[Geoff Dowdle]

Barry ,
The 400 that Andrew has for sale is Chassis #180 and Car # 182 and it is
probably the 82nd standard Bristol bodied 400 .It has later wheels & door
handles fitted .

Yours on the other hand is Chassis 159 and Car#140 (the 40th standard
Bristol bodied car produced.) BAC changed many details through the
production run of about 420 standard Bristol bodied 400's .

I believe all standard bodied 400's (not chassis with special bodies like
Farina & Touring,) were manufactured in Car # order starting from Car#101 ,
not Chassis number order as one might guess. All later types from 401
onwards were made in chassis number order.

Looking at the hundreds of photos I have on file , most 400's up to approx
Car number 200 had the smooth boot lid with spare wheel in boot and a few of
those were later converted having the spare wheel in the boot lid . At
Car#202 the way the windscreen fitted to the body changed as well as the
rubber sealing strip . Perhaps Car # 202 was the where a number of features
changed .

There are exceptions of course ,
John May's 400 chassis 317 & Car# 166 has no visible sign of being converted
from a smooth boot type (like yours & Iain's chassis 137 /car 126) its
spare wheel cover has a #103 stamped into the inside face (possibly the
third made)

Chassis#339/ Car#224 has a smooth boot lid

All of this is probably pretty boring for most of the Bristol owners on the
Forum but when you study photos of these early 400's there are lots of minor
differences between each car.

Maybe one day BCL might release production details of the early cars and put
us out of our misery wondering what, when, why, how many , etc .
Regards
Geoff