Bentley’s new and exclusive ‘Ombré by Mulliner’ paint finish, that blends two separate colours over the length of a car, has been applied to a four-door sedan for the first time. The extraordinary new finish combines two complementary paint colours that transition along the sides and roof of the car, and is painted entirely by hand by the skilled Paint Shop artisans at Bentley’s Dream Factory in Crewe, England.
The new Flying Spur’s paint transitions from vibrant Topaz Blue at the front, to the darker Windsor Blue rear, with the fade occurring through the mid-section of the car across the doors, sills and roof. The process takes nearly 60 hours for two highly skilled paint technicians to complete, and starts with the spraying of the individual colours at the front and rear of the body. The transition happens across the centre of the car and is applied in stages, using paint that has been tinted using traditional mixing methods to achieve the Ombré effect – with extreme car taken that the transition is symmetrical across the car.
The Ombré technique is available in two additional colourways – Sunburst Gold to Orange Flame, and Tungsten to Onyx. Due to the complexity of how the two paints combine, the choices of colours that that are available have been specifically curated, to ensure a uniform and gradual transition between the two and to avoid a third separate colour appearing during the transition (for example, yellow to blue would yield green). Each paint colour behaves differently on application, and so the skill lies in how the paint technicians respond to the reaction during spraying. This means each car will be unique, but will look perfect to the naked eye – thank to the skill of the technicians.
The Ombré Flying Spur makes it debut as part of Bentley’s presence at the upcoming Southampton International Boat Show, that starts tomorrow and runs until 28 September. The car succeeds the first to be sprayed using this new technique – a Continental GT that debuted at this years The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering as part of Monterey Car Week. Further colour combinations will be released in due course.
