Driving the Bentley never gets old. It’s sometimes eventful, but never old and as I have alluded to in previous missives, there is always something to attend to. You don’t run a 22-year-old barge without knowing that there will be a constant to-do list. Much of what I have listed previously is still to be done and not only that but several small (small in this case means huge) things have cropped up and been added to the list.

This quarter has seen the failure of a window cable which meant that, whilst doing a wedding (no name, no pack drill), I had to transport the newly married couple about 15 miles to their reception and the outside temperature was around minus 2 Celsius. I am so sorry (no harm done, ‘achoo - Craig). Dropping the happy couple off though and I was only a short jaunt away from my friendly Bentley Specialist in Bolton (Bowling-Ryan). Called John, told him my plight and after he picked himself up off the floor and wiped away his tears of laughter, he told me to get there quickly as they were about to close.

Needless to say, a fast sprint in a Bentley is a thing of pure joy and got there in time for Steve, one of the mechanics to strip the door down and fix the issue with… a piece of wood. When I say fix, I now have a window that doesn’t work as the cable has spent a long time slowly deteriorating and had snapped so that the window could not hold itself up. I left grateful for their assistance – they always go above and beyond – and who needs windy down rear windows anyway, right?

Now it just so happened that a few weeks before I had been down in the midlands on business and got to know, via one of the many Bentley Facebook groups, that someone was breaking a 2001 Red Label and had many parts. When down there I managed to get a missing piece of trim (to cover the radio) which I did not need but wanted for completeness. It happened to be identical to mine, Burr Walnut.

On getting home I messaged the guy and asked how much he needed for two full window mechanisms and also, whilst I was at it, the viscous coupling for the cooling fan as mine, as I have previously mentioned, is somewhat wayward and noisy in operation. After coming to terms and not being in a rush I am, at the time of writing in early January, awaiting a parcel any moment with the goodies.

Also, some parts I had been waiting for from a spare specialist arrived in November. This was new bonnet latches to replace the ones that, over time, had weakened to such an extent that whilst they released the bonnet, they no longer provided any lift so that you could get your fingers underneath. In addition to those are replacement gas struts for the bonnet and boot. A simple job to do, but given how cold it is, I have been finding excuses to put the jobs off.

The other point of note is that once again, my noisy rear brake was worked on and a new “hold down” kit was sorted along with a new gas strut that cushions the foot-operated parking brake. This cured the issue – YAY! After a month the noise came back – BOO! It’s one of those things that seems to be a gremlin and everything works fine so I will put up with it until March when she will be in for an annual service, the window being fixed and maybe a look at the brakes.

Apart from that, she runs well and is a joy to drive whenever I take her out. As it gets warmer, I’ll be visiting some car shows and trying to attend to more things to do, including putting the new bonnet catch on alongside the boot struts. Stay tuned...

Bentley Arnage running costs

Date Acquired - 2020

Total mileage - 113322

Approx. recent mileage – 1,699

MPG - 15

Ballpark Expenditure - £850