In the early 1960s, Bentley’s parent company Rolls-Royce ran an advertisement that bragged: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”.

While the car featured in the advertisement was a Silver Cloud, the ad was careful to state that Bentleys were also made by Rolls-Royce, and the claim certainly rang true for the sister company.

If the engine was surpassed only in noise by the clock, surely the only other noise that would come close to that would be music on its radio.

The genre of music this particular Bentley would eventually become famed for, however, was still decades away—both acoustically and chronologically… Chassis number BC40EL, a S1 Continental Drophead Coupé with Park Ward Coachwork, was first registered to Mather & Crowther Ltd at the company’s business address at Brettenham House in London, just next to Waterloo Bridge.

Specified for the personal use of E.L.

Mather, the car was accordingly registered ELM 9 when new.

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