Tuesday 8th July 1980

The Bentley Mulsanne was introduced in Paris, France. The name “Mulsanne” is derived from Bentley’s motorsport history, which included five victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1924 and 1930 — the ‘Mulsanne Straight’ being the stretch of the Le Mans racecourse where cars reach their highest speeds. The Mulsanne shared the traditional 6.75 L (6750 cc/411 in³) Rolls-Royce V8 with aluminium alloy cylinder heads. Two SU carburettors were replaced by Bosch fuel injection on all cars from 1986. All Mulsannes use a 3-speed automatic transmission. The Mulsanne was based on the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur introduced at the same time and would be the basis for all Bentley models until the 1998 introduction of the Arnage.