Bright colors on cars are always a good thing, but occasionally you come across a particular shade that just stops you in your tracks. This morning, it’s the deep red on this Bentley Continental GT convertible Number 1 Edition. It’s a special edition paint on a special edition car and it is lovely.
The shade itself is called Dragon Red II, according to a company press release, which makes my inner science fiction and fantasy 13-year-old positively weep with joy. It’s a dark, almost chocolaty, sedated red that’s not your everyday scream-in-your-face-fire-engine-Ferrari red.
This is a red that is always ready for a classy evening out. It’s a red that would also look stunning as a lipstick, nail polish, gown, pair of pumps or a clutch. With a black or silver shoulder chain. This is a red that tips its server.
I love red cars (who doesn’t), but I have two chief complaints about them. First, it mildly irritates me that sometimes the red paint is the same shade as the tail lights and they look like they blend together. And secondly, I cannot edit a photo of a red car to save my life. For some reason, the details and curves always get blasted out whenever I try anything, so I always have to take special steps to deal with the red. No other color ever gives me problems like this.
This deep red would not give me any trouble at all, I can already tell. It’d interact with all kinds of light delightfully, from full and terrible midday sun, to lovely setting rays, to even a diffused, cloudy day. It would look great with any color of backdrop, from a gray cityscape to a blue-and-yellow-heavy beach setting.
The Number 1 Edition itself is a nod to the Bentley Blower No.1 race car from 1929. The modern Bentley is powered by a 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W12 engine. It’s basically the same as the other Conti GT convertibles, save for some paint and badge gimmicks, and Bentley is only making 100 of them.
You’d think Dragon Red II is the only color that it’d offer, but there’s also Beluga, which appears to be merely black. Bleh. And those reddish wheels, in a color called “Cricket Ball”? Hard pass. Red’s good on cars, not so good on wheels. Usually.
This is a red that would go great with my skin tone. Think that’s enough of a reason for Bentley to send me one?
