1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur

This fabulous car - chassis number BC81AR - comes with a great deal of history and is well-known to the aficionados who inhabit the rarified world of classic Bentley appreciation.

We know this because we’ve tried to carry the huge wad of bills, receipts, anecdotes, cuttings, old MoTs, photographs, etc, up two flights of stairs at The Market’s Oxfordshire HQ.

This is a car that has lived life to the full.

Much to the chagrin of officials at Booker airfield, it once raced (and beat), a Ferrari driven by a Spitfire pilot.

Throughout its long life it has been variously owned by people with a great deal of (the right) engineering expertise and, just as importantly, endless amounts of care, enthusiasm and diligence.

The car was found and bought by the vendor some 20 years ago. Prior to that, the car had been sitting in a lock-up for another 20 years.

The vendor, a man whose entire working life was spent in the motor trade and who latterly worked as an Insurance Motor Engineer, set about meticulously putting the car back together to a standard where it could be used and enjoyed for extensive UK and continental touring – the activities for which it was designed and intended in the first place.

He succeeded.

The car we have with us today is not trying to be concours. It is a car to be used and enjoyed.

It is in excellent aesthetic and mechanical condition and, given half a chance, we think it would happily race off to the French Riviera with very little prompting required.

The following notes are from an auctioneer’s listing in 2019 (the vendor opted not to sell at the time).

“As the factory build sheets confirm, BC81AR was built to order in 1960 for GCV Brittain Esq. of Cultra Manor, Craigavad, Co Down, a motoring tycoon who had made his fortune importing and assembling BMC vehicles for the Irish market.

Finished in Midnight Blue with a red leather interior, special options included bucket front seats with armrests, electric windows, flame cut walnut veneers with a raised lip on top of the dash (‘to prevent small objects sliding off’), a pull-out tray under the centre of the dash, Blue Spot radio with additional speakers and electric aerial plus an illuminated Jaeger clock which was specially transferred from the R-Type Continental which Brittain traded in against the Flying Spur.

Our vendor acquired the Bentley 17 years ago from a gentleman who had owned it since 1977 and had lavished much money on the car, including a full engine and gearbox rebuild in 1987 at 148,000 miles (invoices on file). It then languished unused and in storage until our vendor rescued it in 2002, sharing ownership with a friend until 2008. A highly qualified engineer and insurance assessor, he set about a thorough recommissioning to ready it for continental touring.

Since it was returned to the road in 2004 it has always been in regular use…mainly on long distance European tours with fellow RREC members.

It has enjoyed a continuous process of improvement including a bare-metal repaint in Oxford Blue in 2010 (photos on file), and a full interior refurbishment in 2012 including professional renovation of the glorious interior woodwork [the woodwork was refurbished by the man who was an apprentice to the original craftsman at HJ Mulliner when the car was built], sympathetic refreshment of the original red leather trim, upgraded LED instrument lights and a rebuild of Brittain’s precious Jaeger clock which still keeps perfect time.

All five tyres have also been recently renewed along with the exhaust system, headlights, starter motor, engine mountings, power steering and brakes

The vendor reports that it drives beautifully, has never let him down and averages 16mpg - 19mpg on a run.Thoroughly sorted and sympathetically refurbished, this rare and aristocratic four-door Bentley is ready for a lucky new owner to drive home today.”

Very little has materially altered since that assessment was written three years ago.

The car has electronic ignition, a solid-state fuel pump modification, and a 12v cigar lighter socket under the dash with a USB lead (sat nav) hidden behind the left-hand windscreen screen pillar.

It’s an exceptionally handsome car, there’s no mistaking that, and it doesn’t take an overly vivid imagination to picture it parked outside the grandest European hotels 50 or 60 years ago, almost certainly with some impossibly classy and urbane occupants.

The svelte bodywork is free of any dinks, dents, folds, bumps, creases or ripples of any significance.

The vibrant Oxford Blue paintwork has endured the vicissitudes of time and use with commendable stoicism.

The chrome work, lights, badging, wheels and other external fixtures and fittings are all in fine fettle, although there is a little foxing to be seen on the chrome window surrounds at the rear.

The panel gaps and shut lines are good, but we noticed that the front passenger door sits very slightly proud of the surrounding bodywork (it closes perfectly well).

There are one or two small scuffs on the bonnet and some paint chips on the boot lid and n/s/r door.

There is a short crack in the paint above the rear number plate and a nick to the bodywork by the o/s/r light cluster.

Some stone chips are in evidence here and there around the front grille and on the forward-facing sections of the rear wheel arches.

There are a few micro-blisters on the roof and some small stone chips to the windscreen.

No, it’s not absolutely perfect but you really have to look pretty hard to find anything to complain about.

The good news continues unabated inside this very special car, where the red leather upholstery, wool carpets and glossy walnut veneers combine to create the ambience of a gentleman’s club and the promise of high-speed continental journeys carried out in supreme comfort and style.

The red leather upholstery has some deep creases and cracks, but probably no more than you’d expect to find in a car that first saw the light of day when JFK was in the White House, Psycho was in the cinema and Chubby Checker was in a twist.

The seats, front and back, are comfortable, supportive and functional.

The carpets, too, are very good, as is the headlining.

There are a few signs of wear (but not damage) to the leather around the door handles.

The veneers on the dashboard and door cappings are rich and glossy.

As far as we’re aware, all buttons, toggles, levers, switches and knobs do what they’re supposed to do.

The carpet at the base of the door cards is a little ragged in some places and is coming away from the underlying panel in others.

The condition of the boot (which is home to some tools and a spare wheel), is entirely consistent with the condition of the rest of this splendid vehicle.

The undersides of the car look to have a good amount of structural integrity and we’ve seen nothing that might raise either an alarm or an eyebrow.

Ditto the engine bay, where everything appears to be clean, dry, present and correct.

Clearly, you’ll want to see for yourself and reach your own conclusions.

The car was serviced in August, fitted with a new distributor cap and leads, and has an MoT certificate valid until September 2023.

The vendor tells us that all tools, large and small, also the handbook, are present and correct and stowed where they should be - even the little chrome handle for opening the windows should the electrics fail (it is clipped inside the driver’s door bin).

As stated, the car comes with all manner of bills, receipts, invoices, MoT certificates, tax discs, articles, cuttings, letters and original spec sheets.

You can find these in the documents section.

Convention has it that, in times gone by, Rolls-Royces were for fat cats, patriarchs, aristocrats and people who owned ball-bearing factories in Wigan.

Bristols, on the other hand, were for iconoclasts, eccentrics and people who’d had a bang on the head or owned a pet leopard.

And Bentleys - particularly sleek, fast Continentals – were most definitely for rakes, bachelors, cads and other racier sorts.

In our opinion, this quite wonderful 1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur is just the thing to bring out your inner bounder and give you and your many glamorous companions years of the most enjoyable, indulgent, pedigree motoring pleasure you could hope to find anywhere.

We like it a great deal.

We’re confident to offer this vehicle for auction with an estimate in the range of £70,000 - £90,000.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.