The Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine for the Royal Family of Brunei

• A Bentley with a Rolls-Royce VIN? - Yes
• A Continental R on the front of a Silver Spur? - Yes
• As a Touring Limousine? - Yes
• The middle row seats facing forward? - Yes
• No central division? - Yes
• Only make them in black? - Yes
• Make 10 of them? - With Pleasure
• Let's describe the Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine

It's fun to discover new things about Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars.

To describe a Bentley model that I do not think have every been described or published before is not an everyday occurrence.

Let me introduce the Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine for the Royal Family of Brunei.

The funny thing about the Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine is that the data about this car has been right in front of us for 17 years, and I don't think anyone has decoded it.

A bit of background. In 2007 an Excel document containing 492 Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars owned by the Royal Family of Brunei was leaked. 

I got a copy straight away and started to analyse the information. That's when I wrote about all the previously unheard of names of the coachbuilt Crewe cars and published the collection of all known leaked images of these vehicles.

In the more recent years Marinus Rijkers through his amazing research was able to definitively describe the coachbuilt cars of Brunei and publish factory documented photographs.

Last month a set photographs taken in 2001 in Brunei was leaked, where we could now see many on these cars in situ for the first time. This has sparked a renewed interested in the information available.

• 492 RR&B cars in the Master VIN list 
• 106 cars described as CONT.R
• Of the 106 cars - 8 do not seem quite right

Data of Master VIN List:

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00DXPCH80052

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00DXPCH80049

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00D2PCH80045

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00D6PCH80050

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00D8PCH80048

BEN CONT.R DPD SCAZW00D8PCH80051

BEN CONT.R NONE SCAZW00D1PCH80053

BEN CONT.R DPD SCBZW00D6PCH80047

Just by looking at this list of 106 CONT.R cars, it's easy not to notice that something is not quite right. 

The models are just described as Bentley Continental R cars - so they are not exotic like the coachbuilt cars with unusual names where these cars have simply been looked over.

Let's work out what is not quite right. 

• BEN = Bentley
• CONT.R = Model
• DPD/None = Numberplate, where DPD stands for "Di-Pertuan Digadong", which is an abbreviation of the Malay title "Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Di-Gadong Sahibul Mal" loosely translating to 'His Royal Highness, Prince, born of the First Clan, Principal Minister of the State under the Sultan' - a title given by the Sultan of Brunei to his brother HRH Prince Jefri. In short "DPD = Jefri's car".
• VIN = Crewe issued 17 digit VIN.

But the VINs are wrong - that's not a Bentley Continental R VIN! 

There are the occasional typos in the list of 492 cars, but there would not be 8 wrong VINs and car models - something is up with this.

Let's decode the VINs. I've written an article how to decode Bentley VINs here.

• VIN: SCAZW00DXPCH80052

The first 3 digits are the World Manufacturer Identifier

• SCA = UK; Rolls-Royce Motors
• SCB = UK; Bentley Motors Limited

Huston, I mean Crewe - we have a problem. 

How can a car described as a 'Bentley Continental R' be made by Rolls-Royce Motors? It should be made by Bentley Motors Limited!

• ZW = Silver Spur Touring Limousine

Actually it should just be 'Touring Limousine', not 'Silver Spur Touring Limousine' as there was 1 Bentley Touring Limousine (SCBZW02C5RCX80105) made in 1994 for a New Yorker, but that is another story.

So we know it has a Touring Limousine body - now to the rest of the VIN.

• 00 = 6.75 Litre V8, naturally aspirated, non-catalyst exhaust system
• D = Driver only airbag
• X = Checksum
• P = 1993
• C = Crewe factory
• H = Home market, Right Hand Drive
• 80052 = chassis serial number - the 10 cars are in sequence.

So in summary the VIN tells us that it's a 1993 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine. 

But it's described as a Bentley Continental R by Brunei.

How?

Further research has revealed that the Royal Family of Brunei made a special for ordered 20 Touring Limousines from Crewe.

