The Versatility of 1994 Bentley Silverstone Roof

The P150 Bentley Silverstone is an interesting, versatile car.

Project 150 or P150 was the Crewe Project code for the Bentley Silverstone. The customer was Blackpool which is the codename for the Royal Family of Brunei.

The Bentley Silverstone was designed by Hawtal Whiting and built by ASC, American Sunroof Corporation from Detroit, who subcontracted Metalcrafters in California to do most of the work.

It is a coachbuilt car based on the Bentley Continental R SZ chassis, with an upgraded twin turbo engine.

An initial order of 6 Bentley Silverstone cars was secured for 1994, then a further 2 were build as an additional order in 1995.

Here are the details of each car built.

Marque	Model	Numberplate	Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Garage Pics
Bentley	Silverstone	KF8877	1994	SCBZH04A0RCH00301	Black	Black	Yes
Bentley	Silverstone	BN19	1994	SCBZH04A2RCH00302	Green	Green	Outside
Bentley	Silverstone	BN5995	1994	SCBZH04A4RCH00303	Green	Green	Yes
Bentley	Silverstone	BQ9989	1994	SCBZM04A6RCH00304	Silver	Black	Yes
Bentley	Silverstone	Unknown	1994	SCBZH04A8RCH00305	Charcoal	Black?	Metalcrafters
Bentley	Silverstone	BN68	1994	SCBZH04AXRCH00306	Red	Red	Yes
Bentley	Silverstone	KF8809	1995	SCBZH04C3SCH00476	Black	Black	Yes
Bentley	Silverstone	BN368	1995	SCBZH04C5SCH00477	Yellow	Red	Yes

What has not been spoken much about the car is just how versatile this car is. 

Essentially it is 3 cars in one.

• It is a Coupe, like the Bentley Continental R
• It is a Convertible, like the Bentley Azure
• It is a Targa, like the Bentley Continental SC.

This car was in 1994, so it pre-dates the 1995 Bentley Azure, which is a Continental R Convertible, and pre-dates the 1999 Continental SC, which is a Continental R Targa or Sedanca Coupe.

• The Bentley Silverstone has a hard top convertible roof - the Bentley Azure only a fabric soft top convertible roof
• The Bentley Silverstone has a fully automatic single section Targa roof - the Bentley Continental SC only has a manual two section hard top roof 

Let's check a close up of this special converting roof.

Notice the two sections of the hard top - a centre section panel, and a second rear section of the roof.

Now lets look from the rear of the car.

Notice that it does not have a traditional cut line for an opening boot or trunk.

It is quite a large boot, and yes there are two Bentley Silverstone cars next to each other.

It's quite large, as this boot is for the roof, and not for luggage.

This is how the 3 position Coupe, Targa and Convertible roof works.

The boot opens in the opposite direction than expected and is rear hinged. 

The rear window section has it's individual retracting mechanism to stow it in the boot.

The centre targa roof section also has it's individual retracting mechanism to stow is in the boor under the rear window section.

It's pretty cool how complicated and fully automatic this roof mechanism is on the Bentley Silverstone.

Here is how the car looks at a Targa or SC.

I like it. It's a Bentley Continental SC before the Conti SC existed. 

Here is how the car looks as a convertible.

It is quite special that this is a fully automatic hardtop convertible.

Now a top down look at the Bentley Silverstone in convertible mode.

There is no fabric roof to be seen here.

So how do you control this roof mechanism? 

Well first jump into the interior.

In the centre console next to the gear selector there are the roof controls. 

There are two control switches each with two positions.

The top switch allows for the selection of Coupe or Targa.

The bottom switch allows for the selection of Coupe of Convertible.

The Bentley Silverstone is such a versatile car due to it's 3 position fully automatic hard top convertible, targa or coupe roof.

What is interesting this that one of the cars has a different interior design. 

Here is SCBZH04A4RCH00303, where this photo was taken in 2001 in Garage 1 Upper Level in Brunei.

