The Bristol has always had an enviable reputation as a car that was superbly designed and made of top quality materials, regardless of cost. This philosophy originated in the manufacture of aircraft and aero engines for which the original company founded in 1910 and known from 1920 as the Bristol Aeroplane Company was famed.
During two World Wars the firm produced large numbers of successful
aircraft including the Brisfit
(short for Bristol Fighter). The
Bristol Blenheim
(shown left) was introduced to Royal Air Force service in 1937, and its
younger sister by just one year, the
Bristol
Beaufighter, was introduced to RAF service in 1938.
On the aero engine side, the company took over the Fedden designed Jupiter radial engine when it acquired Cosmos Engineering in 1921, and from it produced a series of brilliant engines including the Pegasus, Mercury, and the mighty Centaurus. The Olympus was a later development, designed originally for the Vulcan Bomber. It was later fitted with re-heat and is used to great effect, powering Concorde at multi sonic speeds, whilst the Marine version is fitted in many Royal Navy Warships.
One of the more unusual looking Bristol Aircraft produced, but
nevertheless remarkably effective, was the
Bristol
Freighter. Developed originally to British Air Ministry
specification as a Military Equipment Transporter, it was coded the
Type 170. It was in contest with the Blackburn
Beverley developed to meet exactly the same criteria, which became
the favoured choice of the Royal Air Force. Nevertheless, the Type 170 proved
extremely reliable and was adopted by many countries, thus becoming a
valuable export design and foreign exchange earner. The Royal New
Zealand Air Force equipped their service with this as the favoured
transport aircraft. This illustration is of the only known remaining
civilian example kept in flying condition and now earns its keep in its
home territory, Canada, where it regularly notches up as many as 8 cargo
trips per day providing a reliable local service for a mining company in
the Yukon territory.
These early “Guppy style” transporters also found extended life in civilian spheres of aircraft operation: amongst other airlines, Silver City Airways employed them to take freight or cars and their passengers from the South Coast of England to France on a regular two way cross Channel shuttle service. Such Aircraft provided a high speed cargo route across the Channel. These aircraft were economic enough to provide scheduled transport services for many years through to the late 60s. Another picture of this rather strange looking “bird”, properly disgorging its Bristol cargo, is to be seen later on the Type 406 page.
At the end of WW2, Bristol, like other aero engineering and manufacturing industries, possessed a huge surplus of skilled labour and were faced with the need to find some alternative products until a new aeroplane market emerged. A move into the quality car market was agreed, and to this end the rights had been acquired in respect of the BMW pre-war car models and engines as war reparation. Thus in a remarkably short space of time, by developing from existing designs, the newly formed 'Car Division' was ready for series production, and by the autumn of 1946, motoring journals carried road tests of the Type 400 Saloon, a 2-litre engined "Bristol". This set new standards for performance, economy and comfort, and soon gained a formidable reputation in international motoring events as well as a respectable slice of the quality car market — and this despite being further constrained initially by the requirement that in order to qualify for vital raw material resources, 50% of the production was destined to be exported.
Organizational changes took place, first in 1956 when the Car Division became a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company, and later in 1960 when it was saved from oblivion by the late Sir George White and Mr Anthony Crook. Sir George's family had founded the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in 1910 (the change to Bristol Aeroplane Company occurred in 1920) and when much later and post World War 2, the shotgun wedding took place to form the British Aircraft Corporation, which shortly thereafter saw the end of the Armstrong Siddeley car production, he determined that the same fate would not befall the much smaller Bristol Aeroplane Company (Car Division) Limited.
Thus in 1960 Sir George White and Mr Anthony Crook formed a new Company – Bristol Cars Limited – and thus the manufacture of Bristol cars was to continue, still then remaining within the Filton complex near Bristol. In 1966 the status of the Company was changed from that of a limited company to that of a firm in private partnership. When Sir George White retired in 1973, Mr Anthony Crook bought over Sir George's share and became the sole proprietor and Managing Director. At that point he changed the Company status back to that of a limited company. He remained sole owner into the mid 1990s. The company now has some new management associates with Mr Crook still at the controls and it continues producing cars to meet the orders for the very popular current model.
