By 1960 H. J. Mulliner had been acquired by Rolls-Royce. H. J. Mulliner were entrusted with the creation of the closed body styles on the Continental chassis with Rolls-Royce turning to the experts at Park Ward, who had been owned by Rolls-Royce since before the war, to provide the styling and construction of the future open variants in the Bentley Continental range. Whilst at the Turin Motor Show, some of the Rolls-Royce hierarchy had been impressed with the styling of an Alfa Romeo coupe created by a Norwegian designer named Vilhelm Koren. They were so impressed that the Norwegian freelance designer was brought into the Crewe styling office and asked to design the new Park Ward drophead coupe body to be fitted to the S2 Continental chassis. The result was quite a departure from the previously familiar lines of the Bentley Continentals of the past, with an all-new straight wing line, rear fins and new styled headlamps. Steel was also used in the construction of the body, with it being used to create the floor pan, sills, rear wings, and scuttle. The final product proved to be very successful and sold well much to the delight of the vindicated design team at Crewe.

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Chassis No BC6CZ is one of sixty cars built-in right-hand drive to Design No 991 by Park Ward. It was originally completed in July of 1961, finished in Valentine blue (M3 23782) with an off white (VM 3323) leather interior and a blue everflex hood. It was supplied by R. S. Mead Ltd of Maidenhead to Mr G Trapani also of Maidenhead in Berkshire. During the 1960s the car changed hands several times, being purchased by the following owners; Mr Bird of Warwickshire (September 1962) Mr J. W. Hartley of Birmingham (February1963) Mr R Harrison of Staffordshire (December 1964) and Mr R Commery of London (April 1966)





In March of 1968 Chassis No BC6CZ found its way to its most famous owner, Mr Ron Moody who is best known for his Oscar nominated performance as Fagin in the musical film Oliver which was released in 1968. Although the Oscar eluded him Mr Moody won several major awards for his work in front of the camera and on stage, including a Golden Globe and the World Theatre Award in 1984 for his performance on Broadway in another production of Oliver. Mr Moody kept the car for forty-six years until 2014 and during his ownership BC6CZ was maintained by numerous Bentley specialists in the London area as documented in the car’s extensive history file. The new owner who acquired BC6CZ in 2014 began improving the car following several years of limited use by Mr Moody. The mechanical works included the brakes being rebuilt, overhauling the fuel system including the carburettors, a new exhaust system, overhauling the power steering, a new propshaft, restoration of the radiator and overhauling the heating system, restored rear springs as well as general servicing and maintenance. The cosmetics were also hugely improved with the car benefitting from coachwork structural repairs and a bare metal re-paint in the cars original colour as well as restoration to the chrome. The power hood was also recently retrimmed in blue everflex as per the original specification from 1961. The present owner acquired BC6CZ in early 2023 and set about further improvements to complete the car to the standard he sought, with further significant expenditure. The finished car presents and drives beautifully following the total works over the past decade and is complete with two large binders covering the history, one dedicated to the car’s life up until 2014 and one covering the significant improvements in more recent times with invoices and photographs documenting the process. Chassis No BC6CZ comes complete with its original handbook and a wonderful back story.