All posts in “Bentley Mulliner Bacalar”

Bentley Blower meets hybrid at Monterey

Bentley came back to the US event scene for the famous Monterey Car Week with a four-day exhibition showcasing the latest and greatest from Crewe to the public, ultimately they would have over 2,500 guests join them with 100 test drives from the Home of Bentley in Monterey, it was also the first time Bentley Mulliner had all three portfolios together: Classic, Coachbuilt, and Collections.

The cars shown at the Home of Bentley continually changed over the period of four days, but the famous biofuel-powered Continental GT3 Pikes Peak remained a central point of attraction throughout the event, but one car certainly drew a lot of attention too, the Bentley “Unifying Spur” featuring artwork by Rich Morris.

Christophe Georges, President, and CEO of Bentley Americas, comments: “Returning to Monterey for the first time after rejoicing in our centenary at Pebble Beach in 2019 has been a fantastic experience. After the challenges of the pandemic, we chose to celebrate our customers, alongside our thoroughly modern and diverse range of new models, and being able to see customers in person after such a long time apart was a great experience for everyone. Monterey Car Week is always a highlight in our calendar, and was particularly special this year as Bentley continues to deliver the strongest results in the company’s history.”

Talking about the Bentley Flying Spur, Monterey Car Week was also the venue where they introduced the new Flying Spur Mulliner, the top of the line version in the Flying Spur range from Crewe that comes with bespoke Mulliner details like special 22-inch Mulliner wheels with self-leveling centers, a bespoke “Double Diamond” front grille and satin silver mirror caps for more elegance, and naturally an interior to match with even higher handcraftsmanship from the Mulliner team. Together with the Continental GT Coupe and Convertible Mulliner versions, these three cars represented the Mulliners Collections portfolio.

The second branch in Bentley Mulliner is the Coachbuilt portfolio, and that one was beautifully represented by the Bacalar Car Zero, the actual production prototype for the limited edition Bentley Mulliner Bacalar, the one that will not be sold, while the first customer car in the Bacalar series has been completed and is ready for delivery as we speak, the Car Zero was in fact repainted in a magnificent Scarab green and received a new upholstery for the interior, both specifically created just for Monterey Car Week 2021, this car was the star at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering on Friday, 13 August.

So how about the third part of Bentley Mulliner, the Classic Portfolio then? That was represented by something truly special, the actual engineering prototype of the Blower Continuation Series, another Car Zero at Monterey, this time a blast from the past that is being recreated almost exactly the way the original car was built back in 1929 as Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin’s supercharged 4½-Litre.

This development test mule had already covered over 6,000 miles during the durability program, but Bentley insisted on using this very car to drive around the Monterey peninsula every single day, with customers, guests, and representatives from the media as passengers in this world’s first pre-war continuation car, she covered another 350 miles with no issues whatsoever.

With Bentley’s hybrid cars becoming more and more important, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that both the Bentayga Hybrid and the new Flying Spur Hybrid made their appearance during Monterey Car Week, at the time of writing two-thirds of Bentley’s model range is now available with a Hybrid option, as part of their journey to electrification and a first BEV by 2025, Bentley already confirmed they will return to Monterey Car Week next year, August 15 2022.

August 28, 2021 / Comments Off on Bentley Blower meets hybrid at Monterey
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Bentley Mulliner finished first Bacalar and Blower customer cars

Bentley Mulliner is all about building bespoke cars, Bentleys that go beyond what the regular production versions offer, and this time they’ve just completed the first two customer cars in what really is something very special … on one hand, there is the state-of-the-art, very limited production Mulliner Bacalar Car One, while on the other hand, we find a truly amazing piece of automotive art, the Blower Car One.

Finished in the famous Birkin Green, the Blower Car One is a perfect recreation of Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin’s 1929 supercharged 4½-Litre, and it marks the first customer car of the world’s first pre-war continuation series being built by Bentley Mulliner, in a limited production run of only 12 units, at the time of writing Blower two, three and four are being built.

Bentley’s Director of Mulliner and Motorsport, Paul Williams, comments: “Seeing these first two cars now finished has given the whole team an enormous sense of pride. Years of work have gone into the design and development of these projects, and seeing them together is incredibly rewarding. These cars are totally unique, absolutely bespoke, and yet have been built to the same quality standards as any other Bentley. Mulliner is truly the only place in the world that could deliver a 21st century, coachbuilt grand touring Barchetta at the same time as recreating an iconic road-going 1929 race car. I’m excited for our customers to take delivery of their new cars, and to see the rest of the orders in both series come to life. Alongside the more mainstream yet still distinctive cars of the Mulliner Collections family, these are the first models of the Mulliner Classic and Coachbuilt portfolios – but there will be more. We’re just getting started.”

The development of the Bacalar has meant building a prototype to production specs, and take that ‘Car Zero’ onto the road for grueling testing, just to make sure the car the client receives is a real Bentley, even if only 12 units will ever be built, and each of those 12 will be unique, with every single detail specified by her future owner … to guarantee total privacy, Bentley Mulliner won’t even disclose where any of these Bacalar or Blower will be shipped to.

