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Books Models Highlights Cars
of 1998 More Bentleys in these books:
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Car
of the Month - October 2002
Usually the company records are the most correct source of information as regards any peculiarities of a certain motor car. As regards Rolls-Royce and Bentley "Chassis Cards" are considered to inform precisely about specifications that had been ordered as well as details from the production period and very often noted there is when a car changed hands during later years, too. However the Chassis Card of the Bentley S2 Continental with chassis number BC110AR gives that car off as a 4-Door-Saloon by James Young; subsequently it was listed as such in several books on Bentley. But this car was finished as a Two Door Saloon; one of the - rare - examples of company records not informing entirely correct.
 No
error though as regards the coachbuilder. At a quick glance it isn't easy
to distinguish two door saloons by James Young from those by H.J. Mulliner,
because their designs didn't differ too much. Experts know that James
Young's version is distinguishable by the continuous swageline across the
front and rear wings, whereas H.J. Mulliner didn't decide on an unbroken
line. Exclusively James Young is the distinctive door handle with square
push button. Such features as sharp corners at the bottom of the
windscreen are James Young styling, too, whereas other coachbuilders
preferred a 'rounded' line.
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(Photos: Courtesy of Dr. M. Nowka, Germany) |
The
credit for this graceful design belongs with A.F. McNeil, James Young's
Chief Designer. He had started his career prior to WWII with J. Gurney
Nutting. - After the war he worked for both companies because they had
been acquired by the Jack Barclay organisation. This design of a two door
saloon with slim pillars supporting the roof, almost filigree, met with
much acclaim as being exceptionally beautiful. Indeed it was carried on -
slightly modified - for the following