So Bentley finally decided to go ahead and make the Mulsanne Convertible they’ve been pondering since 2012. Rolls-Royce’s decision to launch a convertible Wraith might have something to do with it. Anyway, it’s here, it’s grand, it’s convertible, and it’s called the Bentley Grand Convertible.

To be revealed in full at the Los Angeles Auto Show in a few days, the Bentley Grand Convertible is pitched as “the most sophisticated open-top car ever” by Bentley, and looking at it you can see why. The four-seater convertible looks absolutely massive and absolutely majestic… kind of like Henry VIII.

The car is probably as voracious an eater as Henry VIII, since it is powered by the firm’s ancient 6¾-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. Such motor makes no sense in this day and age, even for a top luxury car like Bentley. But the power it makes is so intoxicating, you just don’t care about being politically correct and all that bollocks. It makes 537 PS (530 bhp / 395 kW) and 1,100 Nm (811 lb.ft) of torque!

As you’d expect, Bentley Grand Convertible is a marvel of engineering inside and out with lavish paint job and a super deluxe interior with a silver “liquid metal” finish to the bonnet and windscreen frame and 14 naturally tanned leather hides respectively. The tonneau is another highlight of this Bentley as it features the largest piece of wood veneer ever fitted to one of these cars. It has a mirror-finished and dark-stained Burr Walnut and is finished with elegant parallel lines of chromed steel.