Words in the July 2011 issue of Motor Sport

[Markus Berzborn]

What's the use of a 409 replica as long as you can get a 409 upgraded by the company itself?

Regards,
Markus

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

Well, for starters, I would have to ship the car to GB. Second, I daresay that the cost of refurbishment would outstrip the cost of a car in decent condition. I can purchase good examples here for 35,000 USD.

[Markus Berzborn]

Originally Posted by Ronald G. Stephenson

Second, I daresay that the cost of refurbishment would outstrip the cost of a car in decent condition.

Sure, but so would a one-off replica.

Regards,
Markus

[Kevin H]

A copy of a Bristol body in fibreglass, on a non original chassis and drivetrain is not a "replica", it's an imitation. It's definitely not a Bristol in any way. It has zero Bristol "DNA" in the classic car sense.

But why do this anyway when you can still buy a real original Bristol at a reasonable price?

I saw a funny thing at the weekend. A US built Ford Taurus with oversized Mercedes badging and hideous non original Mercedes wheel trims. The clown who did this had removed all the Ford badging but obviously couldn't bring himself to remove the Ghia badges from the wings! Oh, it had the number plate "BAD9" which was undoubtedly worth more than the car itself.

Why not do something like that Ron. Just get some Bristol badges and stick them on some mass produced piece of junk. It would be much cheaper than making a fibreglass copy of a 409 and so few people in the US would have even seen a real Bristol it wouldn't really make much difference

[lansdownplace]

Surely it is the chassis that is the common DNA to all Bristols (other than the Fighter). Why not start with the chassis and drivetrain from your favorite Bristol driving experience package and build a one off body to your own design on it? Jeff Marsh is about to offer this option from his new enterprise in Bristol I believe.

I did wonder if it would have been a good product line for Bristol to offer before the big change. You buy a complete rolling chassis, and then you get your design built in CAD so you can see what you are getting and can tweak it accordingly, a buck gets built and the body is coachbuilt in traditional British manner for you. Porsche and Ferrari do this, for a fee of about a million quid, but I suspect that in the real world a Bristol of your own would cost 150 to 200k and would last your lifetime.

Personally I would avoid fiberglass on any car that is intended to have a prestige element, the big trend in replicas now seems to be aluminium due to reductions in tooling costs and the wider availability of superforming for small series production as well as customer demand. This further reinforces the need to avoid fiberglass which is very much associated with kit cars. It is a bit of a false economy and it just doesn't provide a class A paint finish which is one of the other defining features of Bristols.

P

[Markus Berzborn]

I think Bristol would have done this within the limits of their possibilities if you had asked them.
For instance the body panels of the Blenheim 4 discussed here in the forum also largely differ from the standard model. Or look at the Speedster/Roadster.

And it's much easier to do on a separate chassis than with a monocoque construction.
In fact this was standard practice for luxury car manufacturers before World War II.

Regards,
Markus

[Kevin H]

As one hand built car manufacturer fails another flourishes.

Bufori