This car is the one with a different interior.

It has different seats, steering wheel, different dashboard and a redesigned centre console. 

The seat adjustments and seat memory functions are re-located to the door panel from the centre console.

However the roof function buttons of either a "Coupe or Targa" - or a "Coupe or Convertible" are located next to the gear selector as per the other cars.

This is actually the interior design of that of the Bentley B3 by Pininfarina.

Here are the two variations of switches side by side.

I just wanted to include this photo - as it actually shows 5 different Bentley Silverstone cars all in the one picture. 5 of the 8 cars made. Nice.

The graphic below includes the cars 2001 Location in Garage 1 Upper Level in Jerudong, Brunei, the Colour, Number Plate and VIN.

Garage 1 Upper Level in Jerudong, Brunei was actually at the back of HRH Prince Hakeem's Palace, though he no longer resides there.  

For more photos and information on the Bentley Silverstone check out more here.

And a special thank you to Hans Porrio for the photo from Schiphol Airport of the roof mechanism in action. This was taken when the car was on it's way to Brunei.

The Bentley Continental Turbo

This is rare Bentley.

It's the Bentley Continental Turbo.

That's right, it's a Bentley Continental with a Bentley Turbo R engine and drive train.

So it's really fast, but with an elegant body from the 1960s. Yep, a 1960s car with 1990s tech. How?

Well the SY shape of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and the Bentley T was shown in 1965 and Rolls-Royce and Bentley did not stop making them until 1995.

It's amazing that the same body shape car was sold for 30 years, a true testament to good car design.  

Only 8 Bentley Continental Turbo cars with the Turbo R engine were ever made, making this model quite rare.

• 3 were made in 1992 for the Royal Family of Brunei
• 5 were made in 1995 as a swan song, final send off for the car for the USA market

Here are the details about all the Bentley Continental Turbo cars ever made.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer	Numberplate
1992	SCBZD04D6NCH40091	Royal Blue	Blue	Brunei	Conduit Street, London UK	BM2277
1992	SCBZD04D8NCH40092	Graphite	Cream	Brunei	Presumed to be Conduit Street, London UK	BM2288
1992	SCBZD04DXNCH40093	Graphite	Cream	Brunei	Presumed to be Conduit Street, London UK	BM2228
21 Apr 1995	SCBZC03C4SCX50140	Brewster Green	Tan	USA	Carriage House Motors, New York
28 Apr 1995	SCBZC03C6SCX50141	Magnolia	Parchment	USA	Rusnak, Pasadena, California: ship to Conduit Street, London UK
13 May 1995	SCBZC03C1SCX50144	Midnight Blue	Royal Blue	USA	Palm Beach Imports, Miami, Florida
12 May 1995	SCBZC03C0SCX50149	Magnolia	Parchment	USA	Nesen Motor Company, Los Angeles, California
28 Jul 1995	SCBZC03C5SCX50163	Black	Black	USA	Rallye Motors, Long Island, New York

From the VINs we know that the first 3 and the next 5 are different.

Let's decode the VINs to find out.

• SCBZD04D6NCH40091

VIN Code	Meaning
SCB	UK, Bentley Motors
Z	SZ Chassis (Silver Spirit, Turbo R etc)
D	Corniche and Continental 1982 to 1996
04	6.75 Litre V8, single Garrett turbocharger, cross-bolted crankshaft, non catalyst, from 1988
D	Drivers only Airbags
6	Checksum
N	1992
C	Crewe Factory
H	Home Market (Right Hand Drive)
40091	Serial number, which also identifies the different series, 20000 series, 30000 series, 40000 series & 50000 series - which each series have different features or enhancements to the prior

So we know that SCBZD04D6NCH40091 is a 

• 1992 Bentley Continental Turbo, non-cat in RHD with drivers airbag, 40000 series

Let's look at the first 1995 version made:

