153 bhp, 4,566 cc inlet-over-exhaust six-cylinder engine, two SU carburettors, four-speed manual gearbox, independent wishbone front suspension with coil springs and anti-roll bar, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel mechanical servo braking system with hydraulic front and mechanical rear.

Wheelbase: 120 in.

• 1952 Earl’s Court Motor Show car • Very early example; seventh of 193 R-Types built by H.J Mulliner • One of merely a handful built in 1952; one of 25 “A-series” cars • Fresh from full restoration by noted specialists Bentley Continental R-Type The first Bentley Continental was sold in the summer of 1952, though the Continental roots go back to the 1930s.

Bentley’s parent, Rolls-Royce Motors, had experimented with aerodynamic designs before World War II, and their first Continental prototype was known as the ‘Corniche’.

The second was a two-door, four-seater, built on a 4¼-litre chassis, with a French Paulin-designed body, now nicknamed “Embiricos”,...