The need for longer, roomier versions of standard saloons arose for two reasons: the slow phasing out of the always-coachbuilt Silver Wraith and its huge 133-inch wheelbase by 1958, and the size of the standard Silver Cloud and S-series. Despite being 20in the rear compartment, taking it up from 123 inches between the wheel centres to 127 inches. This seemed more important for Rolls-Royce than for Bentley, yet both marques kept this option across all three S-series and Silver Cloud generations, finding small but steady sales. Around 120 of each marque were built, some with special bodies. That means roughly one in 60 Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds were built on the longer platform between 1957 and 1965, and roughly one in 50 S-series Bentleys in the same period, making these cars rarer than Continentals.
