1998 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL R One-Off #6 of 6 California Edition 420 Wide Body

If you don't know a lot about these cars here is a good place to start: en.wikipedia.org and go to wiki/Bentley_Continental_R (email me if you need the link, ebay won't let me put it here). Or just Google Continental R California Edition -- you will see this exact car featured all over.



1998 was the last year of the British Bentley. After a prolonged legal battle VW ended up being the owner of Bentley and BMW got Rolls Royce. For a few years the older cars were still made, but not really the same. Particularly the interiors used inferior leather and and much less hand made. They also made a lot of "special editions" which were generally cosmetic changes and not all that rare. During the British and German years about 1300 Continental R cars were built.



Bentley prior to this car was merely a badge-engineered Rolls Royce. This car is unique and pure Bentley, focusing far more on performance than the RR. This is the best of the lot. Some of the German cars had the same performance but were never as nice.



Bentley did not really have "options" --- they had "upgrades." If a customer wanted pink polka-dot velour upholstery it would be done as an upgrade (yech!). This car had a tremendous amount of upgrades.



The California Edition was a series of six wide body cars (there is reportedly one other wide body made by the Brits in 1998). Many people (on purpose I think) confuse "wide flares" with "wide body." Many cars came with wider flares with sills designed for slightly wider tires. A true wide body has huge fenders and a wider track -- exactly the same as it's relative the Continental T. There is no sill across the body, the fenders are feathered into the body and under the doors it is flat sided. From the rear of the car all you can see is fenders -- cannot even see the door handles. They had to shape the huge fenders into the body with feathered metal work that if flat would hold a soda can. From the top, it looks like someone grabbed the car at the doors and pinched real hard. The tire size is a dead give away. These tires are larger than the tires on a new Corvette! To be picky, a Vette has different sizes front and rear and these fall in between. They are much larger than the tires on cars with wide flares and even larger than the standard tires. Use the zoom feature to see where the fenders meet the side of the body on the first picture and you will get a good idea. Also notice in the rear that the fender is not a flat-sided fenderit has two "steps" in it, which provides more width. So the owner got exactly what he wanted -- essentially a Continental T set of mechanics in a Continental R. This includes the extra gauges, starter button, sport modes, suspension tuning, you name it.



Ah -- but then there is the looks, especially from the driver's seat. The California Edition also offered "roushed" leather inserts (a crinkled soft glove type leather) that is much prettier than the standard interior. It comes with a plate "California Edition #6 of 6" Many people also (on purpose I think) call their cars "Mulliner." All Continental R and T cars were Mulliner cars although there was one German special edition named the "Mulliner Edition."



I am the second owner. The original owner wanted the performance of the Continental T and the luxury and looks of the Continental R. The T always had a more powerful engine (different years were different) than the R. This car got the T engine with 420 hp and 649 lbs/feet torque. The torque figure is still a record for a passenger production car in the USA. With fairly aggressive acceleration the front end will literally lift two inches. The one thing different that I can tell from the T is the speed limiter (they were limited to 168) -- this car will do at least 175 (I ran out of road -- had to do it once). It may be because Crewe sent an engineer to Phoenix, AZ to program the fuel injection and other control computers as the fit is not exactly as the T and this was the first and apparently needed some work after arriving. So maybe he "forgot" the speed limiter. This car is mechanically the same as the T (which was much the same basic chassis except 6 inches shorter). This means you can actually sit in the back seat of my car comfortably, but it weighs 200 lbs more. For an almost 6000 lbs car it make little performance difference. The car also has the T's suspension settings which were rebuilt as need about three years ago (rear only). About 60% brakes left.



The T's usually came with an ugly (IMO) metal interior, mine is a beautiful special wood used on the California Edition. You get the performance of a Continental T with the luxury of the best Continental R -- how can you beat that?



The car is absurdly complete which you never find. It has the jack, tools, gloves, sampler CD and cassette, remote control for stereo, and is unmodified except three invisible things: 1) a speaker blew so I replaced them with Boston Acoustics (much better) 2) the lever for the passenger seat movement -- one of the few plastic things on the car! -- has had the interior portion replaced with metal which is superior. 3) Hose clamp replacements




The Brits are odd. They warn in the manual not to go over 115 mph in 1st gear, no speed limiter. All other gears supposedly have a limiter! They warn that if you leave the seat warmers on the battery will die as they are not keyed. To move the seats the key must be in the on (not even accessory) position. Why not key the warmers and not the seat!?
The upgrades the owner had done were staggering. The engine was listed as "HPW" as the option code -- $50,000 alone. It also says 420 on the invoice and has the badge on the engine. If you know the cars well you can also tell by the air-to-water (rather than air-to-air) charge cooler and the turbo. He had the wheels chromed -- usually not offered on the R but Crewe did it for him. He did not like the ugly (IMO) side marker lights and had them replace with the red flyinig Bentley badges. They look great. It has the matrix grill ($5,000!!!!) but black (any others I have seen are natural steel -- actually the black is a pain as it chips and I do touch it up occasionally). He hated the black cheap plastic strip on the side of these cars (notice the Germans took this off the R420 as well). The car went out the door at a staggering $415,000.00 -- perhaps the most expensive Bentley ever. The owner was not happy with "HPW" as an option code proving it was a true 420 car, so he got a letter from Bentley stating that the car is indeed upgrades to the same specs as the Continental T (on their letterhead). The sticker and letter are included with the car.&nbspAlso notice the dual large exhaust -- I have seen dual small exhaust and single large and small on each side andnever dual large exhaust on the one side.



