Story and History

1971 Bentley Corniche 2 door saloon - restored condition

Simply irresistible - the first series Corniche, which comes with the gorgeous wooden steering wheel

I'm not sure why this model year was provided with this feature and similarly why it was removed for the following year

Anyhow as only 27 examples were produced from 1971 until 1976 before the series 2 arrived, one can assume that, perhaps a paltry, 5 or 6 were produced for this model year - how many still exist I'm not sure

This is the only one ever to have passed through our hands

In the last 20 years she has been in the custody of two Japanese collectors. The first kept her there amongst many other very important cars (Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Mercedes 300SL Gullwing etc etc).

He regarded her as important enough to containerise and ship to highly respected Official Dealers, Broughton's of Cheltenham in the late 1990's. Under his instruction they undertook a full restoration, to factory standards and using correct parts and materials. This exercise was not undertaken lightly and the cost was in the region of £80.000 - £100.000 (remember this is over 15 years ago)

The results speak for themselves and save now for a few little paint imperfections she presents in truly superb condition

His great chum, knowing how rare and beautifully restored she had been, eventually managed to purchase her in the early 2000's whereupon, again she was plopped into a container and shipped from Japan back to Europe, to be kept at his his holiday home in Bordeaux, France where she has resided since

Therefore mostly gentle holiday touring has resulted in an additional 8.000 miles since the nut and bolt restoration

The road wheels have recently been upgraded to the Bentley alloy wheel, as seen on the Mulsanne S, Eight and Continental DHC - a set of standard steel wheels with appropriate hub caps and trims can be supplied instead if desired

She comes complete with her original instruction manual, service voucher booklet, small and large tools too

The history file does not contain the invoices from Broughton's (must be in one of the containers!) and full verification of these works is validated by the previous owners (not forgetting the quality of the vehicle)

This Corniche, as a 1971 example, is probably rarer than the Corniche 2 by which it was superseded and must therefore, represent an almost unique opportunity