• SCBZC03C4SCX50140

VIN Code	Meaning
SCB	UK, Bentley Motors
Z	SZ Chassis (Silver Spirit, Turbo R etc)
C	Corniche S
03	03 6.75 Litre V8, single Garrett turbocharger, catalytic converter, cross-bolted crankshaft from 1988
C	Twin Airbags
4	Checksum
S	1995
C	Crewe Factory
X	Export Market (Left Hand Drive)
50140	Serial number

So we know that SCBZC03C4SCX50140 is a 

• 1995 Bentley Continental Turbo, with cat in LHD with twin airbags, 50000 series
• the model does come back as a C= Corniche S, where this is a Corniche with a Turbo R engine in it, or a Rolls-Royce Flying Spur engine, where the Flying Spur is a Silver Spur with a Turbo R engine in it. Either way - it has a Turbo R engine in a Continental/Corniche body. 
• They could have just designated this model with "D" as they did with the 1992 versions, however Crewe created new VIN model identifier with the Corniche S, so they just used this - I presume that the "D=Corniche S and Continental Turbo", but they just forgot to add the Bentley version to the documentation. 

There is a further way to probe that these 8 cars are a unique named model at Bentley, and not just a specification variation.

That is to look it up on the Bentley Database. 

Not the Bentley erWin System that costs $35 per day to access - but simply the Heritage parts database.

Once you click on the Continental car icon you can select the Year.

Select 1992 - check it out - there are two vehicle models, the Bentley Continental and the Bentley Continental Turbo. 

The database then show all of the VINs that were made of the Bentley Continental Turbo for that year.

It results in the 3 x Bentley Continental Turbo cars as expected.

When you try and click on the VIN for the 3 Brunei cars is does come up with an error - but they are listed on the database - more in this below.

Let's do it again for 1995. 

Yes, the same result - showing the other 5 cars made in 1995 of this very special model.

These 5 VINs are clickable - and what is cool is that it returns the exact date the car was made. Like the DD MMM YYYY. That's unexpected, but cool - you can check out directly from the Bentley database the exact day any car was made! This date is the date the car left the factory, it's not when construction started or when the car was delivered.


Now for some speculation about this special model.

I presume that in 1992 this Bentley model was initially a special model for the Royal Family of Brunei. 

It was not a model available on any brochure - it's not like their was a demo car you could take for a test drive - it was not advertised, only 3 were made for the one customer - it was special.

For context, over 30 special models were made for Royal family of Brunei, namely HRH Prince Jefri and HRH Prince Hakeem by Crewe.  In addition many, many more RR&B cars were made for them by external coachbuilders like Pininfarina, Bertone, Hooper and Jankel.

By special models from Crewe it refers to unique often exclusive models that were sometimes only available to the Royal Family of Brunei.

Some of these models where then release as production models to the public by Crewe, after they were provided to Brunei.

The most famous Brunei exclusive models that them became production models were the Bentley Azure and the Bentley Continental T. 

In 1992 Brunei had put in an order for 20x Touring Limousines, 10x RR and 10x Continental R limousines and had also started to buy as many Continental R cars as they could get their hands on.

If HRH Prince Hakeem had said - actually, I'd like a Turbo R version of the Bentley Continental for my father, we all know what the answer would be - Yes, Your Royal Highness - especially as Crewe were struggling financially in the early 1990s.

By 1992 the Brunei fleet of Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars totalled at least 204 - so they had good standing as a customer.

So you can presume with quite high confidence that the Bentley Continental Turbo was initially made as a model for the Royal Family of Brunei, then later became a full production model a few years later. 

Interestingly when you put in the Brunei VINs into the Bentley Database as explained above, it come up with an error, which is usual for Brunei cars as they were often 'off the books'. However if you click through the year, the model, you can see that the VINs exist. Interesting.  

I would not be surprised if the 3x Bentley Continental Turbo cars were a sweetener as Brunei waited for more Bentley Continental R cars!  

