This Bentley S3 Continental features the elegant, H J Mulliner-designed, ‘Flying Spur’ four-door coachwork, and is one of only 18 completed in this style with left-hand drive.

Eulogising about Bentley’s new ‘S’-series cars, introduced in April 1955, The Autocar wrote, ‘the latest Bentley model offers a degree of safety, comfort and performance that is beyond the experience and perhaps even the imagination of the majority of the world’s motorists.’ Later, in October that same year, the Bentley Continental became available on the ‘S’ chassis, the model having been synonymous with effortless high speed cruising in the grand manner since its introduction in R-Type form in 1952.

Rolls-Royce had envisaged the Bentley Continental as exclusively a two-door car, but late in 1957 the decision was taken to sanction the production of a four-door variation by H J Mulliner.

Introduced on the S1 Continental and known as the ‘Flying Spur’, this design was a collaborative effort by Rolls-Royce’s in-...