God Bless Us Everyone: * Update * Bentley’s Design Auction Raises Tidy Sum For Hospital

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By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Bentley Motors

PROPS to Bentley’s Rich Gilmartin, member of the marque’s design team, who has spearheaded the Bentley Styling and Design Art Project for raising funds and awareness for the Christie cancer center in Manchester.

Bentley’s design team submitted various objets d’art that they created: sculptures, paintings, and photos showcasing Bentley design heritage to the automotive auction house exemplary Bonhams for auction to raise funds for the Christie.

The auction which I wrote about earlier last week took place in London today and succeeded raising a handsome £70,000 ($116,000) – a sum, it should be said, – that probably goes farther in the British Healthcare System than it would here in these United States.

Bentley’s press release states that Mr. Gilmartin’s efforts have raised more than £100,000 ($166,580) for the cancer hospital that looked after his own mother when she was ill.

While many car manufacturers try to find ways of giving to various charitable causes as part of being good corporate citizens, there’s something inherently good and organic about this initiative – started by an employee from personal initiative and then inevitably backed by the company – that makes this a most noble endeavor to which Bentley and Mr. Gilmartin should be applauded.

The intiative also reminds us, that the highest form of automotive design is synonymous with art. That Bentley is one of the few remaining car manufacturers that “gets it” is reassuring, indeed.