During the 1930s, Frazer Nash, who made some of the finest sports car of the time, extended their range by importing BMW's 3 Series cars which they re-badged and sold as Frazer Nash-BMWs. After 1945 they acquired the designs for the BMW range and encouraged the Bristol Areoplane Company to take up car manufacturing which, to our good fortune, they chose to do! The first product was the Bristol 400 which in essence combined the chassis of the BMW 326 with the looks of the 327 coupe and the superb engine of the 328 sports car. Being made by an aircraft manufacturer the 400 was a very high quality machine and, as it was hand built by highly skilled craftsmen, it was almost inevitably very expensive - however it soon found a strong market niche as well gaining a really good reputation in motoring events. Having established themselves as car makers with the 400 Bristol set about producing a new model which used the same BMW based mechanicals but took full advantage of their aerodynamic knowledge and experience. Working closely with Touring of Milan they designed a very streamlined body using Superleggera construction methods whereby the external aluminium panels are attached to a light but strong frame of small steel tubes. This new model (the 401) set standards for performance and comfort which must have made many other manufacturers feel as though they had been left behind in the dark ages. What we have here is a really fine example of what I think is one of the best British cars ever made. Even today its performance is excellent and it will happily keep up with modern traffic thanks to its overdrive gearbox - furthermore it drives superbly with excellent handling, ride and brakes. It is luxuriously finished inside and it is a total show stopper to look at. I can't think of many other cars you can buy which might begin to compare with it (other than the Talbot Lago I also have for sale!)
Colour: Red
Right-hand Drive
