Quote:
Originally Posted by dbrotzen
Thank you all! So very few. I'll guess I have to settle for a RHD then, unless I get lucky.
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If you join the BOC, I believe you are still provided with an owners list. As the registrar in North America at the time (before I moved overseas), I called everyone on the list, and as part of the valuation part, I asked the question "did you buy the car recently and if so how much? Or is the car for sale now, and if so, how much?" This proved a dangerous question as a few people answered the latter with remarkably low prices.
For example, I was down in Virginia on business, and as usual had rung the Bristol owners to stop by a take photographs for Bob Charlton, the then global BOC registrar. One 409 in particular was in lovely shape and I did my usual data collection of inserting a large-font printout with the Chassis ID No in the windscreen and then taking a few photographs to post off to Bob. I was heading home, about 20 miles north on the freeway when the penny dropped, and I used my car phone to ring the owner to make sure I had not recorded the wrong figure as it was about 1/3rd of what the market was asking in those days. No, he knew what it was worth, but would be delighted to sell it at that price, provided he did not need to advertise. He was wealthy, had gotten good use out of the car, but had no interest in showing the car to prospective buyers. I turned around, wrote him a cheque and said I would fly down a month later to collect the car, asking him have his mechanic assure it would make it back to New England. We kept that car (nicknamed "The Dutchess") a long time, and only sold it in New Zealand because we live on an island and taking road trips was, in those days, more complicated as the first stage was a salt-water wet $160 ferry ride. It was not being used enough to merit owning it any more, especially given the other four classic cars in the garage.
At one point, just before I was to move to RHD New Zealand, I found that the following LHD cars were on the market in the USA: 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409... and I already owned a LHD 410 and 405, meaning that for under $100,000 I could own almost the complete LHD collection. Instead I sold my two LHD cars and am now down to one RHD 411 that I can't get through NZ regulations without an awful lot of wasted money.
So, if you really want a LHD Bristol, pick up the BOC directory and do some telephoning. It is not unlikely your future car is parked in a garage somewhere and if you don't sound too desperate, the vendor may be delighted to move it on. I would begin by tracking down the 410 in Tulsa OK. Jerry Johnson's Rolling Art is listed on the internet, and he may still have the car for sale. If he does, get a quote on buying it fully restored by his company, as I gather he is in the business.
Alternatively, if you have the funds and want to try something very creative, see if the 405 LHD Monnereau car is still for sale in Paris, and ask Toby Silverton for a quote to refurbish it and install a V8 power-train.
Good luck,
Claude