One thing of interest is that the German special edition (R420 which was special enough to have a lot more than 6 of them!) is almost exactly like this except for the nice interior. The used the real wide body, got rid of the lights (and used fake grills, my badges are prettier), chrome wheels, etc. I suspect this car inspired a lot of the German special editions as it is the prettiest modern Bentley from Crewe you will ever see.



The original owner also purchased just about every dealer add on you could get. A battery charger. Lambs wool floor mats (I don't use them, they are in the trunk - over $2,000 alone!) as well as the standard mats. A car cover (I never opened the box as it is always in the garage). It has no provision for a front license plate as it has always been an AZ car and we don't do front plates. A drill will fix that :-) All of these extras come with the car.



I have a source (I think) for a new steering wheel and shift knob and seat leather (the last of the original). It is only a little worn now so I never bothered but I will give you the number.
Many people think it is a good idea to get the lowest number of miles possible on a car. This is simply not true with a Bentley or RR. Everything is hydraulic. Hence, if it sits, the seals dry, and everything leaks. This costs 20-50,000 to fix! Assuming you did not burn the pump out. Both the previous owner and I followed the same regimen. We drove the car weekly about 20-30 miles and made occasional trips of a few hundred miles. This car drips nothing. Very very very few Bentley owners can park their car on clean cement and leave an hour later without drips. Often the main seal between the engine and transmission leaks due to dis-use. Many of these cars were owned by people that drove them 5k miles at home, then put them in a summer house, and now are selling them. And you think their 5k miles is better than my 25k miles. You could not be more wrong. The tires also develop flat spots if left parked more than a few weeks. In the winter, even one week takes 3-5 miles to smooth them out. A car lightly and regularly adult driven is far better. For a 1998 25k miles is about perfect.



It has just received it's 25k service. Every fluid, every everything is done. I do a lot myself according to the instructions of the original owner, while it is on the rack. I put heavy silicone on all the wires (for the trunk, parking brake, etc) keeping those perfect. The massively complex hydraulics have every hose clamp checked, and tightened or replaced as needed. It has always used Mobil 1 15-50 oil (interestingly one of two approved oils, their own and Mobil 1, in the glove box manual -- but the service manual in the rear has a lot more options. Be careful about zinc and phosphorous content in your oil choices -- these are flat tappet engines and need high ZDDP. Mobil 1 is still perfect. The car has rarely (if ever) been washed with soap and water. If really dirty I hose it with ionized water. And then quick detail is used. Hand waxed as needed.



In the pictures you may notice funny colors on mats, door sills, etc. These are not flaws. They are tape to protect what is underneath. I will remove most of it before shipping. But, for example, the steel door sills are perfect because they have always been covered in packing tape and nobody's shoes have ever scratched them.



The car reminds me the most of my 1976 Aston Martin Vantage coupe. Except this is faster, has ABS, traction control (I turned it off once by mistake and it shreds tires), air bags, etc. It is a truly modern car. A modern muscle car!&nbsp The cell phone is wired into the stereo. There is the same model stereo available now with navigation if you like. The cell phone is analog and would seem useless except a phone installer told me he could open it and replace the insides with a Bluetooth, and it would look stock and be wired into the stereo. In it's day it was faster than everything including the Italians. It is still respectably fast and safe.



I have a LOT more pictures and can take more. Anything you need.



I own one nice car and I change it every few years strictly for fun. I have to sell this one before I retire at 65 (I am 55) so low ball offers will not interest me. These cars, this particular car, will appreciate. It is the ONLY modern Bentley that is singled out in books, magazines, Web pages, etc. -- because it is so special.
I am, however, open to partial trades. Whatever it is, it must have A/C (I am in AZ) and be mostly original. I have wide tastes -- 58 Vette (with PG?), 1960 Eldorado Coupe, 57-60 Eldorado Brougham, 57-59 Eldorado coupe, 40s Vintage Dodge Power Wagon, BMW 507 or Z8, Most MB SL cars from the 230 to the new ones, AMG or not, diesel Toyota Land Cruisers (LHD), or who knows what might tickle my fancy. I have one repro car I am interested in to -- the Modena Spyder (as in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) -- perhaps a Sbarro BMW 328. A Ferrari 308 GTS 4v maybe? email if you have a trade car in mind and if it interests me, we'll haggle.
Sales tax is up to you as are all registration fees. I have full clear title available immediately.



This is probably the BEST British Bentley of the modern (post RR) era. It had the unique interior, the first 420 in the R, and one of the few true wide body cars. One of the few that was regularly lightly driven -- meaning no leaks. It sounds nice to get a car with 5k miles --- you will spend 30-40k fixing the problems caused by letting it sit. Combined with the fact that you will not find one more complete (as mine is missing nothing), and are unlikely to find one anywhere close to as nice as this one cosmetically, nor as mechanically sound (I have had zero problems, 100% reliable, zero leaks) -- and the fact that each year my insurance goes up because the value is climbing -- makes this a fun reliable modern investment. I promise you, you cannot do better on a British Bentley on this car, except price. And you get what you pay for.


Low price one time only because I want to get something for my wife for Christmas. This is plenty of time to get this for you or your spouse for Christmas!

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