Bucking industry convention, Bentley chose not to unveil its glitzy new flagship at an auto show, instead taking it to this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where many attendees can afford to buy one on sight. But no one was allowed in the car, and very few details were provided.

When it comes to convertibles, it's very hard to get them 100-percent right. This statement becomes a near fait accompli when said convertible springs from a nearly flawless (and flexless) coupe, such at the Bentley Continental GT.

For roughly 40 nights a year, a small patch of blacktop in Downtown Los Angeles becomes the most sought after real estate in Southern California. It's a parking lot across the street from the Staples Center, home of the L.A. Lakers NBA team, and unless you're a season ticket holder or Kobe Bryant's mother you're not getting in. Or so we thought.

"It's getting crowded in here," was a common thought as we glided up the 101 freeway between Ventura and Santa Barbara in our 2006 Bentley Continental GT test car.

In the past, Onyx Cars has typically stayed glued to the SUV lineup of a number of brands, but last year, something funny happened; the luxury tuner revealed a tuning package for the Bentley Continental. Now back to prove that that package was not a mere fluke, Onyx Cars has developed yet another tuning package for the luxury coupe, working off of the previous package they created. The new package includes exterior and interior updates, as well as a 20 HP boost over the original.

Meet the 2012 Bentley Continental GT. What do you mean, "Where is it?" It's orange -- how can you miss it? Yes, really, that's the new one.

Kit cars are an interesting breed. Most exist to make an iconic, super-cool old car accessible -- to folks who can't afford the original, to those who can't maintain or operate the original's fragile or archaic equipment, or to modernists who want the look and feel but with air conditioning and an iPod dock. They almost always sell for less than the originals, and most conceal mainstream corporate parts-bin components under their trompe l'oeil skins.

Snub-nosed and broad-shouldered, the 2012 Bentley Continental GT epitomizes the cliche "things are not always what they seem." Although it weighs more than many a sport/utility (5100 pounds) and looks like a prince's imperious weekend cruiser, the GT excels at doing what you think it can't -- in this case, blasting from 0 to 60 in an estimated 4.4 seconds and hitting a top speed of 198 mph.

The Continental GT is one of Bentley's sexiest machines ever, and the brand's best-selling model. In a diamond-encrusted nutshell, the luxurious yet athletic Conti GT is very important to Crewe. It has remained largely unchanged for seven years, and by now, the once undeniably eye-catching shape is showing its age.

Remember the Continental Series 51? Well Bentley figured that they shouldn’t waste a perfectly good tuning kit on one vehicle so they have applied the same treatment for the 2012 Continental Flying Spur.