6 photos

1964' Bentley S3

Negotiable

Published 31 October 2022ID: tSFEQM

Expired
2 years ago

Information from the owner

Body: Sports Car

Age: 58 years

Seller's comments about 1964' Bentley S3

Bentley's magnificent Continental sports saloon has been synonymous with effortless high speed cruising in the grand manner. The Continental was, of course, exclusively a coachbuilt automobile. The firms of H J Mulliner, Park Ward and James Young all offered bodies on the Continental S2 chassis. By far the most striking of these S2 Continentals were those bodied by Rolls-Royce's in-house coachbuilder Park Ward, and this design by Norwegian Vilhelm Koren, with its influential continuous front-to-rear wing line, would continue on the S3 Continental. Quad headlamps were the S3's major styling innovation, and on the H J Mulliner, Park Ward-bodied Continental they were contained in slanting nacelles, giving rise to this model's 'Chinese Eye' sobriquet. Headlamps aside, the most significant change was to the S3's engine, which boasted an increased compression ratio and larger carburettors, modifications that raised peak power by some 7%. Of the 312 S3 Continentals built between 1962 and 1966, a considerable number were supplied to prominent sportsmen and contemporary celebrities including Peter Sellers, Jayne Mansfield, Fanny Craddock, Sir John Mills and Harry Belafonte as they were "the car to be seen in" and pleasingly the Continental still retains that cachet.
Chassis BC50XC has resided with its last owner for over 20 years after being re-imported from the U. S. During his custodianship thousands has been spent bringing it up to the condition you see it in today.