Jimmy Palmer’s

car says a lot about Jimmy Palmer the man these days. It’s a brand new white Bentley Continental 4-litre GT and he didn’t mention it all during lunch. It wasn’t until we went out to the Brewer’s car park that the elegant white GT was to be seen parked quietly in a corner.

Now if that had been me, I’d have arrived in the bar and invited everyone to come and look at my cool new car. But maybe that’s why I haven’t got a new Bentley and Jimmy Palmer does. That, and however much it costs to buy one!

If a 500-horsepower 8-speed auto coupe can look sleek as well as speedy, this one does it. I’ve always preferred Bentleys to Rolls-Royces, but as already mentioned, I’ve never been in a financial position to exercise my preference.

Bentleys have been looking stunning since the first vintage model in the 1920s. The modern sales brochure still fans wealthy enthusiasm: “Throughout history, there have been great moments when a Bentley has altered our understanding of great motoring.” Hear, hear.

Back in the early ’70s in Surrey I came within 5000 quid of owning a sleek 1950s second-hand Continental that was being sold on the roadside in one of our wealthy Surrey suburbs for less than £20,000. But it didn’t happen. Perhaps it was just as well.