Bentley Olympia Collection brings a century-old racing spirit to 12 Continental GTs
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Mulliner’s Olympia Collection turns 12 numbered Bentley Continental GTs into a tribute to the 6 ½ Litre unveiled in 1926. The special collection focuses not on new power figures, but on paintwork requiring 56 hours, patinated leather and details that tell the story of founder W.O. Bentley’s competitive spirit.
Two shades of green and 56 hours of paintwork
Just 12 individually numbered Continental GTs will be built for the Olympia Collection. Mulliner’s design combines contemporary craftsmanship with details from a luxury car of a century ago, while leaving powertrain specifications undisclosed this time.
The most striking feature is the Ombré paint finish: Verdant green transitions seamlessly into Midnight Emerald. The work takes the paint specialists 56 hours. Combining the two greens offers a new interpretation of historic British Racing Green, rather than attempting to recreate a particular original paint code.
Champagne Gold badges and a fine stripe along the lower body echo the metallic finish of early Bentleys’ radiator surrounds and switches. The Blackline specification adds a black finish to exterior details, including the grille, air vents and rear diffuser. Gold accents on the black 22-inch Mulliner wheels, in turn, recall the wire wheels of the period.
Base model: Bentley Continental GT; 12 individually numbered cars in the collection.
Body finish: an Ombré paint transition from Verdant to Midnight Emerald, requiring 56 hours to complete.
Wheels: 22-inch Mulliner wheels with a black finish and Champagne Gold accents.
Interior: patinated Coach Green and Cumbrian Green leather, black-stained walnut veneer and Bentley Rotating Display.
Powertrain figures, price and European availability: not specified by the source.
A French road encounter prompted a larger engine
The collection’s historical centrepiece is the six-cylinder Bentley 6 ½ Litre, whose production version appeared at the Olympia motor show in 1926. Compared with the marque’s first model, the 3 Litre, it addressed the need for a larger chassis and a more powerful engine to carry heavier luxury bodywork.
One of the more colourful episodes in its development took place in France in 1924. W.O. Bentley and three colleagues were driving a six-cylinder prototype from Lyon to Dieppe when they encountered a rival manufacturer’s test team on the road. Speeds exceeded 129 km/h in the contest that followed.
Bentley came out ahead, but the margin did not satisfy the founder. On returning to England, he increased the six-cylinder engine’s displacement from 4.5 to 6.5 litres. The later Speed Six from this model family won Le Mans in 1929 and 1930.
The Olympia Collection features a motif of that same journey both in the embroidery on the ski hatch and in the animated light projection that appears on the ground when the doors open. This brings the historical story into the car’s design without limiting it to an anniversary logo.
An interior inspired by patina, wood and rope-wrapped steering wheels
The interior’s main colour comes from Coach Green leather developed specifically for the collection, with a finish that recreates historic patina. It is complemented by Cumbrian Green leather. Black-stained, open-pore walnut veneer covers the dashboard and upper door sections, while diamond-pattern knurling adds grip to the controls.
Champagne Gold appears again on the seat piping, gear selector and ventilation controls. Box stitching in the same colour on the steering wheel recalls the rope-wrapped steering wheels of the 1920s. The gauges and their surrounds on the Bentley Rotating Display take inspiration from the instruments of the 1926 6 ½ Litre, and the display also bears the car’s individual number.
Each car comes with a Brooklands Watch Co. chronograph bearing a number that matches the vehicle’s. The watchmaker uses the same Coach Green leather as the interior to make the strap. The package also includes a green car cover, a handcrafted presentation box and a book telling the collection’s story.
Distinctiveness lies in the execution, not a published power figure
What chiefly distinguishes the Olympia Collection from a standard Continental GT is its cohesive design: the paint transition, historically inspired materials and matching watch form a single package. The announcement describes no powertrain or chassis changes, so there is no basis for treating it as a technical performance variant.
For European buyers, practical questions remain unanswered for now. The announcement does not specify the price, the number of cars allocated to Europe, ordering options or delivery times. Power, torque and fuel consumption figures are also absent, preventing a technical comparison of the special edition with other models.
