Footnotes

• A key factor in Rolls-Royce's marketing strategy for the 1980s was the re-launch of Bentley. To rekindle interest in the marque, a glorious name from its past was resurrected - 'Continental' - and applied to the two-door model previously known, like its Rolls-Royce equivalent, as the Corniche. An inspired move, the Bentley's 1984 name change had the desired effect; sales, which in the 13 years since the Corniche's launch had amounted to just 77 Bentley-badged cars, totalling 421 for the succeeding 11 years of Continental production.
  Introduced in March 1971, the Corniche was a revised version of the H J Mulliner, Park Ward-bodied two-door variants of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Bentley T-Series saloons, themselves notable as the Crewe factory's first unitary-construction cars. In Corniche form Rolls-Royce's well-tried 6.7-litre V8 produced around ten percent more power than standard and proved capable of propelling the car to a top speed in excess of 120mph with sports car-beating acceleration to match. The model proved a major success for Rolls-Royce, and although its exterior style remained recognisably Silver Shadow, the Corniche/Continental benefited from the regular up-dates and improvements made to the contemporary Silver Spirit range, remaining in production well into the 1990s, the last (Convertible) examples being delivered in 1995.
  This beautiful and rare left-hand drive Bentley Continental is a two-owner example sold new in Ontario, Canada where it resided until the year 2000, after which it went to its second owner who maintained and garaged the vehicle in Florida until July 2011. The Bentley is finished in Royal Blue metallic with contrasting parchment hide interior piped in blue. A quality fabric hood has replaced the original Everflex, further enhancing the quality and feel of this magnificent automobile. Having covered a mere 53,000 kilometres from new (approximately 33,000 miles). It is offered with current MoT.

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Category: Motoring / Motor Cars

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