[gjaf]

Firstly, may I begin by saying a big thank you for beginning a new thread to discuss my project in-depth, Brett. and Thank you to Mr Howard and Mr Browning also

To address a number of comments you have made:

- Kevin mentioned my initial brief and my proposal to "reinvent the Bristol brand"; This was the very first project proposal with only surface research completed, and from this I drew the assumption that Bristol required reinventing. I believe one word applied here perhaps; Naivety! Even by the time I had posted on the Bristol forum, this assumption had changed somewhat. I had hoped that my revised brief had communicated a greater depth of understanding of the brand, drawing the conclusion that actually it does not need reinventing but, alas, maybe it did not!

I do agree with Brett that the lead purchasing criteria is perhaps exclusivity, but I believe this does not need to come as a compromise to the design. I believe the aim of my design project is to minimise the number of compromises that need to be made by the buyer when buying a Bristol; why settle for an individual-looking car, when you could have a beautiful-looking individual car. This is why I spoke to owners again in my project towards the end, trying to understand why individuality matters to them.

From the point made above, how much more would buyers be attracted to the brand if the cars were not just different, but also beautiful and attractive. I think Brett has phrased this accurately, moving the brand from understated-ness to mild statement. However there has been advice for me in my project to design a "drop-dead gorgeous looking" car. This and Bristol's philosophy are not considered mutually exclusive. This advice accompanied opinion that a slightly more aggressive style would have been appropriate for the Fighter, and the suggestion of looking at the 1950s Bentley and the Alfa as cars where the designers "got it right".

Also, I have had to put a slight slant on my research for the purposes of the design degree I am undertaking and I believe a number of these have influenced both my presentation of the document and your feedback; your points are, however, very valid. These "slight slants" come in a variety of forms, from the CPA comparison of Blenheim and Bentley to the talk of other marques such as Morgan and Jaguar. I maybe subliminally communicated by these (or you may have assumed, or perhaps both!) that I believe these communicate an aim for where Bristol should be. In fact, I do not believe that Bristol are deficient; I only intended to highlight that Bristol are different! I have maybe failed in articulating my findings; the purpose for Bristol being different.

Another point, one key assumption I have had to make is that Bristol Cars cannot assume that because there is a current market, there will be a guaranteed future market.

This is after receiving guidance from lecturers that I must assume the stance "as a designer, I know better" (at this point, I would ask you please not to to pick me up on this statement. I am limited in my ability to change it - I don't think i believe it, but my lecturers maintain that it should be the case)

Continuing, many people are not aware of the Bristol brand, I believe from it being almost completely out of the media for a period recently (in my own experience, growing up reading car magazines and going to shows, i saw perhaps one mention?) and so I see securing the next market for Bristol as key to the company's survival. In a sense then, this is what I am trying to achieve with my design project. I do agree that Bristol are content with the current scale of their business, and so I do not see attracting new users as an attempt to scale up production, but rather to ensure that it stays at least at its current level for the future. This is the window I have established where I can implement change.

About speaking to the target market, this was seen by lecturers as key to the project; a requirement of the project from formal documentation and so a must to be completed. I believe I have learned a great deal about the brand from users and so I consider it a very valuable exercise. In terms of this then shaping my designed outcome, I am currently working to apply this. More design work will emerge soon, i hope it will articulate this

Your question about high-end electric is a very interesting one; I did address it to extent (concept 4) There is the British car, the Lightning and the Tesla (not the Roadster, but the Type S) and I thought that possibly competing with these at a time when electric cars are so niche anyway was perhaps not a way forward for this Project. I have done some extensive research into electric cars on a placement and definitely see their merit though. I think what BetterPlace are aiming to do is admirable.

In closing, about the Bristol cars website and a greater media exposure; I saw this maybe as a time when Bristol could come a little more into the limelight, in order to secure the aforementioned future market through a knowledge of the brand's existance. I felt that with the Fighter and the increasing occurances of articles in magazines etc, I could potentially extend this movement slightly -

Finally, I am currently engaged in communication with my university library, requesting an inter-library loan of Balfour's book. In fact, I have been since its first mention to me in January. It's not in the British Library, so they're currently asking round. I would love to own a copy, and it would be invaluable to the project I know, but being a student i just can't afford to buy it.

May I say another big thank you for all your help on my Bristol project.
I value that people are taking the time to speak to me about it and love the fact that people have opinions, so we can discuss it!
design causes debate!

(apologies for the length of this post by the way)

Gordon