Christopher Balfour

Bristol Six-Cylinder Cars

Bristol Cars began as the motoring arm of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, one of the world’s most successful aircraft companies of the 1920s and 1930s. In this revealing book, Bristol Cars expert Christopher Balfour provides a fascinating history of the Bristol six-cylinder cars produced between 1946 and 1961. Starting with the background to the Bristol Aeroplane Company, founded in 1910 by Sir George White and based at Filton in the West Country, this informative book discusses the development of the first six-cylinder Bristol model, the 400, and reveals its connections with BMW designs that came back to Britain assisted by the reparation policy. The next cars in the series, the 401, 402 and 403, were developed from an Italian ‘Superleggera’ all-metal body design, which helped the cars achieve worldwide acclaim but also proved very expensive to produce. Changes were made to the 404 and 405 models, with part-wood bodies to reduce costs. As problems with the parent aircraft company mounted, Bristol Cars separated, and the author discusses the challenges of developing the next models – the 220 and 225 – with a diminished workforce and funds. Not only were the Bristol Cars produced to aircraft standards, as this book shows, but they also featured exceptional coachwork and luxury interiors to match the preeminent luxury cars such as Bentley and Aston Martin. Including unseen archive photography, this is a unique concise guide to the full range of Bristol six-cylinder cars.