Could the luxurious new Bentley Continental GTC help an Atlanta-based Citigroup V.P. escape from a big weekend — and big allergies — in the big city? The challenge is on.

Atlanta, the financial capital of the South, is full of money movers. And those who conduct their business here know spring to be the region's finest season — the perfect time to pilot, say, a $190,000 luxury convertible to the countryside in search of a sybaritic resort and well-mixed mimosas.

And so it was, on a Saturday morning, that I turned the key on the ice-blue 2007 Bentley Continental GTC I had procured for a test drive and went in search of Margie Archer, a vice president at Citi.

The plan, in fact, was Margie's. When I had contacted her — a lifelong car enthusiast — she had suggested a unique value prospect: speeding 75 miles east from Atlanta to enjoy the brunch at the five-diamond Ritz-Carlton at Lake Oconee. It seemed a capital idea.

As if further inducements to fleeing the city were needed, the first weekend of April had brought several others: The Final Four and its crushing human traffic had descended upon the Georgia Dome. Across the street, an earlier convention had packed in some 23,000 dentists, many of whom were still hanging around, all eager to get their hands in our mouths.

(Continue reading this story on Dealmaker)

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