High Road
Heavenly Body
Seeing stars in Bentley’s new Continental GTC convertible
BY HOWARD WALKER
With explosive 552 horsepower wrapped in a gorgeously hand-crafted package, the GTC is the third in Bentley’s triumvirate of Continentals.
If you thought the Big Dipper was the nickname for ’50s rocker Jerry Lee Lewis, sadly you’d be wrong. You’d be wrong, too, if you thought Venus the “star” was Serena’s sister. And pul-ease, Orion’s Belt is not something you get in sizes 32 to 48 at Brooks Brothers.
The Big Dipper actually refers to the seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. The “dipper” bit reflects the way the stars form the shape of a large ladle. And Venus, obviously, is the planet, not the tennis diva.
In the words of British actor Maurice Micklewhite Jr. (better-known as Michael Caine), not a lot of people know that.
I’ve become something of an authority on celestial bodies after having spent a few days — and more important, a few nights — behind the wheel of Bentley’s glorious Continental GTC convertible.
While it may be powered by a twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder engine that has enough explosive power to launch a Saturn V rocket — 552-horsepower, to be precise — its best performance figure is actually 25.
That’s the number of seconds it takes for the Bentley’s massive cloth roof to unlatch, power back, and stow beneath a hard rear cover.
Find yourself a secluded late-night parking spot with just you and your honey, preferably away from the bright lights of the city, drop the top, recline your armchair-like seats, and sit back and look up in wonderment.
The GTC is the third in Bentley’s triumvirate of Continentals that started with the two-door GT coupe in 2003 and the four-door Flying Spur in 2005. While it might look like a GT coupe with its roof surgically removed, this GTC is far more technically sophisticated than that. More than half the body shell is unique to the drop-top. And to replace the body’s rigidity lost from chopping the top, there’s enough added steel reinforcement to frame an office building. While this may add an extra 240 pounds compared to the coupe, it does result in best-in-class body stiffness.
The top itself is arguably the finest piece of canvas since the Mona Lisa. It’s made up of three thick layers stretched over seven aluminum bows with more padding than John Travolta’s dress in Hairspray.
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