After a month of sunshine, the convoy of open-top tourers was greeted with a deluge of rain within hours of arriving in Dunedin on Sunday night. The Bentley Drivers Club 2013 tour has brought 22 vehicles to New Zealand from as far afield as Britain, Hong Kong and Switzerland for the two-month rally.

''They were a very well-made sports car and have maintained that attention for a long time.

The vehicles were constructed between 1920 and 1930 and boast engines ranging from 3 to 8 litres.

''These were all made during the W.O. Bentley period.

''He went broke in 1931 and the manufacture was taken over by Rolls-Royce.''

''I started restoring it in 1963 and finished it in 2001,'' he said.

The convoy leaves Dunedin for Mt Cook today and then will motor to Picton and the North Island leg of the tour.

The cars will be special guests at the Napier Art Deco Festival, before the rally ends in Auckland on March 1.

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