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The Rolls-Royce Corniche is a two-door, front-engine, rear wheel drive five-seater produced by Rolls-Royce Motors as a coupé and convertible from 1971 to 1995.

The Corniche was a development of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, with the two door variants of that model marketed as the "Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward two door fixed head coupé & drop head coupé" until March 1966, when the Corniche name was applied. The exterior design was by John Polwhele Blatchley. The model was assembled and finished in London at Mulliner Park Ward as continuation of the 1965 Silver Shadow coupe and 1966 drophead. A Bentley version was also sold, becoming known as the Continental in 1984.

The first car with the Corniche nameplate was a 1939 prototype based on the Bentley Mark V and never produced because of the onset of World War II.

The Corniche nameplate stems from the originally French and Italian term for a coastal road, especially along the face of a cliff.

Original Corniche
Rolls Royce began marketing the Corniche in 1971, having registered the name in the 1930s. The original Corniche was a prototype based on the Bentley Mark V featuring coachwork by the Paris firm, Carrosserie Vanvooren. The single car undertook 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of endurance testing in Continental Europe before being blown up by a bomb at Dieppe while waiting at the dockside to be shipped to England.

Corniche
The Corniche, available as coupé or convertible, used the standard Rolls-Royce V8 engine with an aluminium-silicon alloy block and aluminium cylinder heads with cast iron wet cylinder liners. The bore was 4.1 in (104.1 mm) and the stroke was 3.9 in (99.1 mm) for a total of 6.75 L (6,750 cc/411 cuin). Twin SU carburettors were initially fitted, but were replaced with a single Solex 4A1 four-barrel carburetor introduced in 1977. Desmogged export models retained the twin SUs until 1980, when Bosch fuel injection was added.

A three-speed automatic transmission (a Turbo Hydramatic 350 sourced from General Motors) was standard. A four-wheel independent suspension with coil springs was augmented with a hydraulic self-levelling system (using the same system as did Citroën, but without pneumatic springs, and with the hydraulic components built under licence by Rolls-Royce), at first on all four, but later on the rear wheels only. Four wheel disc brakes were specified, with ventilated discs added for 1972.

The car originally used a 119.75 in (3,042 mm) wheelbase. This was extended to 120 in (3,048 mm) in 1974 and 120.5 in (3,061 mm) in 1979.

The Corniche received a mild restyling in the spring of 1977. Difference included rack-and-pinion steering, alloy and rubber bumpers, aluminium radiator, oil cooler and a bi-level air conditioning system was added. Later changes included a modified rear independent suspension in March 1979. In March 1981, after the Silver Spirit had gone on sale, the Coupé version of the Corniche and its Bentley sister were discontinued. For 1985 there were also cosmetic and interior changes.

Corniche models received Bosch KE/K-Jetronic fuel injection in 1977. This engine, called the L410I, produced approximately 240 PS at just above 4,000 rpm for a top speed of 190 km/h.

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

Production totaled 1090 Rolls-Royce Corniche Saloons, 3239 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertibles, 69 Bentley Corniche Saloons and 77 Bentley Corniche Convertibles.

Notable owners of this generation of Corniche include: Aristotle Onassis, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Liberace, Dean Martin, Zsa Zsa Gabor, David Attenborough, Dick Emery, James May and billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

Corniche II
The Corniche II name was applied for the United States market from 1986 and for other markets from 1988. Anti-lock brakes were added for 1988, but air bags would not be available until the Corniche III. Also new for 1988 were some detail changes to the interior. 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.

1,234 examples of the Corniche II were produced.

Corniche III
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. Minor interior changes included a revised dashboard, console and seats.



Corniche IV
The car was reworked for 1992 as the Corniche IV, presented at the Detroit Auto Show in January. By this time production had moved to Crewe, in preparation for the 1994 closure of Mulliner Park Ward. Mechanically, the IV featured the four-speed GM4L80 automatic transmission rather than the previous three-speed GM400 unit. Adaptive suspension was also introduced. Visually there is nearly no difference between the Corniche III and IV except for a glass rear window replacing the previous plastic unit. The top mechanism was improved, no longer requiring manual latching. CFC-free air conditioning was specified, as were driver and passenger airbags. In October 1992 a 21st anniversary Corniche was presented. 25 cars were built, all finished in Ming Blue with a cream hood with a silver plaque on the dash. In August 1993 an engine with 20 percent more power became standard fitment.

Corniche S
The last 25 Corniche models to be built, completed in the summer of 1995, were unique turbocharged versions and were called the Corniche S. In total, 5,146 Corniche Convertibles had been built, plus 1,108 Saloons (Coupés, that is), and 140 Bentley Corniches.

In total, 5,146 Corniche Convertibles had been built, in which the last chassis ever produced was SCAZCO3C25CX50156. The last chassis went into number 21 of 25 of the Corniche S models to be produced. Apparently 23, 24, and 25 were completed ahead of 21. This is the last chassis of the 5,146 Corniche Convertibles built (in 1995) and is owned by car collector Allan Jones of Cleveland, Tennessee. The dashboard plate identifies it as #21 of #25 but the plates were not assigned in sequence with the chassis numbers.

Corniche V (2000)
The fifth series to bear the Corniche name made its debut in January 2000. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive vehicle offered by Rolls-Royce, with a base price of US$359,900. Its production was ended in 2001, as Bentley became a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and continued manufacture in Crewe while Rolls-Royce became solely owned by BMW, manufacturing in a new factory built by BMW.

Production

 * Rolls-Royce Corniche: 4,332
 * Saloon (1971–1981): 1,108
 * Convertible (1971–1988): 3,224
 * Bentley Corniche: 140
 * Saloon (1971–1981): 63
 * Convertible (1971–1984): 77
 * Rolls-Royce Corniche II (1988-1989): 1,234
 * Rolls-Royce Corniche III (1989-1992): 452
 * Rolls-Royce Corniche IV (1992-1995): 244
 * Corniche IV (1992–1995): 219
 * Corniche S (1995): 25
 * Rolls-Royce Corniche V (2000-2002): 374
 * Bentley Continental (1984–1994): 421
 * Bentley Continental Turbo (1992–1995): 8