From the official press release:

Blower Car One
The first Blower Continuation Series car is a shining example of classic design, executed to perfection. The body is trimmed in period-correct Rexine and finished in bespoke Birkin Green paint, a recreation of the color of the original Blower on which it’s based – Team Car No.2, registration UU 5872. Built, owned, and raced by Sir Tim Birkin, the car is still owned by Bentley Motors and is run weekly. Car One is therefore the most fitting start to the Continuation Series that could be imagined. The Birkin Green body is complemented by identically colored wire wheels, with color-matched leather trimming the interior. The foldable roof is in black.

Mechanically, the car is identical to Birkin’s original, save for two safety-critical features – modern electric fuel pumps, and a foam baffle to the fuel tank. A dynator, a reworked alternative to the original dynamo has also been added, offering a more powerful and reliable charging system whilst retaining the look of the original dynamo. The engine is a brand new example of W.O. Bentley’s own 4½-litre design, featuring aluminum pistons, an overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, and twin spark plugs. Attached to the front is the iconic supercharger that gives the Blower its name, and is an exact recreation of that created in the 1920s by renowned engineer, Amherst Villiers. Power has been measured as part of engine sign-off, with the near-100-year old design reliably making 240 bhp.

Bacalar Car One
Alongside the Blower, Bacalar Car One has also been finished. Designing a Bacalar is an exercise in imagination, with the material, colour and finish of practically every interior and exterior surface being bespoke.

The carbon fibre body is finished in a bespoke colour for the lead customer – a champagne-tinted satin silver called Atom Silver. The car sits on 22” Bacalar Tri-Finish wheels, with polished faces, dark grey satin spokes and gloss Moss Green accent highlights. The same Moss Green accent is applied to the front grille centre bar, the insides of the headlamps, the upper body chrome surround and around the gloss black “power humps” to the rear. Gloss black also provides contrast to the A-pillars, grille meshes and surrounds, bonnet vents, side vents, lower body, rear bumper insert and brake calipers. The rear of the car is finished with gloss black outer exhaust tips with Moss Green inners.

The interior of Bacalar Car One follows the same black and green trend. Beluga leather is accented with Moss Green hide to the wings of the console, the outer seat backs and throughout the cabin as contrast stitching through the unique Bacalar quilting pattern. The seat centres use fine Nappa leather, while the carpets are beluga diamond-carved overmats with Moss Green binding and stitching.

Open Pore Riverwood over Gloss Black veneer with unique satin bronze detailing flows across the cockpit into the doors and behind the front seats, creating a circle of 5,000-year-old veneer. The details of the cabin are truly special, with:

  • Bronze finishes to the steering wheel and headrest bezels, upper ventilation bullseye vents and accent rings
  • A satin nickel finish to the clock and Bentley Rotating Display dial faces
  • Black anodised interior brightware
  • Bright chrome Bentley wings
  • Gloss black finishing to the speaker grilles
  • Bespoke Bacalar luggage, that fits behind the front seats, crafted in Beluga hide with contrast Bentley embroidered emblems and Bacalar
    quilting pattern in Moss Green with Beluga fine Nappa leather piping.

Finally, the key for Bacalar Car One will be presented to the customer in a bespoke key box, trimmed in Beluga hide with Moss Green stitching to match the car. The key itself also features gloss Moss Green to the sides, with a special Bacalar knurled finish.

Both Blower Car One and Bacalar Car One now shortly begin their journeys to their respective owners, while the Mulliner build team continue work on the next three cars in both series – each one as special and unique to their owners as these first examples.

August 24, 2021 / Comments Off on Bentley Mulliner finished first Bacalar and Blower customer cars
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Bentley Mulliner Bacalar Revealed As Mulliner Takes Charge

The Bentley Bacalar is the most exclusive and bespoke Bentley of the modern era. It was revealed today at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England. It was due to be revealed in Geneva this morning, yet with the cancellation of the show, Bentley executives decided to launch the car electronically instead!

The two-seat Bacalar marks a return to bespoke coachbuilding for Bentley Mulliner, one of the oldest names in coachbuilding. It also marks a return to bespoke limited edition custom models for Bentley, a stark change from the mass-production Continental GT and the Bentayga.

The release of the new model coincides with an announcement that Bentley will utilise Bentley Mulliner through a new three-portfolio future: Classic, Collections and Coachbuilt.

The Bacalar is the first model to join the Coachbuilt sector. It is named after a lake called Laguna Bacalar in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. The ‘Barchetta’ design “delivers the ultimate expression of open-top, driver-focused grand touring”. Top-down motoring sits at the heart of this two-seater.

The Bentley Bacalar uses an enhanced 6.0-litre W12 TSI engine producing 659 hp and 900 Nm of torque. Bentley has incorporated a rear-biased advanced Active All-Wheel-Drive System together with an adaptive chassis which uses Bentley’s intelligent, 48-volt Dynamic Ride System.

Bentley Mulliner Bacalar

Just 12 individual Bacalar’s will be released. Each one is designed, engineered and handcrafted to individual customers’ individual tastes. If you want one, tough, they are all already allocated.

The design uses the DNA and sustainable materials debuted in the EXP 100 GT concept car, launched last summer to celebrate Bentley’s centenary. The materials include ethically-sourced materials such as rice husk ash paint and 5,000-year-old Riverwood.

The Bacalar is also the first model to be produced in the world’s first certified carbon neutral factory. Each customer will get a bespoke Schedoni luggage to fit the rear compartment.

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March 3, 2020 / Comments Off on Bentley Mulliner Bacalar Revealed As Mulliner Takes Charge
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