Bristol 400
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Bristol 400 | |
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Bristol 401 |
The Bristol 400 is a luxury car produced by the Bristol Aeroplane Company of Great Britain, its first. After World War II in 1947, BAC decided to diversify and formed a car division, which would later be the Bristol Cars company in its own right. BAC inspected the former BMW car factory in what was now a Soviet-controlled East German factory, and returned to Britain with plans for the 327 model and the six-cylinder engine as official war reparations. Bristol then employed BMW engineer Fritz Fiedler to lead their engine development team. In 1947, the newly formed Bristol Cars released their 400 coupé, a lengthened version of the BMW 327. that featured BMW's double-kidney grille.[1] BAC had also acquired Frazer Nash who had held a licence to build BMW models pre war.
Bristol chose to base its first model on the best features of two outstanding pre-war BMWs, namely the 328's engine, and the 326's frame. These were covered with a mainly steel body but with aluminium bonnet, door and boot skins inspired by the BMW 327's. The Bristol 400 featured a slightly modified version of BMW's six-cylinder
The model 400 was the only Bristol to be fitted with a steel and aluminium skin, and had all flat glass, but for the curved rear window, glazed in perspex, which was available to specification with a top hinge. This feature was very welcome on warmer climate export markets, where the sliding door windows provided only marginal ventilation to the passengers.
The 400 featured
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Bristol 400 2-litre
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400 2-litre (1949)
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400 Farina (1949)
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400 Farina (1949), the lines of which prefigure the401
References
- ^ Norbye, Jan P. (1984). BMW - Bavaria's Driving Machines. Skokie, IL, USA: Publications International. ISBN 0-517-42464-9. LCCN 84060309., p. 80
- ^ a b "Bristol 400". motorbase.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2008.