On August 29, the RREC — the international club for Rolls-Royce and Bentley enthusiasts — will mark 80 years of Bentley production at the British Motor Museum, with member-owned cars spanning from the 1946 Mark VI to the current Continental GT.
Bentley’s Mulliner division marked the occasion by building a one-off Continental GT Azure inspired directly by a two-tone green and black Mulliner-bodied Mark VI from Bentley’s Heritage Collection, and the two cars will be displayed side by side at the event, pairing the brand’s first production model with its current flagship.
A Color Story Rooted in Heritage, Not Trend
Bentley now offers customers nearly 100 exterior finishes across solid, metallic, satin, ombré and Spectraflair options, but Mulliner’s designers bypassed current trends for this project, pulling the palette directly from the historic Mark VI.
The resulting Continental GT Azure wears solid Barnato Green with a contrasting Mulliner Black roof, matched with Azure brightware, a carbon-fiber Styling Specification, black-painted 22-inch ten-spoke wheels, black brake calipers and self-leveling “B” wheel badges.
Classic Materials Reworked With Modern Craft
The original Mark VI was trimmed in Connolly leather, walnut veneer and wool carpet, with an upgraded heater and demister supporting its grand-touring ambitions — advanced for 1946.
Mulliner carried that material story into the Continental GT Azure’s cabin, pairing deep red Cricket Ball main hide with Beluga secondary hide for a classic Bentley color scheme, then adding contrast stitching, embroidered Azure emblems, diamond quilting and perforations well beyond what was achievable eight decades ago.
The dashboard nods to the Mark VI’s burr walnut with a dark-stained burr walnut and Grand Black piano veneer combination split by a chrome pinstripe, while Bentley’s Rotating Display lets the driver switch between a touchscreen, analogue dials or plain veneer — the latter two chosen to suit a car built around Bentley’s past.
The car also includes Comfort and Wellness front seats, an air ioniser and a Naim for Bentley audio system, along with treadplates etched with outlines of both the Mark VI and Continental GT and an inscription marking “80th Anniversary of production in Crewe, 1946-2026.”
The Car That Started It All
Bentley’s Pyms Lane factory, originally built in 1938 to produce Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines, shifted to car production in 1946 with the Mark VI as its first model, offered either with a J.P. Blatchley-designed steel body or as a rolling chassis for independent coachbuilders.
Powered by a 4,257cc six-cylinder B60 engine known for reliably covering over 100,000 miles without major overhaul, the Mark VI found a strong audience for its understated style during a period of postwar austerity. Bentley built 4,001 examples before production ended in 1951, 3,171 of them with the standard steel body.
The two-tone green and black car now in Bentley’s Heritage Collection is one of 241 four-door, six-light saloons bodied by the independent coachbuilder H.J. Mulliner, originally delivered in January 1950 to first owner William Lount before joining the Heritage Collection in 2021.