A sublime GT with a stonking, turbocharged 6.75-litre V8, the 1990s Continental R was a landmark car for BentleyMotors -
, although the Turbo R saloon had shown there was an appetite for something a little sportier. The Continental R, designed by John Heffernan and Ken Greenley, took the Turbo R underpinnings as a starting point but clothed them in a two-door coupe body that had no Rolls-Royce equivalent. Here was a marque in the process of re-forging its own identity.
When production ended in 2003, a total of 1854 Contis had been produced, including 158 Mulliner editions, and just eleven Final Series cars. The example we’re about to drive was the very last built and retained by Bentley at the famous Pyms Lane factory in Crewe, which is where we’re collecting it on a blissfully warm and sunny spring day.
The last time I drove a Continental of this generation was back in 2000, when we took a then-current Conti T down to Pau on the French/Spanish border . It was an epic journey, the best part of two thousand miles there and back, so I can certainly vouch for the Bentley’s grand touring ability. I can also vouch for the fact that c110mph is very much its natural cruising gate.
Surprisingly well, it soon becomes apparent. The basic underpinnings were carried over from the Rolls and Bentley saloons of the day, so the Silver Spirit and the Mulsanne, which in turn were developed from the 1960s Shadow – none exactly paragons of handling acuity. But the engineers worked small miracles with unpromising source material.
But what you’re really here for is to experience the propulsive thrust of 650lb ft of torque brought to bear on a prime piece of English Heritage.
We’ve an early start the next morning to catch the sunrise, and dawn light reveals the silken depth of the Conti’s Silver Pearl coachwork, picks out the swollen arches, glints off the brightwork. It’s a handsome thing all right; stately with just enough muscularity to hint at the potency beneath.
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