1963 Bentley S3 Saloon

Last of the traditional separate chassis Bentleys, the S3 was built in limited numbers from 1962 until the introduction of the downsized T-Type in 1965. The standard steel saloon was largely unchanged, apart from a lower bonnet line and the adoption of four headlamps in place of two and mirrored the changes on the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III. Powered by the 90-degree V8, first seen in the S2 of 1959 and essentially the same unit used in all Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars for the best part of three decades, boasted an alloy cylinder head, twin SU carburettors and a power output merely described as 'adequate'. Changes to the engine specification for the S3 included lifting the compression ratio to 9.0:1 and a nitride-hardened crankshaft. Driving through a four-speed automatic gearbox, the Bentley S3 rode superbly on coil springs along with improvements to the heating and ventilation system, better power steering and individual front seats. In total, Bentley made 1,286 S3s plus a further 32 cars on the longer wheelbase and 312 of the super desirable Continental.