10 Rolls-Royce Touring Limousines for 1992 and 10 Bentley Touring Limousines for 1993.

All 20 were to be black, have no division and have forward facing occasional seats. Very much a working government car for official business of the state. Nice.

The code name for these cars were RTL and BTL were RTL is the Rolls-Royce Touring Limousine and BTL is the Bentley Touring Limousine. 

This was in 1992 and 1993, just as Brunei had started to order special cars, so Crewe had not yet started using the Project Codename P###  style for these cars. 

Soon after this order, all Special Project cars would get a "P" Project number - for example "P144", and would use the VIN model identifier 'H' (the 5th digit) for 'Special Project' for Brunei - where P144 is SCBZH04A4SCH00257 a Bentley Continental R 4-Door LWB, which is actually currently for sale in the UK. 

For the Special Order Codename 'BTL' a Bentley Touring Limousine was constructed - and the even more special request was to make it a Bentley Continental R limousine, based off the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine.

Crewe were ordering car bodies-is-white from Park Sheet Metal of Coventry, and asked them to complete the 10 x "BTL" with a special order of a Continental R front end on the standard Touring Limousine body. 

So here it is - the Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine.

A big thank you to Brunei Bentley Spotter Dani Irfan for the pictures @dani_irfan

Photos were taken at the parade celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, his 50th year on the Bruneian throne on 5th October 2017.

@dani_irfan

It has the Continental R front wrap around bumper bar, the Continental R front blinkers under the headlamps, twin 9" round Bentley headlamps with body moulded surrounds and also it has unique front fenders or wings.

The front fenders or wings are different to both the standard Continental R and SZ Turbo R/Touring Limousine, as they do not have the more defined waist or belt line crease of Continental R above the wheel arch, but as with the Continental R has the lower bumper bar blend panel protrusion of the Continental R. The side blinker is in the position of the SZ Turbo R/Touring Limousine not the Continental R.

@dani_irfan

The wheels are part number UR72433 which are the 16" standard Continental R wheels from 1992.

From the rear, the badges say Bentley to the left and Limousine to the right, with the Flying B logo in the centre. 

@dani_irfan

The rear keeps the standard SZ pre-1996 metal and rubber bumper bars, where it is quite unique to have plastic bumper bars up front and metal with rubber bumper bars to the rear.

It is hard to tell from certain angles that the car has a Continental R front end.

Here is a second example, this time spotted at a different function on the 15th July 2018, with a possible 4 to 5 character numberplate.

You can see the side profile here quite well. Including the oval B badge on the C pillar.

It's certainly a unique car that I don't think has every been written about before.

Here is the list of the 10 Special Project BTL cars made for Brunei.

Year	Marque	Model	Numberplate	VIN	CodeName	Notes
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine		SCAZW00D2PCH80044	BTL	Not on Master VIN List
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00D2PCH80045	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine		SCAZW00D2PCH80046	BTL	Not on Master VIN List
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCBZW00D6PCH80047	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00D8PCH80048	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00DXPCH80049	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00D6PCH80050	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00D8PCH80051	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00DXPCH80052	BTL
1993	Bentley	Continental R Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00D1PCH80053	BTL

The Master VIN List lists 8 of these cars, where it is not that unusual for some cars to not be listed as part of the 492 RR&B cars, as some cars were kept in the UK and some where kept in individual Palaces, not in the main Royal Garages. 

The two car VINs not on the list are the 1st and the 3rd cars constructed, being SCAZW00D2PCH80044 and SCAZW00D2PCH80046.

Here is another example parked in the garages of Brunei, next to many other SZ cars from Crewe.

How about watching a 6 minute video of the Golden Jubilee Parade?

I won't spoil the Rolls-Royce and Bentley car spotting, but the Sultan is riding in the traditional a human powered Carriage or Chariot called a Usungan Diraja. Queen Elizabeth II also travelled in the human powered Usungan Diraja during her Royal visit to Brunei in 1947.

The cars start at 3 minutes, but unfortunately ends early. I'll let you google for more.

