> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 13:10:19 EDT
> From: brandenberg@gauss.enet.dec.com
> To: british-cars@autox.team.net
> Subject: Bristol
>
>
> Last night I saw something unusual: parked a few blocks from my place
> was a car I'd heard of but never seen in print or person. A Bristol.
> Looks to be early/mid-50's, RHD, styling typical of coupes of the era,
> and a bit shy of concours condition. What is the history and lineage
> of this marque? I assume it's not a total redesign but a repackaging
> of other maker's components...
>
I really don't know a lot about this company other than its name,
Bristol Air Craft Company, the fact that it did manufacture automobiles,
and that it supplied AC Cars with one of the better engines to power the
Ace and Aceca. Bristol acquired the rights to build this innovative
engine from BMW after WW II. I've heard two versions of this story.
One, that this was war reparations and two, that BMW was looking for
export markets after the war and licensed the rights to Bristol as a
means of furthering this end. My guess is that both versions are true.
Any way, Bristol used this engine in their own cars, as well.
The story goes that when Bristol decided to stop building these engines,
and thus cut off AC's supply, that this was impetus for the
collaboration of AC Cars with Carroll Shelby, resulting in the Cobra.
Personally I've never found this story very credible since AC already
had a ready supply of engines from Ford of England in the form of a 2.6
litre 6. I'm more inclined to believe that AC saw the link-up with
Shelby as a good business opportunity and just went for on its own
merits.
Roland
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