BENTLEY certainly stepped on the gas in 1959 when the old 4,887cc six cylinder engines gave way to the 6,230cc V8 that fans grew to love.

The Bentley S2 of that year was the first of a long line of V8s and it marked a sea change in the the power output of these large and opulent cars.

The truth was that the V6 could not be developed any more and the V8 offered lots of potential, but although having more power - an estimated 200bhp - it was not massively faster than its V6 predecessor at 110 mph.

Nevertheless, it was around four seconds quicker to 70mph and that made a big difference to those who wanted a bit more from their Bentley.

The larger capacity engine and the urge to exploit the extra acceleration came at a cost in fuel consumption, but at higher cruising speed where the old six-cylinder would be working hard the difference was small.

In any case, in those days if you ran a Bentley you generally did not worry about the cost of fuel.

This was a car of the real golden days of classics and made most other large fast cars of the time pale into insignificance.

The body shape was the same as the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II because both cars were made at Crewe and for badge engineering the company substituted grille engineering.

The S2 in its standard steel body remains one of the most iconic Bentleys ever. It was the sort of car that made people gasp with admiration whenever it whooshed past.

It also spawned the more expensive S2 Continental with higher final drive ratio which could top 120mph which was a sky-high speed for 1959.

The argument still rages as to which was the overall better car, the six-cylinder S1 or the eight cylinder S2.

I have driven them both and each was delightful in its own way own way. But the S2 felt a much more muscular car and had a more modern feel to it.

It was manufactured until 1962 when the S3 made its debut, complete with high compression engine and four headlights.