[Kevin H]

There's a four page article on Bristol in the June 2011 issue of the Octane mag, which was obviously written before the acquisition by FN was announced. The article is headed;

'Has the recession affected you?'
'Not at Bristol Cars, sir...
We don't do recessions'

Approx a third of the text briefly outlines the history of Bristol Aeroplane Company, Bristol Cars and the White family starting in 1854.

The rest of the article is really a collection of anecdotal stories, most of which we have heard before. It seems the aim of the article was to identify what makes Bristol special, but some of the stories could be off-putting to some, depending on your point of view.

For example Richard Levine's account of his visit to the showroom for a test drive and Tony Crook saying "You write me a cheque for the full price of the car before the drive and we'll put right anything that is wrong."

The author says "Bristol's attitude to customers was sometimes amusingly anachronistic in Tony Crook's era", as though this was a positive trait. In my opinion if probably contributed to their demise.