ENTRY LEVEL

Think Eighties Bentley and it’s the Turbo R which springs to mind, the enthusiasm for the unlikely heavyweight hot rod having eclipsed the regular Bentley models of the time which now look like clever under-the-radar buys.

As most CCB readers will be aware, the financial difficulties of Rolls-Royce plc in 1971 had resulted in the car-making enterprise being spun off as a separate entity which although it afforded a degree of autonomy also meant that resources were slender. This in turn meant that a successor to the Silver Shadow would be forced to use the platform of the older car and the brief was to use as much of the Shadow’s engineering as possible but to create a fresh and modern-looking car. Or rather, modern looking in the most conservative sense of the phrase.

The result was that the entire lower body was carried over alongside the drivetrain and running gear, including the long-serving ‘six and three-quarters’ V8 engine. The new car was styled by an in-house team under Fritz Feller, using tricks like a 30 per cent larger glass area, lower waistline and more horizontal