Bentley Turbo R - My Passion
Discussion
Right then, so partly due to wanting a nice car that the family can come out in (my Caterham isn't very good for that sort of thing) and partly because of this thread that Waffagolf started, I have done the decent thing and bought myself a Bentley. Not a Turbo R but a Brooklands, but I decided I wanted a Brooklands over a Turbo R. I'm in it for comfort, not for speed.
Having had a not-very-nice health issue diagnosed three years ago and something that I have to continue to live with which gives me what I now call a 'new-normal' (something so rare even my GP had not come across it before but thankfully a specialist neurosurgeon did) and soaking up the passion that Waffagolf embellished on here, I figured if I can't do it now I never will so I plunged in. And so far I have to say the water is very nice.
She is a 1994 Brooklands, pearl red and I bought her through a Rolls Royce specialist. Initially I discounted the car because of the colour but now I couldn't think of owning a Bentley in any other colour - ok maybe Wildberry. Fortunate really as my wife said I wasn't allowed a green one! Rust is confined to a small patch on the right rear wiheel arch and I can see she has had paint in the past but all in all I am very pleased. She is not perfect but I wouldn't want her that way. She seems to scrub up well enough and my plan is simply to use her as much as possible. I work from home so don't do a huge amount of miles.
I've had her a whole week now, she has had new tyres, new front discs and pads, had the aircon regassed and am starting to clean and feed the leather interior as it is a little grubbier than I would like. I feel that one of the big draws of a car like this is the sense of occasion each trip gives and I think that a big part of that comes from where you are sitting - it oozes quality like no other and I guess, yes, it makes me feel someone different and special when I am sat next to a modern Audi driver. Don't have anything against Audi drivers note and we have a none too fancy Skoda Octavia as the modern family hack so cars like that have their place and uses.
When I did the deal and waiting for the car to be delivered I started thinking of a name for her. My Caterham is rather unimaginatively called Katie, a name given to her by her first owner and I as second owner respected that and kept it, so that is how she has been known in the family the past fifteen years.
I got my kids to start thinking of names for the Bentley and of course we came up with lots of the usual 'beginning with B' names but then it dawned on me. Waffagolf called his Bentley 'Hattie' because of the number plate. I realised that since he and his Bentley and his thread inspired me to bite the bullet and go for it I decided that the name should reflect that. So with a slight twist I have called her 'Hetty' and I think it suits her rather well.
Soppy? Maybe but I can live with that.
Oh and the best bit is when the car turned up my wife said "Well at least you have the car for our daughters prom nights" which is great because my youngest is eight years old so I guess I have to keep Hetty for at least eight years more. Hurrah.
Waffagolf - thank you, wherever you are.
Cheers
SS
Some pics below cos everyone likes pics right?
Bentley 1 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 2 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 3 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 4 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 6 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 7 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Bentley 8 by snapper seven, on Flickr
Having had a not-very-nice health issue diagnosed three years ago and something that I have to continue to live with which gives me what I now call a 'new-normal' (something so rare even my GP had not come across it before but thankfully a specialist neurosurgeon did) and soaking up the passion that Waffagolf embellished on here, I figured if I can't do it now I never will so I plunged in. And so far I have to say the water is very nice.
She is a 1994 Brooklands, pearl red and I bought her through a Rolls Royce specialist. Initially I discounted the car because of the colour but now I couldn't think of owning a Bentley in any other colour - ok maybe Wildberry. Fortunate really as my wife said I wasn't allowed a green one! Rust is confined to a small patch on the right rear wiheel arch and I can see she has had paint in the past but all in all I am very pleased. She is not perfect but I wouldn't want her that way. She seems to scrub up well enough and my plan is simply to use her as much as possible. I work from home so don't do a huge amount of miles.
I've had her a whole week now, she has had new tyres, new front discs and pads, had the aircon regassed and am starting to clean and feed the leather interior as it is a little grubbier than I would like. I feel that one of the big draws of a car like this is the sense of occasion each trip gives and I think that a big part of that comes from where you are sitting - it oozes quality like no other and I guess, yes, it makes me feel someone different and special when I am sat next to a modern Audi driver. Don't have anything against Audi drivers note and we have a none too fancy Skoda Octavia as the modern family hack so cars like that have their place and uses.
When I did the deal and waiting for the car to be delivered I started thinking of a name for her. My Caterham is rather unimaginatively called Katie, a name given to her by her first owner and I as second owner respected that and kept it, so that is how she has been known in the family the past fifteen years.
I got my kids to start thinking of names for the Bentley and of course we came up with lots of the usual 'beginning with B' names but then it dawned on me. Waffagolf called his Bentley 'Hattie' because of the number plate. I realised that since he and his Bentley and his thread inspired me to bite the bullet and go for it I decided that the name should reflect that. So with a slight twist I have called her 'Hetty' and I think it suits her rather well.
Soppy? Maybe but I can live with that.
Oh and the best bit is when the car turned up my wife said "Well at least you have the car for our daughters prom nights" which is great because my youngest is eight years old so I guess I have to keep Hetty for at least eight years more. Hurrah.
Waffagolf - thank you, wherever you are.
Cheers
SS
Some pics below cos everyone likes pics right?
Bentley 1 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 2 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 3 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 4 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 6 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 7 by snapper seven, on FlickrBentley 8 by snapper seven, on Flickr
I have a 98 Brooklands R mulliner spec here in the US. It was my first RR product but I've bought several cars since. It's a lovely car but driving me crazy as I can't get past the alarm issue. I'm looking for a replacement alarm module right now which is somewhat hard to source. I know that there's a company that rebuilds them in the UK but they're not rebuilding for US customers so I'm a little stuck.
) although I agree with an earlier comment about the dash top but it's growing on me already; enjoy it.Gassing Station | Bentley & Rolls Royce | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff