smooth boot 400

[cooper_bm]

HI guys, I note on Andrew Blows website an early 400 'smooth boot' listed as car 400/180 the 80th car built, how many cars had smooth boots and which was the last?. My car, largely unrestored, 400/159 whilst not a smooth boot shows signs of having been made as one. On the underside forward facing panel it can be seen where the panel was extended to give the deeper boot, from the curve where the spare wheel sat as well as where the top hinges connected. Likewise as time has progressed cracks can be seen where the latch caught at the lower edge of the apperture. Out of interest, how many were fitted with the tubular bumpers?. Here in Australia, as far as I know, none have the smooth boot and only one has the tubular bumpers (a slightly later car) which has the spare on the boot. Curiously, would my car have been converted to spare on the boot lid, here in Australia, or prior to leaving the factory? How was/is the spare secured to the boot face on these early cars? My car also has no slots in the lower wooden windscreen surround for air to blow onto the inside of the screen, was this common on early cars?
Points to ponder! My regards Barry

[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

[Andrew Blow]

Hello Barry and Geoff.

Just to say that I agree with Geoff about this (probably) being the 82nd car, and not the 80th. I also agree with his likely total of 420 Bristol-bodied production 400s.

This car has the original shallow boot (photo attached), with the wheel recessed into a well which drops below the boot floor. The wheel is held to the back of the boot with a nice stud attached to the same type of aluminium nut used for the boot stay, and this screws into a small boss rivetted (I think!) onto the back of the boot structure (might be welded). So, you might find some evidence of this boss on the back of your boot.

Andrew Blow

[cooper_bm]

Geoff & Andrew

Thankyou for your replies and the photo. An interesting picture inside the boot, easy yo see the necessity to improve the boot space. On checking my car, feeling through the felt lining of the boot, in the obvious centre point, presumably what is the remnants of weld can be found concurring with what Andrew says. Having checked the inside of the alloy spare wheel cover no numbers show on inner or outer. On the left hand side of the boot aperture an extra piece of wood can be found assumedly as Andrew says for the boot support.
Andrew: Was the boot on these early cars lined? If so with what?. The spare being mounted where shown, where did the jack,wheelbrace, etc. mount?
On another subject, the "smooth boot" 400 advertised by Brian May, I notice the Enots one shot mounted on the left side of the car?

My regards Barry

[Geoff Dowdle]

Barry ,



Brian's 400 was originally LHD and the one shot pump was not moved across,

Geoff