proportions. The Crewe design seems akin to a razor-edged version of the Detroit styling. We can only figure in later years, any recollection by those involved would not want to invoke Packard, despite R-R’s and Packard’s stringent collaboration on the War II Merlin, since by the ’50s, Packard had long lost any vestige of its once understated elegance, abandoned after 1947 when the svelte Clipper styling ended. That, and R-R of the ’50s and beyond not wanting to be associated in memory with a moribund, then deceased US automaker.
Ivan ‘Ev’ Evernden was my wife’s maternal grandfather. We have some photos from an album of his which may be of interest to both RR & Bentley enthusiasts.
When I asked him in the 70’s which project he’d enjoyed most he told me it had been the Phantom II Continental. He considered Bentley’s to be relatively ‘agricultural’ and had wanted to create a Rolls Royce with similar performance, but with superior suspension and handling. It took him some time to convince Sir Henry Royce of this, but eventually succeeded. The first one was sold in Spain where it won the Grand Prix D’Honneur at the Concours d’Elegance in Biarritz, it was still a prototype, the factory had not yet been jigged up for production.
The R-Type Continental of Mulliner was for sure also influenced by the R-Type with Coachwork of Abbott of Farnham and their two door saloon designed by Peter Woodgate. The first ever R-Type chassis had their coachwork and all their cars had all the Continental features except the C in the Chasdinumber and the rev couter.