403 in a barn
An old guy who has restored more classic cars than we have had hot dinners gave me a good piece of advice many years ago. I laughed at the time but it has turned out to be very true. " Estimate the cost of the job and triple it - should be somewhere near the final cost ".
I have a 403 and would love to encourage you to go for this barn find but, unless you are going to do all the work yourself, you may end up with a car that has cost more than the current value of a 403 but be worth much less because of the lack of originality.
If you have the money it may be a wiser decision to buy a fairly original car and improve it gradually. This is what I have done with my 403 and never regretted it. You should have seen the smile on my face as I drove into Paris a couple of weeks ago to meet other Bristol cars and their owners. The Aerodynes ( 401 and 403 ) are wonderful cars.
Good luck.
Dave Dale.
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