The Type 400 2
litre saloon was soon joined by the 401, from which
in turn was derived the 402 Drophead Coupé and
the 403 saloon. Of these, the 400 was a 4 seat saloon,
while the 401 and 403 were 5-seaters.
In 1953, the smaller short chassis 2+2 seat Type 404 broke fresh ground with a body from which all trace of BMW origins had disappeared. A hybrid was also constructed on this chassis: the Type 404/X or Arnolt Bristol, commissioned by S.H."Wacky" Arnolt in 1953.
In 1955, the Type 405 saloon and 405 Drophead appeared. The 405 saloon was the only Bristol-bodied 4-door car. The 405 Drophead was a two-door convertible with a body fitted by E.D.Abbott of Farnham.
The final model with a Filton-designed and built engine was the Type 406, with the original 2 litre engine design stretched to 2.2 litres. Production included 6 special-bodied saloons and one coupé; these were fitted with bodies by Zagato, the Italian Coachbuilder.
All later production Bristols were to be fitted with Chrysler V8 engines of various capacities from 5,130cc upwards, together with the Torqueflite automatic gearbox. Over the past half century, production has not been huge. Small as it is, the company has survived because it fills a niche for those connoisseurs who value a superb car above mere price.
The Chrysler-engined models began with the Type
407 in 1961, which apart from the engine and gearbox,
looks very similar to the 406.
In 1964 this was succeeded by the Type 408, itself followed two years later by the Type 409, and in 1967 by the Type 410.
Then in 1970 came the Type 411, which that very experienced motoring journalist John Bolster called “the fastest true four-seater touring car”. With an engine of 6,277cc capacity, and a maximum speed of 140mph, this set new standards for those seeking the ultimate in speed with comfort. Unusually for a Bristol, this model was to continue through four further series, not being supplemented by the Type 412 until 1975. This was another watershed so far as outward appearance was concerned, for its convertible body style was to be developed into two versions of the second series. The American export model was called the 412 USA and later the series 3 version of the UK car being called the Bristol Beaufighter. Yet another variation given another famous Aeroplane name and one which is now equally rare is the Bristol Beaufort. This was based on the Beaufighter internals, but fitted with an electric roof, no roll cage and many detail alterations in the coachwork, too numerous to describe here.
A frequent query is “why was the Bristol model that succeeded the Type 411 called the Type 603?” The answer is that it was introduced in the 603rd year after the City of Bristol had been granted its Royal charter, which gave it the unique distinction of being "a County unto itself". No doubt superstition played a small part in preventing the release of a Type 413!
The Type 603 made its appearance in 1976, and was rather more in the earlier tradition – a magnificent four seater, fulfilling the Bristol criterion for a car that can carry four six footers, with sufficient luggage to last a fortnight! It is perhaps typical of the company, that just as other manufacturers were dropping names for numbers, Bristol Cars Ltd chose to drop the latter in favour of titles – all evocative of the aircraft formerly made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company.
Thus we have seen the Type 603 s2 evolve into the Bristol Britannia, a beautifully proportioned saloon, and its more powerful partner the Bristol Brigand, similar in appearance but fitted with a turbocharged engine.
In 1994, the Type 603 s4 or Bristol Blenheim appeared and was to be continued in production until late 1997. On 14 January 1998, the Bristol Blenheim 2 was announced, being the latest derivation of the Type 603 s4 and wholly in line with customer requirements. No longer Rotomaster Turbo Charged, but fitted instead with a computerised direct fuel injection system to its specially developed Chrysler 5.9 litre V8 engine, which is also software upgradeable, to produce even more power, should it be required. Many changes were made to the rear of the body shell of the car which was completely redesigned.
In November 1999, the Bristol Blenheim 3 was revealed, advancing further the aerodynamic development of the the car including a completely new frontal treatment incorporating a cleverly engineered aerofoil section in the grille aperture. There were many other changes under the skin, and also new headlight units.
Also in November 1999, news was released of a new car - the Bristol Project 'Fighter'. This was to be the first Bristol 2 seater for more than 40 years and built as a totally engineering inspired design. It promised neutral aerodynamic effect and a top speed calculated to be in excess of 200 mph – this achieved via either a 5-speed manual (another first for nigh on 40 years of Bristol production) or 4-speed automatic transmission (never offered before). The engine is an all new alloy V10 of 8 litres swept volume, uprated by Bristol. Full race-developed suspension, a combined steel chassis and carbon fibre/alloy body shell designed to produce a structure into which are fitted gull wing doors — both to avoid high kerb damage and to produce the much stronger, stiffer shell structure and platform essential to a vehicle capable of such high speed performance.
Prior to the official launch of the Bristol Fighter, another car was announced and launched immediately. It is based on the 'Bristol Bullet' (a name adopted by the factory), which is effectively a 405-style drophead body with slightly larger fins on the top of the rear wings. It is said it was originally used from the late 1950s as a ‘mule’, or test bed, for the new transmissions and engines then being considered for the types 406 and 407. It was used to test many variants up to the 1970s, when it was laid aside for some years, only to be later tried with the running gear of the Bristol Blenheim and at the dawn of the development of the 'Bristol Fighter'. In its early days, it had been considered far too spartan, avant garde and brutish in performance to be offered to the Company clientele; but as time passed, it came to be viewed in a more favourable light, as that route had been adopted by a number of other manufacturers over the preceding years. It was finally decided to launch a very limited production of this version, renamed officially late in 2002 as the ‘Blenheim Speedster’. It is indeed spartan, albeit not in spaciousness, for it is a relatively large two-seat sports car. As usual for Bristol cars, it boasts well trimmed seats in high grade leather. It is a very high performance sports car, being fitted with the very latest Blenheim 3 transmission and ‘Sports’ engine pack along with matching suspension, wheels and braking system. Fuel capacity has been increased to 30 UK gallons, supplied from two rear wing fuel tanks. It has a low wrap-round screen.
Thus the Bristol Cars Company story continues to unfold, as one of the last remaining wholly British-owned motor car manufacturing companies continues to supply its niche market, and looks forward to doing so proudly into the third Millennium.
So much for the standard production models. It is often forgotten however, that this company also produced the Type 450 road race car. These models competed as Factory Team Cars in the successive years of 1953, 1954 and 1955 at Le Mans in the 24 hour race and also at Rheims in the 12 hour road race. The body style was a closed coupé in 1953/54 and an open two seater in 1955. With a chassis based on the "G" type E.R.A. and after a poor beginning in 1953, the package of the car and the engine developed into a design soon proved to be fast and very reliable. It won its class in the 1954 Le Mans and also the team prize. In the following year it not only won its class but also the 2 litre Team prize. It also did well at Rheims in 1953/54. After the terrible Levegh crash at the 1955 Le Mans, the Company withdrew from racing, having gained much valuable experience in both engine and chassis development.
At that period, Bristol engines and gearboxes continued to be fitted as standard and also used and raced by such makes as AC, Cooper, Frazer-Nash, Kieft, Lister, Lotus, Tojeiro and Warrior. Many successes were gained in road racing by the Frazer-Nash cars and by Cooper, Lister and Lotus in the more specialized track events.
Whether it be a 2 litre or a 2.2 litre Bristol, or one of the Chrysler-engined models, Bristol cars are renowned for their quality and performance. There is a steady demand from experienced motorists who prefer to buy a good example, even if the earlier models might be considered “ancient” by contemporary standards. They know they will have many years of satisfactory motoring, with moderate running costs and the satisfaction of owning a real thoroughbred.