Introduced in 1991, the Continental R was the first Bentley in 26 years to not share a body style with a concurrent Rolls-Royce and was inspired by the highly collectable Continental R-Type of the 1950s.

The elegant two-door coachwork was styled by John Heffernan and Ken Greenley, a duo whose résumé included sports cars like the Aston Martin Virage.

Five years later, Bentley introduced a short-wheelbase version dubbed the Continental T that was equipped with an uprated engine developing 420bhp and an impressive 650lb/ft of torque available at only 2,200rpm.

Bentley customers soon expressed an interest in equipping the wide-body Continental R model with the T’s more powerful engine, and the Continental R Mulliner was consequently introduced at the 1999 Geneva Salon.

Production ran from 1999 until 2003 with just 131 examples being built and they are often regarded as one of the last real Bentleys produced before the company's acquisition by Volkswagen.

The example presented here is...