Registrations are only one measure
Many cars are clapped away, like most of mine (not Bristols) and have not been on the road for a very long time. People do not renew registrations unless they intend to drive their cars. Many are disassembled and may never see the light outside their storage places. Sadly, it is true that many rare old cars meet a terrible fate, and are gone forever, and we have to assume some of them are in hiding. I have an opportunity right now to buy one that was being 'restored', and all work stopped. Another 409 languished outside for years, so long all the paint was gone from it, primer too. Person would not sell, and to my knowledge, the starving artist may have had to sell it to eat. I have given up contacting him.
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