What's great is we now have pictures of both a Brunei 1992 Bentley Continental, as well as most of the  USA 1995 Bentley Continentals - as well as build sheets for 6 of the 8 cars.

Let's check them out.

Here is the first known picture of SCBZD04D8NCH40092 in Brunei, taken in 2001.

It has Brunei registration BM2288 - so from a leaked Excel file many years ago from Brunei, we can look up the registration to know the exact VIN for this car. 

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer	Numberplate
1992	SCBZD04D8NCH40092	Graphite	Cream	Brunei	Presumed to be Conduit Street, London UK	BM2288

The 1992 Bentley Continental Turbo.

Straight away my eyes go to the wheels.

Hang on - they are not normal Bentley Continental wheels - they are part number UR72433 - they are from the 1992 Continental R.

It totally makes sense to but as much Continental R parts on the Bentley Continental Turbo. 

Especially when the Royal Family of Brunei loved the Continental R so much.

The seats are the standard Continental versions, as it was too early for Azure seats, as they had not commissioned that car from Pininfarina just yet.

How let's check out a second Brunei car. 

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer	Numberplate
1992	SCBZD04D6NCH40091	Royal Blue	Blue	Brunei	Conduit Street, London UK	BM2277

This is the build sheet of the first ever Bentley Continental Turbo SCBZD04D6NCH40091

Car Type: Bentley Continental Turbo. 

See it is a real Bentley model, to be delivered to Conduit Street in London, with a UK car phone, built for Brunei.

Royal Blue, nice, with slate interior.

With the radiator shell in chrome and painted vanes, as was the standard.  

The Production Deviations:

• Car to be built non catalyst with Turbo-charged engine - see attachment.

Now to the final Brunei car.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer	Numberplate
1992	SCBZD04DXNCH40093	Graphite	Cream	Brunei	Presumed to be Conduit Street, London UK	BM2228

We know it was the same specification as as the other Graphite grey car - but that is all.

Now let's take a look at the five USA Bentley Continental Turbo cars.

When you plug in the VINs into the Bentley parts database it comes back with:

• SCBZC03C4SCX50140
• Full model name: Bentley Continental Turbo
• YYYY (DD MMM YYYY): 1995 (21 Apr 1995)
• RR or B: Bentley Motors Limited
• RHD or LHD: LHD

Here is the first 1995 Bentley Continental Turbo made.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer
21 Apr 1995	SCBZC03C4SCX50140	Brewster Green	Tan	USA	Carriage House Motors, New York

It does look sharp. 

The chrome wheels are loud - they are part number UR72430 standard on a Turbo R.

Notice how this one was polished vanes and a painted grille - while the Brunei one had the opposite?

Well this is a specified option - that was at cost.

From the 1993 Crewe Sales Document:

Number 10 is the Grille:

Number 10:

Here is the Specification documents or build sheet for this car.

You can see indeed that it was specified with the radiator shell painted and with polished vanes.

SCBZC03C4SCX50140 was for auction at Pebble Beach by Gooding and Co in 2009.

It had an estimate of $175,000-$225,000 with no Reserve - the car sold for $231,000 (+BP).

Here is the interior. Someone did not like the ashtray.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer
28 Apr 1995	SCBZC03C6SCX50141	Magnolia	Parchment	USA	Rusnak, Pasadena, California: ship to Conduit Street, London UK

Here is the second 1995 Bentley Continental Turbo made.

Yes, it has now had a colour change to Claret and left California for Zurich. 

 

Well, it might not have ever actually made it to California, as it was requested to be shipped to Conduit Street in London. 

It was also requested from the factory to have a UK style front numberplate holder, not an American one. This car many have never eaten a hamburger, let alone seen the USA. 

Here is the build sheet specifying it's original colour, dealer and shipping location.

It still retains the polished vanes, but has had the radiator painted.

Now the wheels. They look a little different, because they are.

The actual alloy wheel is UR72430 standard on a Turbo R - but what is different is that the hubcap.

