Project Bentley Continental
PART TWO: We take our Continental to the experts and brace ourselves for bad news. Paul Wager reports.
See a video of our Bentley here: https://bit.ly/49BEd9A
Last issue I signed off with the optimistic conclusion that after a faltering start to Bentley ownership, our second Continental project seemed to be essentially an honest car and a much better proposition than the overheating GT which was briefly on our fleet.
As we went to press though, the car was booked in for an assessment with Nigel Sandell (www.nsandell.com), the independent Rolls/Bentley specialist in Isleworth. What Nigel and the team don’t know about Rolls-Royces and Bentleys of all ages is frankly not worth knowing, so it was with some trepidation that we pointed the Flying Spur East down the M4.
Since acquiring, we’ve covered nearly 1000 miles which has given me time to discover any other faults which may have been lurking behind the scenes but so far nothing alarming has been thrown up. The engine management light has been glowing from day one which seems to be pretty much standard with the Continental, while we were already aware of the failed electric bootlid and the inoperative offside rear headrest.
One thing I had been keeping an eye on was the slightly sketchy nearside rear tyre which the MOT tester pronounced legal but which I wouldn’t have fancied being questioned about at the roadside. Accordingly, the Spur was booked in for a new Pirelli P Zero to be fitted, matching the newish-looking tyre on the other side. No sooner had I wandered off to buy some lunch, the fitters were on the phone asking where the locking wheel bolt key was.
You know the rest of the story... the car was turned inside out looking for it to no avail and liability concerns meant the tyre depot was reluctant to remove it using brute force. Off I went with the tyre in the boot, but on a whim called in at my local garage where they laughed at the challenge and within minutes had extracted the locking bolt using a 19mm spline bit and a big hammer.
New tyre fitted and a set of used bolts ordered, I was rather happier to drive the car on the motorway and off we went to Isleworth where Sandell’s resident Continental specialist Jonny O’Neill was ready for us with a laptop and a lift.
A full appraisal of this kind is very similar to a MOT test and covers many of the items which would generate a failure but goes beyond that in many ways with general advice on potential future issues and the general health of the car.
The assessment itself takes three different stages: a general appraisal with the car on the ground, followed by a session with the diagnostic kit and then an examination of the underside with the car on a lift.
Using a tablet computer, issues are split into green, amber and red, with the red naturally being the items whi
