Engine shuts down immediately upon starting

I have been very lucky with my C in regards to have none of the serious defects early production owners have well documented on this forum. That being said, one nagging little thing happened about a week ago: I cranked the engine, it started immediately only to shut down with a second or so. This happened three times in a row. The fourth time the car ran just like it always did before and since.

The engine was warm, tank full, sitting level, engine dry (hadn't sprayed it with water) and I was using the original sentry key....in short there was no strange circumstances that would cause such a thing.

Has anyone else expierenced such a thing?