Bentley Mulliner Builds 12 Olympia Collection Continental GTs

Bentley Mulliner has revealed the Olympia Collection, a set of 12 individually numbered Continental GTs, each built to commemorate 100 years since the production Bentley 6½ Litre was shown at the 1926 Olympia Motor Show in London. Each car in this limited series wears a distinctive Verdant-to-Midnight Emerald Ombré finish, a paint process that Bentley says requires 56 hours of handwork by specialist technicians.

The Olympia Collection ties directly to the debut of Bentley’s second model line, the six-cylinder 6½ Litre, which joined the 3 Litre in 1926 and broadened the marque’s appeal with greater power and refinement. Bentley’s designers have drawn on this heritage for the new collection, referencing both the car’s engineering and a 1924 test drive in France by W.O. Bentley himself. The company says the new cars combine “contemporary performance and handcrafted luxury with design references to the marque’s earliest years.”

The headline detail is the Ombré by Mulliner paintwork, which blends Verdant green at the front of the car into Midnight Emerald at the rear. Champagne Gold detailing appears on the emblems, lower-body pinstripe, and 22-inch Mulliner wheels, recalling the nickel silver used on early Bentley radiator shells and switchgear. Each car also receives a Blackline specification, darkening the exterior brightwork, and subtle Olympia Collection badges on the front wings. When the doors open, an animated projection shows W.O. Bentley’s drive from Lyon to Dieppe in 1924, the prototype-testing trip that prompted the development of the 6½ Litre.

Front of Bentley 6½ Litre H.J. Mulliner Sedanca de Ville at Pebble Beach — Photo: Craig Howell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

Inside, the Olympia Collection has a bespoke color split: Coach Green main hide, treated with a heritage patina, is paired with secondary Cumbrian Green hide. The cabin is trimmed with black-stained, open-pore crown-cut walnut veneer, and the controls and dials are finished with diamond knurling. Champagne Gold appears throughout the interior, from the seat piping and gear lever to the organ stops and steering wheel stitching, which is intended to recall the rope-wrapped wheels of the 1920s. The Bentley Rotating Display incorporates special design cues, with the clock, dials, and bezels referencing the 1926 6½ Litre’s instrumentation. At the rear, bespoke embroidery on the ski hatch outlines the Lyon-to-Dieppe route in Champagne Gold and Cumbrian Green thread.

Each Olympia Collection Continental GT is supplied with a green car cover decorated in Champagne Gold, a presentation box, a book about the series, and a specially made Brooklands Watch Co. chronograph. The individually numbered watches, each with a strap made from the same Coach Green leather as the car’s interior, feature a chapter-ring design on the case back and interchangeable tachymeter bezels referencing Brooklands’ historic racing circuits.

Bentley hasn’t disclosed any changes to powertrain or performance for the Olympia Collection, nor has it released pricing or regional allocation details. The company presents the series as a celebration of finish and craftsmanship, rather than mechanical revision. “The uncompromising drive for excellence epitomised by W.O.’s Lyon to Dieppe spirited drive can still be found in Crewe’s Dream Factory today,” Bentley said in a statement.

Only 12 cars will be made, each with its own number, a set of accessories, and a Brooklands chronograph to match, connecting Bentley’s early engineering with the present-day work of Mulliner’s craftspeople in Crewe. The magazine has also looked at Bentley’s earlier Mulliner coachbuilt models and unique GT commissions.