Bristol Cars
Bristol Cars is a manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars, based at Filton, near Bristol, England. Bristol Cars has no distributors nor dealers and deals directly with customers; they have a showroom in Kensington in London. They claim to be the last wholly British-owned luxury car builder. The cars have only ever been made in very small numbers; about 150 per year.
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2 History 3 Models 4 See also 5 External links |
Bristol is an oddity because it builds expensive but, in the company's words, "nicely understated" cars. The Bristol values are those of tradition, understated quality, and practicality, rather than ostentation or excitement. Bristols built today are the same in major details as any from the past 30 years or more. Some would call this antiquated, but Bristol believes that no big changes are necessary. The cars are still totally handmade, taking four times the man-hours to complete than other luxury cars.
Bristols do not look expensive to the casual eye. The styling is bland; owners would call it an acquired taste, while some call it ugly. It is more an engineer's creation than a stylist's: effective packaging for the contents and good aerodynamic qualities. The cars are also surprisingly small. Although Bristol saloons provide "dignified express travel for 4 six foot persons and their luggage", efficient packaging means that a Bristol Blenheim is narrower than a Ford Mondeo and shorter than all competing cars. Luggage space is huge; the spare tyre is stowed behind a hinged panel in the front left wing so that it does not take up valuable space.
The cars are designed to be effective daily transportation rather than occasional indulgences. Comfort, driveability and ease of maintenance are paramount. With regular maintenance, the company expects a Bristol to outlast its owner, and Bristol Cars will maintain any car they ever built. The vast majority of parts are in stock, and they will remanufacture or hand-make any other required parts.
With their small production numbers, lack of glamour and no advertising, most even in the UK would not recognise a Bristol. This exclusive obscurity is very appealing to a certain class of buyer.
This obscurity actually makes second-hand and classic Bristols remarkably cheap considering their quality, rarity and cost when new. Only some of the very early models are worth any great sum of money.
Bristol Cars was founded in 1946, created by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to use spare capacity in the postwar aircraft-building slump. Bristol and Frazer Nash representatives had visited the bombed BMW factory in Munich, and taken away plans for the latest BMW cars; these plans were subsequently officially declared to be war reparations. BMW engineer Fritz Fiedler was also given employment at Bristol.
The first car, the 1947 Bristol 400, was heavily based on pre-WW2 BMWs. The body looked very like the BMW 327, while its engine and suspension were clones of BMW designs (engine and front suspension based on those of the BMW 328, rear suspension from the BMW 326). Even the famous double-kidney BMW grille was carried over intact.
Until 1961 all Bristol cars used evolutions of the 6-cylinder BMW-derived engine. This very well regarded engine also powered a number of sports and racing cars, including all post-war Frazer Nash cars (apart from a few prototypes), some ACss, some Lotus and Cooper racing cars, and several others. In 1961, with the launch of the Bristol 407, the company switched to large Chrysler V8 engines, which were more suitable for the increasingly heavy cars. All post-1961 Bristols including the current Blenheim and planned Fighter models use Chrysler engines.
Since 1960, the company has been owned by former racing driver Tony Crook -- he took over the share of his partner Sir George White in 1973. In 1997, an unnamed British financial backer came on board, which explains the greater level of development in recent years (particularly, the new Bristol Fighter).
Image and company philosophy
History
Models
Bristol-engined cars
Chrysler-engined cars
See also
External links