The Bristol Aeroplane Company was responsible for many memorable classics, among them the WWI-era F2b fighter:
…but chief among which is one of my absolute all-time favorites, the WWII Beaufighter:
After WWII, however, the market for such aircraft understandably disappeared, whereupon Bristol set out to make beautiful, powerful touring cars, a longtime favorite of people who wanted a bespoke car not made for the mass market. (Story later.)
One of the trailblazing moves Bristol made was that almost from the start, they eschewed the crappy and unreliable little British engines of the era, and fitted their cars with BMW 328 2-liter engines. British cars are taxed on engine size, the bigger the higher, but as Bristol cars were never cheap anyway, nobody cared.
Then in 1961, Bristol switched to using the excellent Chrysler 5.2-liter V8, and never looked back.
Probably my favorite is the Fighter, made from 2003 to 2011:
The Fighter remained true to that earlier philosophy, using a Dodge Viper 8-liter V10 to give it, in the immortal sales pitch, “sufficient” horsepower (~550) and speed (~200), neither of which has ever been documented as Fighters are never tested because every car is different and anyway, wealthy bluebloods don’t trouble with such insignifica, “sufficient” being, well, sufficient.
And, of course, it comes with a standard 6-speed manual gearbox, which is yet another reason why I love it.
Bristol Cars went out of business in 2011, stumbled along in bankruptcy etc., but they’re planning to bounce back with… electric cars.
Thanks, but I’d rather have almost any of their earlier models with an actual engine in it, such as the drop-dead gorgeous 407 drophead from 1954:
Oof.
And here’s the story, as promised.
