It’s been 80 years since Bentley moved into the Rolls-Royce factory that it has since taken over. Because this is Bentley, the company wants to celebrate. To do that, it brought in 107 different vehicles dating back to Bentley’s first-ever customer car. It has also created a special Continental GTC that appears to have been finished in the spirit of Barney the Dinosaur, or perhaps someone from the Dodge paint department paid a visit.
It’s champagne and Supernova Purple on the panels of this 80th-anniversary Bentley Continental convertible, created to celebrate this special factory milestone.
Bentley’s Factory Celebrates An Anniversary With A Color It Probably Doesn’t Like
Bentley Continental GTC for 80 years of CreweBentley
Bentley’s 80th birthday present to Crewe is an ombre-finished Conti GTC with airbrushing and numbers on the doors. The purple paint is actually two shades, one called Supernova Purple and the other Supernova Purple Dark. We’re thinking Mulliner spent more time doing the painting than it did coming up with a name.
It’s an incredibly bold Bentley, but surprisingly, the exterior works well. Slathering a $400,000 Bentley in a color straight from the Mopar catalog should be an abomination, yet the transition and the tastefully applied lower numbers make it work. Purple wheels, though? Someone at Bentley needs to apologize.
The headrest details are equally unfortunate. The airbrushed graphic on the dash that shows the company’s design studio is quite fun. Huge embossings of 80 on the headrests, which look like a bad rendering superimposed on a real photo, are not. It’s like the company is shouting out the age of its owner group.
This is a one-off car, so what’s going to happen to it? The company isn’t saying, so it might stay in the company’s collection. It might have to, but the real question is what will happen to the place that built it?
How Long Can This Old Shop Stay Up To Date?
Bentley Continental GTC for 80 years of CreweBentley
You might be more interested in the cars Bentley owners brought to the party. A collection of classics and more modern machinery, including some genuine race cars, made the trek. There’s something about seeing these ancient machines being used properly that just feels right.
The very first Bentley rolled out of its home at Crewe in 1946. The plant was actually opened in 1938, built by Rolls-Royce and the British Government to churn out Merlin airplane engines for the war effort. After the war, Rolls-Royce and Bentley were pushed to build their own bodies, not just chassis, and this was the plant where that happened for the next few decades.
When Rolls-Royce and Bentley parted ways in memorable fashion in the late 1990s, it was Bentley that ended up with the plant. Rolls-Royce, under BMW ownership, would build a new plant in Goodwood in the south of the country, and the two have remained geographically separated ever since.
Bentley keeps updating the factory to build its modern cars instead of letting it grow old and out of date. The latest improvement is transforming it into what the company calls its Dream Factory, which will be able to build vehicles including its upcoming Torcal EV. The EV will actually be assembled in the oldest building on the entire site.
