Its all Over.

[GREG]

Does anyone know if TAD Crook has made any comment regarding the administration ?

[lord sward]

I hope I'm not breaking any embargos, but next month's Octane magazine has a substantial interview with TAD CROOK. Sadly - or not as the case maybe - the interview was concluded just days before BCL went in administration. The magazine has gone to Press meaning any BCL in Administration developments won't be in the same magazine.

[jimfoz]

Originally Posted by GREG

Does anyone know if TAD Crook has made any comment regarding the administration ?

I expect if he had made any comment on it it would have been diplomatic, sympathetic and tinged in sadness - with a hint of 'It obviously wouldn't have happened if I was still there.....'

[Janne]

As I have written before, I visited the showroom on seveal occasions, and the workshop on many more.
What I found very unusual was the very oldfashioned feel of both places. Mr Crooks office was like a 1960's timewarp, furniture, typewriter, etc etc. The workshop had an abscence of modern equipment, at least I saw none.

In hindsight I realise that maybe the company survived on a shoestring budget, the small profit did not go to fancy new equipment, but to continual development of the cars.
The mechanics were/are very skilled, with a total knowledge of the cars.
The foreman knew every alternation that has been done to my car since it was new, and helped me greatly in the restoration.

I had the engine brutally upgraded by a specialist in Crowborough, and when my car was taken to the workshop after the propshaft snapped racing my wife on the M25 (shame on us!!), he gently told me off, that I should have told them about the engine, so they could have replaced it with a more suitably stronger one.

I am in the process of writing a small article for the BOC Bulletin or Newsletter about my ownership and restoration, untill I sold it in 2006, before I bought it back in 2011....

[GREG]

[quote=I had the engine brutally upgraded by a specialist in Crowborough, and when my car was taken to the workshop after the propshaft snapped racing my wife on the M25 (shame on us!!), he gently told me off, that I should have told them about the engine, so they could have replaced it with a more suitably stronger one.

....[/QUOTE]

How brutal ? What was done and what HP did you get ? Did they put the Beaufighter propshaft in ?

I was told the standard one could live with a big increase in power ! I have not heard of anyone else breaking a propshaft.

[Janne]

The Engine was "Edelbrocked" on the inside but I kept the Carter carb. That and the part that lets the fuel/airmixture in to the combustion chambers were just internally slightly enlarged and polished.
I wanted to keep the exterior as original as possible.

I never told the next owner about that alternation (if you read this - sorry!) as I was afraid it would turn a potential buyer off.

After I bought the car, I ran it every day for about 6 months. I planned to have it restored in a workshop in Czech Republic (they had restored a 1939 MB for me, and converted a friends pre WW2 BMW 327 to a 328. As the Bristol contained so many British parts, nuts and bolts they declined.
I drove it there, and back. When the engine guy took it apart, he discovered that it ran on only 5 cylinders. And I did about 80-100 miles per hour on the French and German motorways...Quality engine, I must say

After the rebuilt, it has an estimated bhp of around 400.
The Torqueflite was also restored, but further south in East Sussex. They too upgraded it, so it changes gears more smooth.

I will make a thread about by my "labour of love" once I have submitted the script to BOC.

I am not sure what kind of propshaft they fitted.
One important thing for all of you to know:
The foreman (name? Passed away recently) told me I was incredibly lucky that the propshaft had not dropped and hit the road, as the strap was still there. He told me that he knew that the strap was missing on many Bristols (rotted away). As the fracture was just behing the UJ joint behind the gearbox, it would have flipped the car over on it's back, and my coffin would need to be very short.
I accelerated and was up to 100-120 when it broke.

[GREG]

Thanks Janne, I will go and check the propshaft straps !

There was an episode of Mythbusters where they tried to get a car to flip by deliberately causing a propshaft failure. The car will not flip but it will cause a "bunny hop " so the same end result. Serious accident.

I was told that one of the 411 S6 was running at around 600 HP -- eeek !

MythBusters Episode 27: Exploding Port-a-Potty, Car Pole-Vault

[geo]

Originally Posted by GREG

There was an episode of Mythbusters where they tried to get a car to flip by deliberately causing a propshaft failure.

Possibly another myth, but it was generally believed by all that it was the propshaft disconnecting on his TR2 that caused the horn virtuoso Dennis Brain to crash in 1957 on his overnight way back from the Edinburgh Festival.

Colliding with the oak tree outside de Havilland's factory in Hatfield was the ultimate cause of death, but despite filthy weather and Brain's love of high speed, mechanical failure and the mention of the propshaft appeared in most contemporaneous reports.

George

[irienz]

Originally Posted by GREG

I was told that one of the 411 S6 was running at around 600 HP -- eeek !

Has anyone put their Bristol V8 on a dynometer? I would be interested to know what owners have found to be the actual power outputs of their engines (wherever measured) and whether standard or modified.

Chris Browne