Classic pearls of the future - Bentley Azure
09/12/2016
The Bentley Azure, built on the platform of the Continental R, made its debut in Geneva back in 1995. With the help of Pininfarina, the coupé had been transformed into an elegant four-seater convertible and, of course, the 6.75-liter V8 engine from Bentley's own production sat in the front.
At more than 2.6 tons, the car was no lightweight, but the almost 400 hp provided decent performance.
Just over 1400 examples of this convertible were built up to 2002, and no more than 230 versions were sold in any year.
Volkswagen had already taken over Bentley in 1998, and the successor should have been launched on the new Arnage platform. But this had a BMW engine in the front, something that Volkswagen certainly didn't like. So they brought the old Rolls-Royce V8 back to life, gave it a twin-turbo and revised the convertible in other respects.
Production figures did not increase significantly, which was also due to the price, as the Azure was one of the most expensive cars in the world for its entire life. The second edition of the Azure was produced until 2010 (most recently as the Azure T), but the convertible did not receive a direct successor.
And why is the Azure a classic pearl of the future? It still breathes the spirit of the former Bentley owners, it has the classic RR engine in the front, it looks good and it is a convertible that was built in small numbers. It is also a joy to drive, despite its length of over 5.3 meters and width of almost 1.9 meters. It tastes of the South of France and pure luxury.
Today, you can buy these fine cars for a quarter of the new price or less, which probably won't last forever ....
More classic pearls can be found in the dedicated theme channel. Many pictures of the Bentley Azure from 2006 can be viewed in a specially compiled picture magic series.
