Some cars have it in their names. A Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge Stradale is, of course, meant for the track and a Maserati Quattroporte has, simply, four doors. When way back in the early 1950s, the suffix ‘Continental’ was added to a very fast automobile of its time, it meant only one thing – the fascination of an island nation to cross the huge European continent that lay in front of them. Needless to say, the history of the ‘winged B’ is full of cross-continental antics by exceptionally mad Englishmen. Monte Carlo to Surrey, a distance of 1,300 km in 17 hours and Eze-Sur-Me (a town that lies between Nice and Monte Carlo) to Boulogne, a distance of 1,200 km in 12 hours 10 minutes and so on. Continentals were always very fast cars, that could cover the Continent between meals if need be. And they were not stripped-out sports cars – they had space for four adults, who could wear hats if they wanted to.
Fast forward to 19th January 2004, Bandra-Worli sea-link in Mumbai. I was about to drive the latest automobile to wear the Continental name plate, the first all-new Bentley to come out of Volkswagen ownership – the new Continental GT, which is an unreal sight when seen juxtaposed to a suburban Mumbai backdrop. It is long (an Arnage is only marginally longer), has huge 19-inch wheels and looks enormously powerful even when standing still. The GT was penned by a team led by Dirk van Braeckel (who is now responsible for even more exciting stuff like new Lamborghinis) and he ensured that the lines echoed the flowing designs of Rolls-Royce era Continentals, yet with a wire-mesh grille borrowed from the marque’s vintage years. The result is a car that pays homage to, yet doesn’t try and re-create, Bentleys of yore. If the designers had Aston Martins as their target then they would have made the GT even more muscular, but for the time being the car looks a bit understated, a tad bland even, yet purposeful from every angle.
Inside the car, the interplay of past and present continues and it all looks damn good. Just enough chrome, lots of leather and wood at the right places – the Germans didn’t go overboard with the retro theme and the GT’s interior is a place you will feel comfortable almost immediately after slipping into it.
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