The hubcap is part number RH3150 which is the hubcap for a 1993 Brooklands.

Looking at the parts database is was also for the Bentley Continental - as well as this Bentley Continental Turbo.

Further build sheet information on this car below.

This one was even more special, as it was sent to Mulliner Park Ward for additional features.

Take a look at the photo above - it does not have a Bentley mascot of the grille, just like what was ordered on the build sheet.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer
13 May 1995	SCBZC03C1SCX50144	Midnight Blue	Royal Blue	USA	Palm Beach Imports, Miami, Florida

Here is the third USA Continental Turbo. 

Again straight to the alloy wheels.

These are 1992 Continental R alloys part number UR72433, with 1993 Brooklands hubcaps RH3150.

I do think it's cool that customers could order what they liked, or possibly just given what was available!

The specification sheet did change from what was made, where the standard polished radiator and painted vanes are shown, not the option to inverse them.

Also the main and secondary paint on the build sheet was midnight blue, but this has changed to a different blue.

These 5 Bentley Continental Turbo cars also had a Plaque on the centre console - numbering them 1 to 5.

This car has Plaque Number 3.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer
12 May 1995	SCBZC03C0SCX50149	Magnolia	Parchment	USA	Nesen Motor Company, Los Angeles, California

This is cool - the original advertisement for this car, by the Dealer that imported this car.

MSRP of $315,431 in 1995. That's $652,993.91 in 2024 money.

Interesting that they added Convertible to the title. I assume it was to make it easier to distinguish from a Bentley Continental R and a Bentley Continental. Then add Turbo to make it more confusing, not the Turbo R, just Turbo, not the Continental R, just the Continental. What? Yeah, not the easiest naming convention. 

I now have to comment on the wheels. 

Non-chrome Turbo R wheels UR72430 with Brooklands hubcaps RH3150. Again different to all other examples of this car!

Now to the build sheets.

The classic Mag on Tan spec, with cream roof. Very American. They toned this one down by not having chrome wheels.

MPW put in Veneered Door Trim Pads.

I've tried to look up photos - but I cant seem to find an example, as I don't exactly know how this option looks.

Year	VIN	Exterior	Interior	Market	Dealer
28 Jul 1995	SCBZC03C5SCX50163	Black	Black	USA	Rallye Motors, Long Island, New York

Now to the final Bentley Continental Turbo ever made.

Black on Black, with Black roof, Black headliner, Black tyres, Black door mirrors and Black grille. Hopefully it has black wheels, but I don't know. 

With double grey fine lines or coachlines to break up the blackness on the outside. 

No badges to boot or sides or car, so no one will know that this is. 

Also specify: PLEASE NOT THAT THIS CAR NEEDS TO BE THE LAST BENTLEY CONTINENTAL CONVERTIBLE TURBO BUILT FOR NORTH AMERICA.

In all caps. Nice.

It came with Plaque 5 of 5. 

With the Bentley Turbo R, Bentley Continental, Bentley Continental R and the Bentley Continental Turbo - I can see why even the build sheets mentioned a different name for this car by adding convertible to the mix - so people would not possibly think that this was a Bentley Continental R Turbo Convertible, which was actually called the Azure. I'll stop now.

I do find it funny that from the 5 of the 8 cars there are known pictures of - all of the 5 have different alloy wheel combinations. On the build sheets it just says if they wanted Chrome on the wheels - it never specified what actually wheel was meant to be on the Bentley Continental Turbo. Crewe probably did not even know! 

If anyone has more photos of these cars, please be in touch - especially the black on black New York car - with no badges. If they did not look at the 5th letter of the VIN no one will know it is a special rare Bentley - unless they see the massive Garrett Turbo under the bonnet.

And yes, I did look up if SCBZC03C5SCX50163 the black on black car shipped to New York was Ralph Laurens car, but could not find any info.

As always thank you to Marinus Rijkers of https://www.rrsilverspirit.com/ for so much background information, build sheets and photos.