One of our favorite brands is back in business: Bristol. And as it should be with that brand, the latest model is not a thirteen-in-a-dozen cars.
It has been five years since Bristol went bankrupt. The brand had built cars from 1945, sometimes striking, sometimes eccentric, but always worth a look. Shortly after the war, the company, which originated from the Bristol Airplane Company, started the construction of a handful of cars based on the pre-war BMW 328. Of course, the models gradually had less to do with BMWs. Instead, Bristol often came up with quirky solutions that were often derived from aircraft.
In 1960, the company was taken over by founder George White, who in turn sold it to Tony Crook in 1973. In 1997 another owner came, namely Toby Silverton. He told in the unsurpassed book WAFT that he wanted to stay with the brand for at least 35 years, just like the owners before him. 'Bristol has always been privatley run. Every owner had a link with aviation and was around for at least 35 years. I intend to do the same. I run other companies to earn money. This is fun, " says Silverton in the book. Unfortunately, the rather eccentric Silverton could not live up to that. The last new model, the Fighter, was developed under his leadership, but that car could not save the brand. The latter was the reason for Silverton to buy the brand. 'At the end Tony Crook didn't feel the need for big investments anymore and I feared to be dry or Bristols if anything would happen to him. So I bought the company. "
The company has been owned by Kamkorp Autokraft, part of Frazer-Nash, for several years now. For now there is a roadster that looks pretty retro, whose main purpose is to show that the brand is back. It's not cheap, because the new Bristol Bullet will cost you 250.000 pounds. For that you get a hand-built car that is equipped with an 375 pk strong V8. Just like 70 years ago, the engine comes from BMW. According to the brand, the design of the car comes from "an outstanding Italian designer who prefers to remain anonymous," the brand reports. The design is more than a reference to the 404, which built the brand between 1953 and 1958. Yet the car is not old-fashioned; due to the use of carbon fiber, the weight is limited to 1.130 kilos. You can therefore reach the 4 within 100 seconds and achieve a top speed of 250 kilometers per hour, although with the small windscreen you run the risk of blowing your head off. Those who want a new Bristol must be fast: production is limited to 70 copies. The most important news, however, is that one of the finest British brands is back!
