Howdy All

[403er]

Greets from California USA.

Bristol?....that's a WW II aircraft, right?...thought that until I bought it...damn thing turned out to be a old car!?@?#

Seriously...knew/know very little about the brand.

I've always wanted to own a R-hand drive UK/AU classic. RMSotheby's just had a no-reserve auction, "Elkhart Auction" that had some beautiful cars offered. The entire collection was owned by a crooked CEO who used other people's money to buy & maintain them...around 40 million (US) worth! I figured that if the guy was using free money, he would maintain the cars to excellent condition. I thought I stood a better than average chance in buying a sight-unseen car w/o being ripped off. I don't show my cars, but drive them...they're automobiles, right?. From the photos of the collection, most looked to be in #1 & #2 condition.

After my 2 first picks (much cheaper than the Bristol) & the over-100k(US) cars went over market value, I realized there were a lot of More-Money-Than-Brains folks among the 2,500 bidders. I pretty much gave up on buying anything.

At the bottom of my list was the Bristol. I didn't bother researching it since it was estimated at more than I wanted to spend...but man...what a cool, like new vehicle, inside & out.

When it came up, I joined the bidding & figured to stay in as long as it was under the low estimate. I was Shocked!...Shocked I tell you!...when others quickly dropped out & I got it. It happened in a blur. The sale took maybe a minute.

I knew a couple of really neat Aussies in the past so I know that a few of you are just rude enough to say, "Shut up & tell us what you paid!"....actually it's public knowledge if you register for the site. My bid was US $55,000...unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. With the 12% commission, tax, shipping 2,400 miles, etc it was over US $68,000.

I can live with the price as it's a bit__'n car. I'm waiting on the delivery & hoping that the drive-train is as good as the rest of the car looks...we'll see, eh?

Very happy to find this forum & have had email correspondence with your helpful Admin, Kevin. There's not a heck of a lot of info out there & if it shows up w/o a owners manual, my first question will be, "How the hell do I start this & what's the Shift Pattern? "

In the meantime, here's a couple of pics from the auction site...lots more there.

“G'day”...ain't I cool?...OK, google helped..