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Bristol Car Company

Bristol cars are an off-shoot company of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. The cars have never been made in large quantities. The most recent published official production figures were for 1982 and stated 104 cars were produced that year.

As a four seater luxury model, the cars are also surprisingly small. Luggage space is huge; the spare tyre is stowed behind a hinged panel in the front left wing and the battery and fuse box in the right so that they do not take up valuable space.

The cars are designed to be effective daily transportation rather than occasional indulgences. 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 upon order.

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 who like to drive an ‘individual car’.

Second-hand and classic Bristols are good value considering their quality, rarity and cost when new. Only some of the very early models are worth any great sum of money.

Bristol has only one dealership, located at Kensington High Street 368–370 in London

The history of Bristol Cars began in 1945. Forecasting an excess labour capacity postwar, the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) began working with AFN Ltd, makers of Frazer Nash cars, on plans for a joint venture in automotive manufacture.

By July 1945 BAC had created a Car Division and bought a controlling stake in AFN.

HJ Aldington, who was still in the British Army, used his military connections to visit the bombed BMW factory in Munich several times in 1945, culminating in a 'duty' trip in October 1945, along with his brother and two Bristol representatives, to gather detailed plans of BMW cars and several development engines which they flew back to Bristol. This was quite a tricky manoeuvre as Munich had been declared part of the American Zone and the American Military had just issued orders for the BMW plant to be dismantled and crated up for shipment to the USA. These plans and engines were subsequently declared to be war reparations.

By mid-1947, the different intentions of the Aldingtons and Bristol were becoming clear and Bristol severed its ties with AFN, returning control of AFN to the Aldington family. Earlier in 1947 BAC had registered the company Bristol Cars Ltd although it continued for several years to market its cars as made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

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.

From 1960 to 1973, former racing driver Tony Crook and Sir George White owned Bristol Cars; that year, Sir George sold his stake to Tony Crook and in 1997, Toby Silverton came on board and there followed the greater level of development of cars seen in recent years (particularly, the new Bristol). Crook eventually sold the company to Silverton in 2001.