Building the New Bentley Mulsanne

Here is the full collection of "Building the New Bentley Mulsanne" videos that have been released by Bentley Motors.

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part One - Building the Beautiful Body

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part Two - The Art of Colour

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part Three - Engine

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part Four - Unrivalled Craftsmanship

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part Five - Assembling the New Flagship

Bentley Mulsanne Build Part Six - Testing and Sign-Off

They do give a indication of what goes into building the new Bentley Mulsanne.

Now to just see one in real life. Probably next year.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost Spotted

Chris from Palm Springs, California spotted this in the car park recently.

Yes, it is the new 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost.

The photo was taken in Rancho Mirage, CA so I have taken a poke around Google Maps street view to find the car park.

I think I have it. 


View Larger Map

Did you take the photo here Chris?

Thanks for sending it in.

A Shadow II Spring Drive.

How about we take a Spring drive with David, in this Silver Shadow II.



Note how level the car is when cornering.

Thanks David for posting the video.

Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner

This is Chassis no SCBZP26CWCH66731. A 1997 Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner.

Pretty much my favourite Bentley ever made. With all the good bits.



Ross Ewing have been employed to put it on the market.




It has the appropriate side vents and bonnet vents for a Turbo RT Mulliner.





The unique front and rear bumper bars, and side skirts with flared wheel arches are certainly special.



If I had of ordered the car, I would have specified a Hooper style small rear window, like this wrong hand drive one here.



The interior is just superb though, with a magnificent combination of turned aluminium and wood.





If you are in the front or the back, it really does not matter, as you can sense, and see, the speed.



I really do like a back seat speedo. I wonder how hard it would be a install one. It would certainly make a great addition to any Turbo R.




The Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner has the 420bph engine, and just 17 RHD versions are in existence, of a total of 55.



A red Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner in Canada is here, a white one State side is here, some factory Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner Renderings can be viewed here, and a couple of other RHD RT Mulliners are here.



It is for sale for a very cheap £35,000 for such a unique car, and is nearly certain to gain significant value in the future.



I really do want it, but importing it here to Australia would require me to own it and live in the UK for two years. Damn import restrictions on second hand cars!

A special thanks to Fabien from London for sending in the link.

If anyone has photos of Bentley Turbo RT Mulliner cars, please do send them in.

Bentley Suitcase Croco

Often ideas from Russia are a little different than what is expected.

Take this Bentley for example. It is called the "Bentley Suitcase Croco".

That is right, the Bentley Suitcase Croco. As in a crocodile suitcase on a Bentley.

The reason is unknown.



How they did it was that they wrapped the car in African buffalo leather, then proceeded to embossed and paint the leather to make it look like crocodile skin.



Again the reason to apply fake crocodile skin to the outside of one's Bentley is unknown, but here is the outcome.



Oh, and there are some dainty ladies in the video. They must have used up all the leather for the car, as their leather skirts are a little too short. More like a belt, but oh well.

Rush your order to Orha if you are interested.

Hedi Slimane and Rolls-Royce

I do not mind at all when high art and fashion come together with a little Rolls Royce and Bentley action. We have seen a number of examples here on Bentley Spotting. Vivian Westwood did her thing with a 1992 Bentley Continental, Romero Britto painted a modern Continental GT, David LaChapelle was mentioned here, we have seen Ray Mumford's Art Car, Bentley commissioned Bernd Lehmann to do an etching here and even MJ's interior design can be seen here, and more likely for himself.

Earlier this year French fashion designer Hedi Slimane took his lens to his very own 1985 Rolls-Royce Corniche in a studio in Los Angles, for websites Nowness and Dazed Digital.



Hedi Slimane has been the art Director at the house of Yves Saint Laurent and also worked at Christian Dior, where he became the creative designer for men’s clothing, and designed the line of Dior Homme.





One article states "He might have been far too young to drive one, but Hedi Slimane's obsession with the affluent car make Rolls Royce started when the photographer was only six years old."





"Sketching the car over and over in his note pad, little did young Slimane know that the car epitomises everything he would later on in life be known for, both as a fashion designer and as a photographer; pure luxury, explicit shapes and superior quality."



The photographs certainly give a creative view of the subject.





Slimane owns two black Rolls-Royce cars.



With black interiors.





These photographs really do show the quality and details of the Rolls-Royce through an artists eye.





I'll take one. Or two.






Also during the photo session, musician Beck recorded the 1985 Rolls-Royce Corniche starting up.

Give it a listen here.

Thanks to Nowness and Dazed Digital for the piece.