[4][5] It undertook 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of endurance testing in Continental Europe before being blown up by a bomb at a dock in Dieppe while awaiting shipment back to England.

The unique car was fully re-created by Bentley's Mulliner division to join the company's heritage fleet; construction of the recreation was completed in 2019.

David Bowie, Michael Caine, Elton John and Dean Martin put their names on two-year-long waiting lists.

Difference included rack-and-pinion steering,[12] alloy and rubber bumpers, aluminium radiator, oil cooler and a bi-level air conditioning system was added.

[13] The Bentley version was updated in July 1984 with a new name, the Continental,[14] revised and color-coded bumpers, rear view mirrors, a new dash and improvements to the seats.

Later in 1988 there was also a new reverse warning lens type and pattern around the rear license plate, as well as newly designed seats and redesigned instrumentation.

[6] The Corniche III was introduced at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show with new alloy wheels, color-coded bumpers, a more advanced suspension system, air bags and MK-Motronic fuel injections.

The car was reworked for 1992 as the Corniche IV, presented at the January North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Visually there is nearly no difference between the Corniche III and IV except for a glass rear window replacing the previous plastic unit.

Twenty-five cars were built, all finished in Ming Blue with a cream hood with a silver plaque on the dash.

384 Corniche V were made with the last 45 being designated as "Final Series" Corniches and production ended in August 2002, after Bentley had become a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and took over the Crewe manufacturing site while the rights to the Rolls-Royce name and trademarks were licensed by Rolls-Royce Aero Engines to BMW, building their cars in a new factory built by BMW on the Goodwood Estate near Chichester, West Sussex.