As the first-ever Vanquish Volante, the 183mph convertible will arrive in late 2013 – perhaps a little late for the European summer, but forgivable considering the fact that most will reside in balmier climes anyway.
Greece means many things to many people: Keftedes and broken china; an ancient civilization that gave birth to democracy… or, to some, the ‘Rally of Gods’, the fearsome Acropolis Rally. For over 50 years, the rally’s stifling dust and ultra-rough terrain have challenged the likes of Colin McRae, Walter Röhrl, Juha Kankkunen and Stig Blomqvist, to name but a few. The Acropolis demands a special breed of both car and driver to overcome its severe physical and mental challenges; and the cars below showed the right pedigree for the job.
Like so many successful marketing ideas of the time, it came from the German company’s North American importer, Max Hoffman (the man who also brought the world the 356 Speedster and the Mercedes 300SL ‘Gullwing’).
As a means of clearing stock of soon-to-be-outdated 356 coupés and convertibles, he suggested naming them ‘Continentals’, to emphasise the international, sophisticated European nature of the advanced sports cars from Zuffenhausen.
All Continental-badged cars were the top-model, 1500cc version, with many extras.
