Our final “Same-same but different week” entry will be a model that has not had a proper CC as such, though we did cover the drop-top version a couple years back. I was around in 1999. I don’t recall seeing many folks wearing them, but this Bentley was evidently made for the tiny minority of Continental owner-drivers who want to wear a top hat (and, presumably, spats, a monocle and a cigarette holder) when driving to their tailor to get a new morning coat made.
Small minority, small modification, small production run – the only big thing about this Bentley was its size. And its price, I assume. It doesn’t matter, as I think we can all envision our Bentley SC owner to be kind of like the Monopoly Man, but with better credit and hotels on Boardwalk and Park Lane.
In 1982, Rolls-Royce allowed Bentley to reemerge under the guise of the Mulsanne Turbo saloon. This gave the old marque an unexpected shot in the arm, boosting sales and renewing interest in a name that had largely gone dormant. Turbocharging the 6.75 litre V8 gave Bentley a heart, but body-wise, it was still 99% Rolls.
The obvious gambit was to go for a remake of the legendary Continental coupés of the early ‘50s – the ultimate blend of luxury and performance. The first hint that something like this was going to happen took place in 1985: the Continental name was resuscitated and slapped on the back of the ageing Corniche cabriolet. Also, at the Geneva Motor Show, Bentley displayed a spanking new two-door, internally dubbed “Project 90.”
Although it garnered plenty of interest from potential clients, said “Project 90” turned out to be something of an impasse, as wind tunnel testing demonstrated the design’s strong tendency towards rear lift and other aerodynamic issues. There was also a lot of internal debate at Crewe regarding the car’s positioning – would it replace the Corniche at the top of the range or sprout a four-door variant and sit at the bottom rung?
By 1987, the project had moved on, underwent several redesigns and finally, in 1991, the Continental R coupé was unveiled, again at Geneva, probably for reasons of convenience (the banks were just down the road). Even though the first cars would only reach their owners sometime in 1992, within two weeks of its unveiling the Continental R already had attracted 600 sales, each with £20,000 in down payment (for a total price of £175k). That was tantamount to two years of production – pretty impressive start. For the first time in almost 30 years, Bentley had a model that Rolls did not.
The Continental R and its many special editions and variants sold reasonably well – much better than the Camargue in any case, which it arguably replaced at the top of the R-R/Bentley range. The car’s blistering performance was a big part of its success: for the first time ever, the company communicated exact numbers about their car’s power (385hp, though for some reason I’ve seen other numbers floating around the Internets) and torque (553lb.ft) output.
They also weren’t kidding about the gingerbread, which brought the weight of the car to over 2.5 tons – essentially tied with the Mulsanne saloon. Even if one replaced the walnut with turned aluminium, as in this case, the bulk of the bulk remained. One “sporty” variant was the Continental T, which was four inches shorter between the wheels and had a more powerful engine. Our feature car is derived from the T, albeit with the Azure cabriolet’s reinforced chassis mixed in.
Still, at 420hp, it’s no slouch and should be capable of reaching 60mph from a standstill in about six seconds. But who would want to do that in such a heavy, precious and rare royal naval vessel? Just because you can does not mean you should, as CC’s own Jim Klein astutely reminded us recently (à propos of something altogether different, but I digress).
The four inches of wheelbase came at the expense of rear legroom, which was turned from limited to inhumane. Not that this will hamper our top-hatted owner from comfortably twirling his moustache in the driver’s seat.
The SC (“Sedanca Coupé”) was launched in 1998 as a limited edition model. Only 73 units were made (of which 25 were RHD), the overwhelming majority during 1999, before production was halted in early 2000. I guess they had made their point. And that point presumably was: not too many people want to pay extra for this kind of roof style.
The roof can be put back on, if need be: it’s in the boot, in two bits. Not sure how said bits are secured to the windscreen and how well these protect the passengers from the elements. I have my doubts, but this is a Bentley, so one hopes these issues would have been foreseen and dealt with. Or Mr Moneybags is not going to be happy.
The Continental R/S/T/Mulliner/etc. and the related Azure cabriolet really changed the game for Bentley. And not a moment too soon, either, as the dissolution of the 70-year-old R-R/Bentley marriage, which took place just months before this car was manufactured, meant the junior marque’s value was massively higher than it would have been ten years earlier.
Eventually, the Bentley’s owner returned and sped off in a cloud of multicoloured banknotes. I understand he was off to pass Go and collect something or other, I forget what exactly. Seems he had done enough collecting for a lifetime already, if you ask me.
Related post:
CC Capsule: 1999 Bentley Azure “Spyder” – Mulliner-Park Weird, by T87
The vulgar uglification of the Bentley marque starts here. And very successful it’s been too.