The Rolls-Royce Corniche is a two-door, front-engine, rear wheel drive luxury car produced by Rolls-Royce Motors as a hardtop coupé (from 1971 to 1980) and as a convertible (from 1971 to 1995 and 1999 to 2002). The Corniche was a development of the Mulliner Park Ward two-door versions of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. These were designated as the 2-door Saloon and Drophead Coupé, introduced in 1965 and 1966 respectively. Production remained in London at Mulliner Park Ward; the new name was applied in March 1971. A Bentley version of the Corniche was also produced. It became known as the Bentley Continental from 1984 to 1995. The Corniche draws its name from the experimental 1939 Corniche prototype. The name originally comes from the French word corniche, a coastal road, especially along the face of a cliff, most notably the Grande Corniche along the French Riviera above the principality of Monaco. 1939 experimental Corniche The first car with the Corniche nameplate was a 1939 prototype based on the Bentley Mark V, featuring coachwork designed in collaboration with several third parties, most prominent of which acclaimed French designer Georges Paulin, built by Parisian firm Carrosserie Vanvooren. 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. No production model was ever manufactured because of the onset of World War II, but the company registered the name for the future. Theunique 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. Corniche I (1971-1987) 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. De-smogged export models retained the twin SUs until 1980, when Bosch fuel injection was added. A three-speed automatic transmission (a Turbo Hydramatic 400 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