Yellow. They chose yellow! Bentley’s bespoke coachbuilding division, Mulliner, pulled the virtual wraps off its first limited-edition car – the Bacalar – last month, and to showcase its fine craftsmanship and breadth of customisation… the Mulliner boys and girls painted it yellow. 

Oopsie, correction: the paint was actually called ‘Yellow Fire’ And very striking it was too. But no doubt, it will have offended many of you. Is yellow an appropriate colour for the raffish, caddish, out-of-my-way-indeed character of a Bentley?

Well, allow Bentley Mulliner to present you with some other options, and the inspiration behind them. There will only ever be 12 Bacalars, each already sold with the owners paying £1.5million each for the privilege of speccing one. Here are some Bentley designed earlier, with names pinched from a Jack Wills catalogue. 

First up, ‘The Clerkenwell’ spec. It’s all lurid greens and dark browns, named after the central London borough but actually inspired by the Brooklands racetrack. There’s tweed and bronzed metalwork. This is the Bacalar that Queen Boadicea would’ve driven into battle.

Next, ‘The Menlo’. Titled after the tech haven of Menlo Park in Palo Alto California, the ambitious combo of blue’n’yellow actually works rather well, we think. Slight coastguard vibes, perhaps. They should’ve called it the Bacalar Baywatch.

Not for you? Okay then, how does ‘The Fulton’ grab you? This retains the 5,000-year old wood trim from the yellow Geneva-that-never-was showcar (which is incidentally known as ‘The Randwick’), but cloaks the body in an altogether more gentlemanly deep red paintwork. It owes its name to the Fulton River district of Chicago – the windy city. Spot on, for a 320+km/h roofless GT.

Still no? My my, aren’t we picky today. How about ‘The Greenwich’? Inspired by tailored suits, it teams grey paintwork with a red ‘cricket ball’ leather interior and yet more very old wood. Howzat? 

And finally, Bentley gives you ‘The Brickell’, featuring real bricks and concrete for a five-tonne kerbweight. Not really. In fact, this Bacalar’s inspired by Miami’s financial district, and as such its subtle silver paint is zapped with a flash of orange Bentley calls ‘Hyperactive’. One for absolute bankers there. 

Think you can do better? Bentley dares you. No, really. Crewe has sent out blank pictures of the Bacalar’s sumptuous interior and brutal exterior.

Print them out, colour them in any which way you choose, and the best will be judged by Mulliner’s design team and showcased on Bentley’s Twitter feed. It could be the easiest job interview ever. To the colouring pencils!

STORY Ollie Kew