1965 Bentley S3 Continental Coupe

Coachwork by Park Ward Ltd

6,230cc OHV Aluminum V8 Engine
Twin SU Carburetors
205bhp
4-Speed Automatic Transmission
Independent Front and Live-Axle with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Spring Rear Suspension
4-wheel Girling drum brakes

*Delivered new to Houston oilman Lawrence Reed
*One of approximately 80 left-drive S3 Continentals produced
*Formerly in the collection of Lucy Dahl, daughter of Ronald Dahl
*Complete with copies of factory records

THE S3 CONTINENTAL COUPE

The Bentley Continental was, of course, exclusively a coachbuilt automobile. The firms of H J Mulliner, Park Ward and James Young all offered bodies on the Continental S2 chassis. By far the most striking of these S2 Continentals were those bodied by Rolls-Royce's in-house coachbuilder Park Ward, and this design by Norwegian Vilhelm Koren, with its influential continuous front-to-rear wing line, would continue on the S3 Continental. Quad headlamps were the S3's major styling innovation, and on the H J Mulliner, Park Ward-bodied Continental were contained in slanting nacelles, giving rise to this model's 'Chinese Eye' sobriquet. Headlamps aside, the most significant change was to the S3's engine, which boasted an increased compression ratio and larger carburetors, modifications that raised peak power by some 7%.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

It's the spring of 1964, and after a lifetime of hard work building your oil company from a small wildcatters firm to a publicly listed behemoth that you've just sold for $253 million, you've decided to buy yourself a new car. That must have been in the mind of Lawrence S. Reed, who in May of 1964 sold his Texas Gulf Producing Company to Sinclair making him and his brother Gordon centimillionaires, when he ordered this Bentley S3 Continental Coupe from Rolls-Royce of New York around the time of the sale of his company. Finished in Tudor Grey over Grey leather, options included a Blaupunkt radio (no longer with the car), electric windows and aerial, plain Sundym glass all around, and white wall tires. He must have looked like a proper oilman with his new car and it no doubt was regularly found parked at Neiman Marcus on occasion.

The recipient of an older restoration, it has since been refinished in black over tan hides and fitted with a more modern cassette radio and air conditioning. By 2002 the Bentley was in the garage of Lucy Dahl, an LA-based screenwriter and daughter of renowned children's book writer Ronald Dahl. Ms. Dahl kept the Bentley for a further six years before selling it to the current owner in 2008.

On static display since acquisition, this beautiful coupe with connections to both the rich oil fields of Texas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now ready for recommissioning and future enjoyment.