Bentley S1 Continental Drophead Coupe By Park Ward

This is a Park Ward-bodied S1 Continental drophead, chassis BC7AF, completed in October 1955. It was the fifth car built to Design No 700, a style drawn up by John Blatchley. He was involved in the H.J. Mulliner R Type Continental, and his Park Ward design was later adapted for the slightly longer S1 Continental chassis. Only a handful of Park Ward Continentals of this type were made, so it is a rare car.

The history is documented from the start. The car served as the trial car in Rolls-Royce's Conduit Street showroom in London. It reached its first owner, Mr S Norman of Ilford, in 1958, then passed to owners in Nottinghamshire and London in the 1960s. In the early 1990s Bentley specialist P.J. Fischer acquired it, restored it and supplied it to a customer in Hong Kong. The car stayed in the UK, and Fischer maintained it.

A full nut-and-bolt restoration is under way, and the dealer says it is about six months from completion. A modern air-conditioning compressor has been fitted under the bonnet, feeding chrome vents in the traditional Rolls-Royce style with organ-stop controls. No mileage is given, and final restoration photographs are still to come.