Lot 647: 1950 Bristol 401 Saloon

‘It will comfortably carry four people; in addition to them it will swallow an almost fabulous volume of luggage. It will sustain 80-90mph from dawn until the cows some home… and it is built with all the painstaking care and thoroughness which have made the products of the City of Bristol famous throughout the world.’ - The Motor. With the introduction of the 401 - the first of its exquisitely styled aerodynes - Bristol began to move away from the pre-war design the company had inherited from BMW. Carrozzeria Touring provided the Superleggera method of body construction that overlaid alloy panels on a lightweight tubular-steel framework, while the low-drag shape was achieved after hours of experimentation in Bristol’s wind tunnel. It had been intended that the Milan-based carrozzeria would build the first 200 cars, but this idea was abandoned after a mere handful of prototypes had been completed. The 401 continued to use its predecessor’s running gear and BMW-based, 2-litre, six-cylinder engine with its ingeniously arranged, pushrod-operated inclined valves. The gearbox remained a manual four-speed unit with first-gear freewheel. The 401’s aircraft-industry standard of construction did not come cheap however - at £2,270 it cost as much as an Aston Martin DB2 - and fewer than 700 found customers between 1948 and 1953. This Bristol 401 is one of four cars produced with ‘Art Deco’ style chrome-on-brass dashboard. Known to the Bristol Owners Cub, it was sympathetically restored in the early/mid-1990s by Mike Robinson, at that time the Club’s Spares Manager. We are advised that the engine and gearbox have been overhauled and that the recorded mileage of circa 59,000 is believed genuine. Finished in silver grey with beige-piped blue leather interior, the car is offered with MoT to November 2007 and Swansea V5 registration document.