Review / 2020 Bentley Flying Spur: 6 design features that make this luxury sedan a work of genius
Bentley’s latest model is made for those who need the legroom of a private jet, the silence of a library and the type of stealthy prestige a Rolls-Royce is unlikely to offer
If you’re like me, you don’t quite know what an actual “flying spur” is.
Of course, we know the car. Bentley will be delivering the third generation of its US$214,600 Flying Spur sedan early next year.
But as I lounged recently in the back of a 2020 Bentley Flying Spur gliding down the old road running from Nice to Monte Carlo, I found myself wondering from whence comes that odd moniker. The courtly French-speaking driver operating the car, sitting about two meters in front of me, was no help, nor was the glimmering Mediterranean, in all its ancient wisdom.
Is it some cowboy emblem from the American West? A rare type of mid-Asian warbler?
Turns out, it’s Scottish. The name first appeared in 1957, bequeathed on a saloon known officially as the Bentley S1 Continental Flying Spur. Bentley’s design director at the time was Arthur Talbot Johnstone, of the clan Johnstone of the Scottish Borders, whose family crest featured an iron riding spur, suspended mid-air. So, fittingly, the front grill of Johnstone’s vehicular Flying Spur boasted one on its grille, flying through space while the car surged forward.
The automobile has since cut quite the memorable figure.
Bentley has re-evaluated its iconic marque from the ground up this year, a risky proposal for a large, expensive, long-running sedan that, if mishandled, could grow bloated and obtuse and, with a massive 12-cylinder engine, appear woefully out of touch.
Thank goodness for British restraint. The company, currently celebrating its centenary, adjusted the little things on the car with deft attention and articulated the bigger things with masterful skill.