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Bentley Corniche convertible

1984, SCBZD0009ECX07778, Ocean blue

During some years this car was on this site as probably the first Bentley Continental from the 1984 pre-series. However, some visitors of my site convinced me that this is one of the last Bentleys Corniche convertible. Hence I changed this page.

Why did I think that this was a Continental? At first because the car is officially registered in The Netherlands as a Bentley Continental. Secondly because an owner I talked to refered about that to a former owner. Furtheron because the name is on the car. And finally because in 1984 the first Continentals were produced and in 1984 still hardly any Corniches were made.

Why this car is a Corniche convertible and not a Continental?
At first because according to the Partslist the first Bentley Continental is only the SCBZD0001FCH09030. That car is the first one from model year 1985 (the digit F in the chassisnumber) and is produced in 1984.
Furtheron the car on this page has the next typical Corniche properties:
- Black in stead of coloured bumpers
- Grille and mirrors not in the colour of the car (there are also Continentals ordered with blank grilles)
- No trim on the fender arches
- The reverse lights and rear fog lights (the fog lights in front are mounted later)
- The chairs and head rests
- The presence of head lamp wipers
- The shape of the dashboard and the meters

This car has had owners in Switzerland, Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and the Netherlands (at least two).

The rear side has the type plate "Continental". It must have been fitted later. In most cases a Continental has a plate "Bentley" on the left side, but that is on this car not present. Furtheron the third brake light can be seen that from the first Continental on was fitted as a standard feature.
At the rear the double exhaust pipes strike that are not present any more on later Continentals. They point out the lack of a catalyst, which is confirmed by the double digit "0" on the positions 6 and 7 in the chassisnumber.

On the Continental (and the Corniche II) a lengthened B-style was introduced to make it easier to reach the safety belts. This extra length, that was already built in in all convertibles in 1985, is not yet present in this Corniche.

The interior is coloured magnolia and is provided with blue piping.

The right door has a storage compartment.

The dashboard hasn't yet the half-moon shaped centre console that was fitted in the Continentals.

The story of this pressure meter is not known to the owner of the car.

The left door is provided with a liquor cabinet. Customers could choose to order a cabinet in each door.

At first the car had the original Corniche hub caps. The first Dutch owner replaced them by these Brooklands light alloy wheels. The Continentals are provided with aluminium wheels with five in stead of three spokes in the holes.