Having caught John P.

Blatchley’s eye with a striking Alfa Romeo coupe displayed at the Turin Salon, Norwegian designer Wilhelm Koren joined Rolls-Royce / Bentley’s in-house styling department during 1957.

No stranger to the avantgarde, the drophead coupe coachwork that he devised for the upcoming Bentley S2 Continental sported a straight-through wing line, cut-back wheelarches and jet engine-inspired head / tail lights.

Conscious that Project Tibet (which evolved into the Silver Shadow) would be deemed equally radical and therefore eager to test the public’s reaction to a more modern Rolls-Royce / Bentley aesthetic, Managing Director Dr Frederick Llewellyn-Smith green-lit Koren’s Design No.

991 for Park Ward.

Debuting at the 1959 Earls’ Court Motor Show alongside its Bentley S2 Standard Steel Saloon and S2 Continental siblings, the luxurious Drophead Coupe further broke with tradition by utilising contemporary aircraft construction techniques (such as an Erco 300-ton stretch pres...