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Bentley Bentayga Field Sports by Mulliner is the perfect SUV for rich hunters

Though it's primarily used for wagon versions of two-door cars now, the term " shooting brake" originally referred to a vehicle that was used for people to go out hunting and shooting. As such, the new Bentley Bentayga Field Sports by Mulliner is a literal shooting brake, as it's been customized for hunters. Bentley and Mulliner received assistance from ultra-custom gun manufacturer Purdey to help design this Bentayga to be useful for hunters. The results are centered around additional storage. In the cargo area, there's now a large sliding storage unit that contains several compartments that can house all variety of supplies from first-aid kits to additional rounds of ammunition. Of course since this is a Bentley, there is plenty of focus on luxury as well, hence the quilted leather interior, and the space for champagne flutes and your choice of high-class alcohol. In addition to the main storage, there's an additional locking case for a pair of guns. This case is also leather-covered, and it fits in a space between the rear seats. It seems that this special Bentley is currently just a one-off. But we suspect that if there's enough demand, Bentley might consider offering these options. If Bentley does go through with creating hunting variants for customers, we'd like to make a few suggestions to improve on the design. First off, Bentley has prominently featured a hunting dog in the promotional photos. Anyone with dogs knows that when they're outside, they're at risk for tracking in dirt and mud. That's not something you'd want in your leather-clad six-figure Bentley. So perhaps Bentley should consider some kind of cover, like what came with the Honda Element Dog Friendly Edition but fancier, or even custom rear seat storage for the dog. It could even feature a hose and drier for cleaning up your dog, similar to the Nissan Rogue Dogue. And, though the storage solution that Bentley, Mulliner and Purdey came up with is quite nice, they could go a step further, such as with Bentley's own Bentayga for falconry, or the Holland & Holland Range Rover. The former featured beautiful cork chests in the back for storage, and a custom wood inlay dash. The latter also came with a lovely wood cabinet for guns and liquor, but on top of that, buyers would get free refills on liquor. Those are seriously luxurious features, and would be perfect for a hunter's Bentayga. Feel free to use these ideas, Bentley.

Ian Fleming's Bentley R-Type rediscovered in an L.A. garage

James Bond creator Ian Fleming commissioned a left-hand-drive 1953 Bentley R-Type Continental Fastback in Deep Grey with black Connolly leather as a gift for his American friend Ivar Felix Bryce. Fleming's choice of that car was probably no accident: Bond drove an R-Type Continental in the book Thunderball – one he bought as a wreck and restored, and he had it done up in gray with black leather. In Skyfall, this is the car that would have been behind that garage door. Gullwing Motor Cars recently discovered the real-life car wasting away in a garage in Hancock Park, Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. Bryce was Fleming's inspiration for CIA agent Felix Leiter in the Bond books. The US agent showed up in six installments in the series starting with Casino Royale, bowing out in The Man with the Golden Gun. Just as cool as the Fleming/Bond connection is this car's connection to the Bentleys of today. This was the "Speed" of its time, and like Continental GT Speed of one today, it was the fastest production four-seater in the world. A review of the time said, "it is difficult to put into words the gulf that separates a Continental from the average car in all the qualities that have a bearing on safety at speed." And you can see where those outboard lights on today's Bentleys come from. The Continental designation signified a power upgrade over the standard R-Type, and Fleming built it up with extras like rear spats, lightweight seats, fitted luggage, and a racehorse mascot. The Bryces flew their gift around the world to their various homes in England, Nassau, New York, and Vermont. After they sold it the coupe had several owners, ending up in the hands of a Beverly Hills surgeon in 1978, and according to Gullwing it's been sitting in a garage almost since that time. It has matching numbers and the original interior, and Gullwing says, putting it mildly, it is "an ideal restoration candidate." The asking price is $1,495,000, which is quite the premium for pedigree. Hagerty values a pristine example at $1.4 million, and two recent pristine examples have been sold by RM Auctions for $1.2M and Bonham's for $822,000. This Fleming car one went to auction at Pebble this year with an estimate of $1.4M - $1.8M but didn't sell, so don't be afraid to ask a few hard MI6-like questions about it if you're interested.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.