Since Mu Shang, the flagship model of Bentley, announced that it would stop production in 2020, in order to cater to the tastes of the rich, the main research and development force has been shifted to Tim Yue series models. This ultra-luxury brand from Britain seems to have no eye-catching products, especially with the withdrawal of Mu Shang, the 6.75-liter V8 engine with a history of more than 60 years was officially retired.
The important task of Bentley family reproduction was handed over to Continental GT Feichi and Tim Yue. Among them, the first two models come from Bentley's classic European cars, which are pure in blood and rich in historical significance.
The name and design style of this legendary car are inspired by Bentley RTypeContinental. It is worth noting that this year marks its 70th anniversary. Next, let's talk about this ancestor model known as "the world's largest station wagon", 1952 Bentley RTypeContinental!
Bentley RTypeContinental is a stylish coupe based on Bentley RType sedan. It is the first model named after Europe in Bentley history! The first batch was delivered in 1952, when it was the fastest four-seater car on earth.
It is also the most expensive car in production. You may not feel it when you see such a price. Let's take the real estate market of that year as an example. 1952, the price of this car can buy four villas in Britain!
However, in addition to the impressive price, this car also has many bright spots that make those nobles or rich people fall for it. The car has a low, slender and light body line, as well as a radiator inclined vertically backwards, a highly inclined windshield and a smooth roof arc. In order to improve the stability of high-speed driving, a rear tail is also installed at the rear convex decoration.
According to the aerodynamic design of this car, Bentley engineers have conducted many experiments in the test tunnel of Hucknell aero-engine in Nottinghamshire, England! Later, Ivan Evernden, chief project engineer of Bentley, wrote in his diary: It could have done better, but the purpose of this experiment is not to build a space capsule for astronauts, but to help traditional cars reduce air resistance.
According to engineer Evernden, this brand-new ultra-luxury car must reach a cruising speed of 65,438+000 mph or even higher. You know, before 1950, no tire can satisfy a two-ton car to drive continuously at a speed exceeding 1 15 mph!
In order to reduce the weight, the windshield frames of the car body and window frame are made of light aluminum, and even the seat frame and bumper are replaced with aluminum. In the pursuit of maximum weight loss, this car also cancels comfortable configurations such as radio. In the end, the car achieved the goal of total weight 1750kg!
Like the Bentley RType sedan, Continental is equipped with a 4566 cc4.6-liter (later 4.9-liter) inline six-cylinder engine. For a brand-new model, the engineer specially adjusted the power of this car from the original 140 horsepower to 155 horsepower, and also upgraded the transmission system.
This series of changes created the extremely high speed of 195 1. In September 2000, at the Monterey circuit near Paris, France, the data of this beautifully shaped Bentley after five laps showed that the average speed reached 1 18.75 mph, and the fastest lap speed reached 65438+.
Although it is expensive, Bentley still receives orders from all over the world. Until it stopped production at 1955, a total of 208 RTypeContinental were produced. Almost all car bodies are made by H.J.Mulliner, except for 15 car, which is not used. Specifically, Franay built 5 cars, Graber built 3 cars and Farina built 3 cars.
This is one of the rarest Bentley cars at present. Many car owners said that the actual top speed of this car can still reach 1 15 mph, and it can easily cruise at the speed of 100 mph on the highway.
Bentley officials said that when they started designing new models in 2003, they deliberately chose the name mainland. Because the design inspiration of this model not only comes from RTypeContinental, but also pays tribute to RTypeContinental of 1952.
The Bentley RTypeContinental model shown in the photo is managed and maintained by BentleyHeritageCollection. The chassis BC 16C with registration number JAS949 was originally owned by Dr. RowlandGuenin of Switzerland.
200 1 Bentley's official maintenance department carried out overall maintenance on this car, including ivory white paint and red interior. Since then, the car has been in perfect mechanical condition.
Car owners often travel in this classic car, and car lovers can also see this car in many official activities of Bentley!
It is worth noting that Bentley RTypeContinental is still expensive and highly sought after in the classic car market. In the last few photos, this car originally belonged to Greek shipping tycoon AristotleOnasis.