TIME MACHINES

BEHIND THE WHEEL

Although you can visit it yourself in Tretyakovskiy passage. Everyone is allowed in there. You just need to overcome the feeling of your own insolvency. And to push the black door, on which there is not even a “pull” or “push” sign, everything is so strict ....

Although you can visit it yourself in Tretyakovskiy passage. Everyone is allowed in there. You just need to overcome the feeling of your own insolvency. And to push the black door, on which there is not even a “pull” or “push” sign, everything is so strict. Who came to buy a Bentley, unless such a trifle as the absence of a plate stops him. They probably always feel, pull or push. And whoever just looks - nothing, as always, we will pull, ceiling.

Opening the first black door, we find ourselves in a space that looks like a safe. There is an automatic shoe brush on the floor. And that's it. And there's nothing else there. There is still time to change your mind. But behind the second door is already a car dealership. Five Bentley cars are parked there at once. Therefore, the car dealership is the largest in Europe. In a year and a half, one hundred and twenty Bentleys have been sold and ordered for the future. The cheapest one costs 219 thousand euros.

There is a girl behind the counter. She works in two days. And the director of Bentley-Moscow, Ilya Berezin, is nearby, in a separate office. In case one of the Bentley buyers refuses to talk to the girl, he will be taken to the director. But such cases are rare. The girl is trained. Once a year she trains in England. I asked, "Does the Bentley have an airbag?" To which the answer was received: “Both front and rear. The combination of body strength, especially torsional strength, plus airbags give a very good percentage of strength and safety, including for passengers.

And director Ilya Alexandrovich has long been in the automotive business, although he graduated from a printing institute. So everything is mixed up in the world. Ilya Berezin says that one cannot be absolutely sure of anything. One day a man came in. He was dressed "no way". And I bought two Bentleys. Like this. One thing is certain. If the customer's first question is "How much?" - it's not a client.

Information about Bentley customers is closed to the general public. Bentleys meet on Rublevsky Highway. From the inside, the Bentley is trimmed in the basic configuration with a century-old walnut, more precisely, “a tree fungus growing on the root part of a tree.” In place of the felled hundred-year-old nut, the company plants a juvenile nut. But you can order, for example, a strawberry finish.

They called and asked: “Can you finish it with sable skins, and the ceiling is in diamonds?”. Either someone was joking, or the British were checking. Correct Answer: Yes, sir. One customer ordered this Bentley: blue on the outside, green on the inside. They called him: “Are you sure about this?”. "What did I say?" the client said. I was horrified, I came, I redid it. And one woman could not be dissuaded in something similar. And now she drives an extravagant car.

Customers save on everything. Two people, according to Berezin, “ran in with a bag of money” (then the euro exchange rate fell) and bought a Bentley.

And another client, while Berezin processed the papers, sat opposite and drank whiskey. (Tourists are not allowed to go to the ice cream parlor. But clients can also have whiskey.) And then the client called a friend, and he brought a guitar (he probably bought it at Detsky Mir). And the client sang. Berezin, after hesitating, defined it as a chanson.

In the spring, the whole group of MADI students came. They studied automotive design. And in spring and autumn, a woman comes with a certificate and a controlling stake in Bentley.

Eight out of ten Bentleys sold are $219,000 sports coupes. It is sometimes bought by people in tracksuits. First, the girl speaks to them, using the expressions: “double-shaped”, “turbo”, “of course, faster than the Porsche”. And then the girl starts the engine. He listens much more carefully.

Once a group of southern people came. They walked through the cabin in five minutes (“typhoon” - according to the girl), asked about everything, and everyone was gone. A month later they quietly came and bought it. And another man walked and walked around the Bentley for a whole month. Probably not even around. Because customers are allowed to get into the car and touch the handles. Finally, the man made up his mind. And he has almost climbed a step in the hierarchy. There, where... where the leather on the steering wheel is hand-sewn with double cross stitch. But first he brought his wife. And my wife said ... In general, he brought me in vain.

And one client came with her daughter, she forgot the bear in the Bentley, and he still lives in the salon.

Sometimes ordinary people are photographed at the window. But still not often. I saw a hidden generation gap. The child was sure that he was filming against the background of the Bentley, and his mother filmed against the background of the first printer Fedorov, who was standing on the floor above.

For half a day, three onlookers entered the salon. Spouses aged (first question: "How much?"). And the teenager - made a circle around the cabin, said: "Wow!". And it was a foreigner.

P.S.

... Once in Kyiv, I bought an old (82nd year) photograph on the street. (I think so: photography is the most humane art. Even average photographers, if they're lucky, take great pictures.) In general, you can see for yourself. Foreign car and our people.

... Some years ago there was an August putsch.

It was so, and it became so.