Bristol Cars Goes Into Bankruptcy

Bristol, the small British car manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy last week.  Bristol is a small, almost unknown to most people in North America, car manufacturer that has been making cars since 1947.

In my opinion Bristol, as a car manufacturer, had a somewhat dubious beginning after the Second World War as the Car Division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.  Rather than starting from scratch, Bristol through “war reparations” acquired the detailed plans of the pre-war BMW 327.

The Bristol company debuted their first model, the Bristol 400, in 1947.

The 1947 Bristol 400 was remarkably similar to the pre-war BWM 327

As part of the Bristol range, they used a 1,971cc six-cylinder single-camshaft engine that easily produced around 80 horsepower.  This well-designed engine was subsequently used in many race cars during the 1950’s.  A Bristol finished third overall in the 1949 Monte Carlo Rally. 

1950 Bristol 402 Convertible

In 1950 Bristol introduced the 402, which was an evolutionary convertible design from the original Bristol 400. 

Bristol essentially used the same design for their early models, with the last design iteration being the Bristol 403 which was available up to the end of 1953.

A Bristol 403 Spotted at British Car Day at the Larz Anderson Museum in 2007

Bristol has never made a lot of cars and while they made both left and right hand drive models, I rarely have seen a Bristol here in North America.  Perhaps others have seen Bristols over here, but they are rare to me.

Another View of the Bristol 403

Bristol’s first all-new design was the Bristol 404.  This design was completely new and was in keeping with the design styles of the 1950s.  It still used the same 1,971cc engine, but by this time the horsepower had been increased to 105 hp.

The 1953-1956 Bristol 404

Bristol often had some unusual design features, but I find one of the more interesting features was the placement of the spare tire on the Bristol 404.

Interesting Spare Tire Placement on the Bristol 404

Bristol have continued to make cars over the years and the current car is the Bristol Fighter, a name reflecting their airplane design heritage.  In my opinion, the high water mark for Bristol cars was the 408 Zagato V8 Coupe.  This design is somewhat similar to the Aston Martin designs of that era, which is good company to be in.  Early versions of these cars were powered by a Chrysler 313 cubic inch (5,130cc) V8 engine, while later versions used the updated 318 cubic inch Chrysler V8.  The four-barrel carburetor version of the 318 V8 produced about 250 horsepower, so these cars had very good performance.

The 1963-1965 Bristol Zagato V8 Coupe

Administrators have been assigned to manage the bankruptcy of Bristol.  Sales and service operations, however, are continuing to support customers.  This seems like an opportunity for someone or some larger existing car manufacturer to acquire a British nameplate for small money that could be activated when happy days are here again.