To demonstrate the forward facing occasional seat - here is a picture of "Project RTL" a special project Rolls-Royce Touring Limousine, where you can see a person, possibly an aide-de-camp seated in the occasional seat facing forward, where there is a principal in the rear seat wearing a tudong, a Malay headscaff.

The car is flying the a Brunei insignia indicating that a Royal is present in the car. I'll leave it to the Brunei Royalists to let me know which flag it is.

Of the 10 x "Project RTL" car made, 8 of these are on the Master VIN List. 

Here are the details of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousines, noting that there was an eleventh one ordered in 1993:

 

Year	Marque	Model	Numberplate	VIN	CodeName	Notes
1993	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	K1DPD	SCAZWO2A8PCH80019	None	Not part of Special Project cars
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine		SCAZW00A9NCH80028	RTL	Not on Master VIN List
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00A0NCH80029	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00A7NCH80030	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00A9NCH80031	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	DPD	SCAZW00A0NCH80032	RTL	Sold by RR in 1999 under instruction from BN
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00A2NCH80033	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00A4NCH80034	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	294D194	SCAZW00A6NCH80035	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine	NONE	SCAZW00A8NCH80036	RTL
1992	Rolls-Royce	Silver Spur II Touring Limousine		SCAZW00AXNCH80037	RTL	Not on Master VIN List

From the research of Marinus Rijkers, as described in Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine, 1992 - 1993 - we know that:

• 32 RHD Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine were made in 1992-1993
• 10 were BTL - Bentley Continental R Touring Limousines
• 10 were RTL - Rolls-Royce Touring Limousines
• 1 additional non-special project Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine
• 65% of all RHD cars of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine went to Brunei. 

This picture was again taken at the parade celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, his 50th year on the Bruneian throne on 5th October 2017.

@dani_irfan

You can see the Mulliner Park Ward badge on the C pillar.

@dani_irfan

Another example, part of the Golden Jubilee parade.

@dani_irfan

Here is one driving in London.

Notice the numberplate? Yes it's UK registration 294D194. From the table above we now know that this exact car is SCAZW00A6NCH80035 - the 8th Special Project ""RTL" car made, specified in Black with forward facing occasional seats.

The UK numberplate below is in Diplomatic Format.

• 294D194
• First 3 digits is Country Code: 294 = Brunei
• D or X: D = Diplomat; X = non-diplomatic accredited
• Last 3 digit identifier:
• 101 to 399 = diplomats
• 400 to 699 = non-diplomatic staff
• 700 to 999 = consular staff
• Charles Wright font not uses, is narrower font to prevent cloning 

Back to Brunei, here is a contemporary picture of an RTL at work.

Notice the flag? Yes, it is a state visit to Brunei from the President of Singapore, Her Excellency Halimah Yacob, while her spouse Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee. She served as the President of Singapore from 2017 to 2023.

Again thanks to Brunei Bentley Spotter Dani Irfan for the picture @dani_irfan

At another function in Brunei on the 15th July 2018 another two examples were used.

Here is DPD - Price Jefri in this Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine.

Now from the rear.

A further example on the same day, this time transporting DPB. 

The small rear window does look impressive.

So a quick count:

• 2 examples of the Bentley Continental R Touring Limousine shown
• Registration: DPM, cant see
• 6 examples of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Touring Limousine shown
• Registrations:  DPPW, PAP, DPD, DPB, 294D194, None
• More were used in the Golden Jubilee Parade as seen in the video.

The Silver Spur II Touring Limousine SCAZW00A0NCH80032 should be noted as it has escaped Brunei.  The car was actually with Rolls-Royce in the UK for repair when the money ran out. In 1999 Rolls-Royce was then instructed by Brunei to sell the car, so Crewe formally re-imported the car in 1999 back to the UK from Brunei and sold it. 

If someone knows where SCAZW00A0NCH80032 is now, please let is know!

And if anyone else has pictures of Bentley Continental R Touring Limousines please send them through. I've sure I've seem more from Brunei Parades.

If should also be noted that is car is not a Bentley Continental R Limousine. That is another car with Codename P280 which is a limousine based on a stretched and roof raised Continental R 4-door saloon.