- Torcal makes its first New York appearance.
- Torcal is Bentley’s first fully electric model.
- Flying Spur Art Car makes its US debut.
- Four glow-in-the-dark pigments over black base coat.
Manhattan’s West Village hosted a one-night gallery show at CART Department, where Bentley presented the all-new Torcal alongside the Flying Spur Art Car by Death Spray Custom. It was the first New York appearance for the Torcal and the US debut for the art car, with light as the theme linking the two.
Bentley Torcal and its illuminated grille
Following its global debut in London and US debut in Los Angeles, the electric model was shown as a Torcal S First Edition finished in Sequin Blue. Designed, engineered and hand-crafted at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England, it is the brand’s newest model line and its first fully electric production vehicle.
Its illuminated grille reinterprets the Bentley Diamond, a signature used since the 1920s on everything from wire mesh grilles to diamond-stitched seats. Robin Page, Director of Design at Bentley Motors, said that on the Torcal “light becomes an essential sculptural medium”, with illumination “woven directly into the architecture and surfaces of the car”.
Death Spray Flying Spur Art Car
British artist David Gwyther, widely known as Death Spray, is a self-taught painter whose angular graphics draw on vintage motorsport culture. He has applied designs to racing helmets, suits, motorcycles and bicycles, as well as five of Ken Block’s Gymkhana vehicles and the livery for the Supersports: FULL SEND car.
On the Flying Spur, hand-applied masking over a deep black base coat set out the graphic layout before a bespoke blend of white, blue, green and purple glow-in-the-dark pigments was layered across the bodywork. By day the sedan carries a high-contrast design, and at night it glows. Gwyther, who worked live through the evening, described “a striking ‘night mode’ in darkness that turns illumination itself into the graphic statement”.
CART Department and the car as art
The exhibit was organised in partnership with CART Department, a cultural platform devoted to the automobile as an artistic and social artifact. An on-site conversation brought together Gwyther, CART founder Larry Warsh and pop culture critic Carlo McCormick.
With the electric newcomer, the range now numbers six models, alongside the Continental GT, Continental GT Convertible, Flying Spur, Bentayga and Bentayga EWB. Founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919, the company has been owned by the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and employs more than 4,000 people.
Supplied by Newspress UK (Bentley)
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