Up Close: Bentley Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner
Whilst we were sizing up the new third gen Bentley Flying Spur earlier this week at Bentley Kuala Lumpur, we also had to opportunity to size up another big, posh and fast Bentley four-door that was present that day.
At first glance, it’s hard for the regular Joe to tell that the blacked-out Mulsanne pictured here is one of a kind. In fact, that’s exactly what this particular Mulsanne is. To be more specific, this is the Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner special.
The W.O. Edition stood as one of a handful of specials Crewe produced in 2018 to celebrate its 100th anniversary then. Just 100 units of the W.O. Edition were created, and this is perhaps one of the last brand new right-hand-drive (RHD) ones for sale outside of the UK.
As you can probably guess, this anniversary special was conceived to pay homage to the brand’s founder W.O. Bentley. Each features a few special bits that set it apart from the regular Mulsanne – as if it wasn’t special enough already.
Most interest, though, lies within the cocktail cabinet. Each W.O. Edition comes with one as standard and inside – displayed in a little window – is a bit of crankshaft from W.O. Bentley’s personal car. This is accompanied with a hand-illustrated image of said car in question, which is of course W.O.’s personal Bentley 8 Litre.
Besides that, the cabin is also decked out with four different wood panel types, copious amounts of leather, not forgetting lambswool rug carpeting lining the cabin’s floor – typical Bentley stuff, only slightly more posh than usual if we might add.
On top of this comes the fact that this is probably the last chance for anyone to own a car powered by the legendary 6¾-litre Rolls-Royce-Bentley L-Series V8 engine. We say this simply on the grounds that the Mulsanne’s actual final call, the 30-unit only ’6.75 Edition by Mulliner’ special revealed not long ago, may not make landfall here.
Said mill’s lineage stretches all the way back to 1959, and it retires together with the Mulsanne. Don’t be fooled by the mill’s age, Crewe has fettled with it over the years, making it better and more powerful with each evolution.
In this special, it delivers 506bhp and a baffling 1,020Nm of twist to the rear wheels. That’s enough to see 0-100kph done in 5.3secs, or to spill your drink all over that lovely artwork if deployed immaturely…
So, if you’re not at all keen on the new third-gen Flying Spur, this rather special and rare Mulsanne ought to sate your need for something that’s, well… special and rare. Of course, something this unique warrants an equally hefty price tag, hence its RM1.8million starting price *before duties and taxes.
At the time of writing, this Mulsanne W.O. Edition remains unsold still at Bentley Kuala Lumpur, but that might change anytime. And when it does, we’d like to ask the lucky owner if we can have just a quick go with it just so we can savour Crewe’s legendary V8 one last time…
