•The first Bentley Azure produced
•The prototype car internally designated P100
•Attractive colours of Sherwood Green over Sandstone leather
•Fresh from recent restoration work with Bentley specialists
•Comprehensive file includes documentation from Bentley and Pininfarina

Bentley built just over 1400 examples of its first-generation Azure, and this car has a significant place in marque history because it is the very first of those.

A specification sheet that was issued for chassis number SCH50801 on 1 August 1994 refers to ‘Project P100’, and shows that it was to be finished in Sherwood Green. The interior was specified in Sandstone trim with Spruce piping, plus Conifer carpets and Burr Walnut wooden trim. Listed under ‘options and extras’ were an airbag steering wheel, air horns and tinted Sundym windscreen.

The fascinating history file includes the full ‘Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars History Book’ tracing its build process. There are even documents from Pininfarina, dating from late 1994, that refer specifically to chassis number ‘50801 – Sherwood’ and relate to the car’s body panels.

There is also a 2011 letter from Richard Charlesworth, then head of the Bentley Heritage Collection, in which, having consulted records held at the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club, he says that ‘all the evidence points towards’ this car being the very first Azure.

It was registered on 6 February 1995, just over a month before the model was officially launched at the Geneva Motor Show. Early service records and invoices suggest that the Bentley was retained by the factory when new. After an Azure that had been lent to two journalists so they could follow the 1995 Mille Miglia had been stolen from an underground car park in Brescia, it’s said that this particular car was fitted with an uprated alarm system.

By April 1996, when it was serviced at the Rolls-Royce Crewe service centre, the Azure had already covered 23,678 miles. It subsequently remained in single private ownership between 2001 and 2020, and the paperwork includes a wealth of invoices from dealers and marque specialists such as P&A Wood.

Having been sold to a new owner in 2020, it continued to be maintained regardless of cost. Recent restoration work has included a respray in its original Sherwood Green and a full interior retrim, with the result that it is now being offered for sale in exceptional condition. Great care was taken to retain features that were particular to this car, such as the ‘Continental R’ identification plate on the driver’s A-post

Fresh from a major service at Bentley specialist The Beaconsfield Workshop, this Azure is not only a supremely luxurious four-seater convertible, it also carries with it the extra cachet of being the ‘Project P100’ prototype.