A MILLIONAIRE paid for three experts to fly from the North-East to Norway to sort out problems on two of his vintage Rolls-Royces.

The trio completed the work inside two days – and now he has sent another of his priceless fleet of cars, a 54-year-old Bentley, to be stripped down and rebuilt by them at their workshop in Barnard Castle.

Dick Francis and Steve Layton are about start work on the S1 model, one of the biggest ever built by Bentley, at their Carrosserie workshop. The project is expected to take about a year.

The two bosses went with their chief engineer, Don Atkinson, to Grimstad in southern Norway, after the wealthy owner of a private vehicle museum could find no one else to repair his 1927 and 1932 Rolls-Royces.

Mr Francis said: “We stripped down the fuel systems on both cars, put right the faults and soon had them both running perfectly. The owner was delighted.

“He has now given us the Bentley to make as good as new.

“We will take off every inch of paint, get rid of any parts that have corroded, rebuild the engine, gear box and back axle, along with the steering and brakes, re-upholster the seats in leather and fit new carpets.”

The car is 17ft 6in long, more than 6ft wide, weighs nearly two tons, has a 4,900cc engine and a top speed of 103mph.

“It is so big it is like a sitting room inside,” said Mr Francis.

The owner’s museum has a large selection of vehicles including Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Cadillacs.

Mr Layton said: “The owner does not like to have his name published anywhere. We were privileged to be shown round part of his museum, which has dozens of wonderful cars and is really fabulous.

“We were pleased to be able to put his Rolls-Royces right without too much difficulty, and over the moon that he decided to send the Bentley to us for a major renovation.”

The firm’s two partners and small staff will work on it between carrying out restorations on other cars from all over Britain.