It can be hard to accept when such innocent good looks conceal bad deeds. Rather like the ‘butter wouldn't melt’ expression adopted by an angelic child accused of drawing on the walls, you could gaze at this graceful Bentley Flying Spur and assume nothing so pretty would do you wrong. Superb engineering, fine craftsmanship, aluminium bodywork – no rust there. And if it came with a fresh MoT and a promise to deliver it to your doorstep, you may well shake hands on the deal.
Alan Rowlinson's decision to buy the car was an understandable one, then – many of us would have done likewise. As Alan admits, it was a case of ‘right place, right time’, with no pre-existing plan to seek out the best S3 Flying Spur he could find.
‘I had owned a Silver Shadow since 1991, when I joined the RREC. My wife Rose and I enjoyed every minute of the shows and trips we did in that car, but by 2005 I was ready for a new challenge. I would be hanging on to the Silver Shadow, but I had my eyes open for something else.’
Alan had already dipped a toe into ownership of an older model with a Bentley S2 standard steel saloon but says no-one could get it to run as smoothly as he felt it should. In the end, Alan concluded that this was a feature of that
