Article Found by Accident from late 2007

[lansdownplace]

Good observation Blenheim Boy, I think you either get Bristol, or
you don't.

Sadly I don't own one, but I have been in a couple and one thing
that does stand out in the Fighter cockpit is the feel of the
criticised aluminium knobs, they are precision made, cool to the
touch, and have a lovely silky positive click to them that you get
with expensive HiFi units. I love them, my wife thinks they are
cooker knobs, which is why she is not allowed any say whatever in
the matter of potential car acquisition in our house. I did read
somewhere that the Fighter switches are £60 a pop and are from an
aircraft source.

Like all Bristols the Fighter has a huge number of tuneable
parameters and is built for the owner who is the only person whose
opinion actually matters. It is a fact that mass car production
nowadays is a very high precision, high build quality exercise where
very high production numbers allow manufactures to spend, for
example, £100k per door seal set design. however you end up with a
single flavour appliance in a nice jacket. When you buy a handbuilt
anything there is a trade off between exclusivity, development,
execution, performance and price. If you double the volume you can
double the development cost but you lose the exclusivity. You could
always follow the Bugatti business model and spend five million
pounds (yes that is correct!) per car and sell them for under a
million. Personally I think Bristol have the balance about right.

For my own more modest 412, Toby Silverton took me out in the the car
when the rebuild was complete and discussed the various suspension
setting options and their effects and then had all the changes done
and tested (while I waited). I suppose that is what building an
individual is about and why a handbuilt car cannot ever be compared
with a production car which is merely one amongst thousands.

Paul