Buyer’s mistake winds up burdening him with a Bentley that looks great but barely runs. Then he finds it had its odometer rolled back. Twice.
Take a look at the Bentley Continental GT on this page. Beautiful, right? It’s muscular and sleek at the same time. It seems as if it can just sail down the road with the ample power of its W12 engine. For being nearly 15 years old, it still looks great, at least on the outside. Under its attractive bodywork is a nightmare that illustrates how important reading the fine print of a document can be.
The host of Youtube channel Hoovie’s Garage, Tyler Hoover, bought this 2004 Continental GT through an auction website for $27,000, sight unseen. He was under the impression that his purchase would be run through a post-sale inspection. It turns out that exotics, such as Bentleys, are not eligible for those inspections. Rather than risk a lawsuit for backing out of the deal, Hoover proceeded.
He ended up with a handsome vehicle, but aside from its looks, it’s almost a four-wheeled paperweight. After initially being sold in the U.S., this Continental GT was exported to Russia…where it had its odometer rolled back. Twice. Oh boy…
It only gets worse from there.
After initially being sold in the U.S., this Continental GT was exported to Russia…where it had its odometer rolled back. Twice. Oh boy…
When Hoover received his purchase, it barely ran. After he had a vacuum problem fixed, the engine started smoking. The compression is off. The instrumentation is wonky. Air conditioning? Doesn’t work. Something keeps sapping the battery’s power. Even when it can give the Continental GT some juice, the car stalls anyway. Hoover manages to get the British albatross going, but it refuses to get above 20 mph.
As a result, Hoover refuses to deal with this dilapidated disaster any longer than he has to. It’s not worth it to him to buy a $10,000 W12 replacement engine and his mechanic has no interest in tearing the existing engine apart to fix its many problems. Look for this once-glorious Bentley at a pick-a-part yard near you in the not-so-distant future. And be sure to looker even harder at the fine print in the next document you electronically sign.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
