While most of us use the time to recharge for the New Year, a privileged few take the holidays very seriously and want the festivities to last year-round. One such person has taken this to the next level and commissioned Bentley to build a one-off, Christmas inspired V8 Flying Spur and has called it the Reindeer Eight.
As with any custom Bentley, this Flying Spur's radical holiday makeover was done by the dream-makers at Mulliner, the British marque's in-house personalisation division. The client has worked closely with Mulliner to develop the unique festive theme and design, right down to the bespoke exterior colour and interior trims.
The exterior is finished in a deep red Cricket Bauble inspired by a cricket ball, with a monochromatic diamond-chequered pattern running along the entire lower half of the sides. The Reindeer Eight's front fascia is highlighted with a gold, 3-D reindeer in-place of the Flying B mascot. Simultaneously, the chrome strip on the bonnet gets similar gold treatment, tying in the entire front fascia. The standard V8 badging along the sides were replaced with gold 'Reindeer Eight' badging, making sure no one mistakes this big sleigh's identity.
In keeping with the car's theme, the Reindeer Eight has been spurred with 22-inch gold wheels with a diamond-like finish, wrapped with all-season tires for the cold climate for the owner's place of residence.
Although this Bentley is an uber-luxury barge, there is still some serious performance available. The owner has made sure that the go-faster potential is made known. Carbon diffusers and front aero splitter, together with carbon side sills and boot lid spoiler all work to improve the Reindeer Eight's performance at high speed. And of course, these performance bits have gold accents added to them.
While the exterior looks like a modern sleigh, the interior is comparable to a luxury winter lodge that showcases Bentley's superior craftsmanship. The one-off interior has a monotone Cricket Bauble red finish, topped off with personalised, hand-stitched gold embroidery. The Grand Blackwood veneer spans the entire dash and tastefully incorporates a North Pole winter night scene. Inlays on the door panels depict the end of the night's journey.
The seats of the Reindeer Eight have also been custom-made with a twin-flute design for comfort. As with the rest of the interior, the seat leathers have been hand embroidered by Mulliner. As expected from a Bentley, it comes with ventilation and multi-mode massage function. The gold stitching that adorns this festive marvel's interior is of the highest quality, taking a highly skilled 'elf' at the Mulliner leather shop over 18 hours to complete the 11,100 hand-sewn stitches throughout the cabin. Moreover, with over 115m worth of special (and very expensive) thread to work with, every hour is needed to ensure perfection is achieved.
As a Bentley first, the Rotating Display on the Flying Spur has also been 'Santa-fied' in the Reindeer Eight. Upon start-up, the car welcomes you with the jingle of sleigh bells, and the central dash rotates to reveal a 12.3-inch touchscreen, with customised naughty-and-nice menu layout. The second panel houses the three traditional analogue dials (outside temperature, compass and chronometer). In contrast, the third panel features the same Grand Black veneer as the rest of the interior, showcasing the North Pole's winter night scene.
The Bentley Flying Spur Reindeer Eight is a wonderfully joyous creation indeed, reminiscing the wanderlust of the holiday season. And with 542RP (where RP stands for Reindeer Power), eight more than the standard Flying Spur, this big sleigh packs more than enough power to bring its jolly red client on his one-night round the world trip, delivering gifts in record time.