THE TURBO REVOLUTION

“Simply massive” was how Autocar summed up the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo in its first road test of this unlikely new performance hero back in 1982. And it’s a phrase that neatly sums up the entire vehicle: simple, massive… but with an almighty kick that back then hadn’t previously been found in a saloon of such size. It may have started out as a not-entirely-serious side project but once developed into a production model, the appeal of the go-faster Mulsanne and the subsequent Turbo R effectively created an entirely new market segment. More than that though, it single-handedly ensured the revival of the long-sidelined Bentley marque, to the point where it would eventually become a desirable prize for the top German car makers.

Given the cost of designing all-new luxury saloons from scratch, it came as no surprise to find that the new Bentley Mulsanne of 1980 was little more than a badge-engineered version of that year’s Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. Both cars employed what’s known as Rolls-Royce’s SZ platform, which was closely derived from the older SY platform that had underpinned the Silver Shadow since 1965 - and it was this that had effectively limited Bentley to the status of sidekick.

Despite its prestige and brand appeal, Rolls-Royce in the early 1970s was in a financially precarious state. February ’71 had seen the parent company collapse following difficulties with the development of the RB211 aero engine. The car division’s profitability was unaffected despite production being temporarily halted, and it was eventually hived off in 1973 as Rolls-Royce Motors. At this point it was free of any financial issues surrounding the Rolls-Royce aero engine business, but was instantly relegated to a tiny player with slender resources, competing in an arena with well-funded opponents like Daimler-Benz, BMW and even Cadillac.

This meant that a replacement for the Silver