Bristol 400 1948, Inglaterra
Fotografia
1948 Bristol
400
Colour
Blue
Engine Size
1,971 cc
Chassis No.
400-1-339
Engine No.
400-85A-1254
As part of
Germany’s war reparations, Bristol obtained a set of blueprints and plans which
had been drawn up by BMW in 1939 to update their own model range. The first
fruit of this windfall was the 1947 Bristol 400 which used the best features of
three outstanding pre-war BMWs, namely the engine of the 328, the body of the
327 and the chassis of the 326. Modified by Bristol’s own engineers to their
own exacting aircraft industry standards, all the parts came together
beautifully and a most elegant sporting saloon was born.
The
six-cylinder 2-litre engine featured an ingenious cylinder head design
incorporating hemispherical combustion chambers and inclined valves without
recourse to overhead or twin camshafts. Machined from the highest quality
materials, it produced 80bhp and could propel the car to a top speed of 95mph
with acceleration to match.
To keep weight
down, boot, bonnet and doors were in aluminium. Suspension was independent at
the front with a transverse leaf spring, and a live axle at the rear with
torsion bars. The gearbox was a four-speed manual with synchromesh on the top
three ratios and freewheel on first, quite a novelty at the time. The 400 had a
fair degree of competition success and successfully completed the Mille Miglia
in 1949.
Exact
production figures are uncertain but it is thought that perhaps 420 examples
were made between January 1947 and December 1950, a fair few of which went to
Australia. Today perhaps half this number are thought to survive worldwide,
fewer than 60 of which are currently registered with the Bristol Owners' Club,
making them a very rare sight on the roads.
First
registered in July 1948, this particular 400 is one of the earlier models that
still had the spare wheel inside the boot rather than externally mounted as on
later versions. According to a note on file, the car was first owned by a Capt
George Cousins, ‘Tory Agent Portsmouth’ and although nothing is known of the
early history of the car, it does have a very extensive history file from 1964
onwards, an old green log book showing that by 1964 it was owned by a Dr Audrey
Vera Fox of Downend, Bristol.
From 1965 to
1967 it was owned by a Richard Davey of Bitton, Glos, being acquired by a Peter
Woodward of Iver, Bucks, in April 1967 who was to keep it right up until 2008
when it was sold to Bristol dealer Brian May of Birmingham from whom the
current keeper acquired it in 2009. For most of its life it was registered as
GOT 12, a number which it sadly lost about 10 years ago (and which now adorns a
rather less classy 2009 Citroen C3 Picasso).
During Davey’s
brief ownership the car was repainted from grey to Valentines Midnight Blue and
the engine was fully rebuilt with new pistons, crankshaft etc, the mileage at
this time being around 88,500. A senior legal adviser at Hawker Siddeley,
Woodward used the car frequently and looked after it meticulously during his
41-year ownership with many bills on file from Bristol Cars of Filton and
Anthony Crook Motors of Chiswick plus a notebook detailing all expenditure up
to 141,964 miles in May 1976. In January 1970 at 110,434 miles the block
cracked and a replacement engine was fitted (now 400-85A-1254, originally
400-85A-1290).
From 1976
onwards there are many bills for ongoing maintenance, marque specialists
Spencer Lane Jones keeping it in tip-top order from 1999 to 2008 and commenting
in a letter dated 19th November 1999 that “the car starts, goes, steers and
stops remarkably well. In fact it is a real ‘flier’ compared to most 400s”. The
last major service was carried out 1,000 miles ago by SLJ in February 2008 at
152,317 miles.
As late as
2004 the car was still being entered into concours events, coming third in
class at the Bristol Owners’ Club Annual Concours D’Elegance in September of
that year. Pleasingly the car retains its original Radiomobile 100 long and
medium wave radio which was fully overhauled in July 2005 by Vintage Radio
Services of Bristol at a cost of £225.
Kept in
storage as part of a large private collection since 2009, the car has not been
on the road these past eight years but has just been partially recommissioned
in time for the auction, the engine reportedly running beautifully although we
are advised that the brakes will need attention before it can safely be used on
the road.
Only reluctantly
offered for sale due to imminent loss of storage, this rare and handsome
sporting saloon looks excellent value at the sensible guide price suggested and
should amply reward any further recommissioning works yet required.
