Bristol Is A Foreign Country …
… They Do Things Differently There.
Here at DTW, we have always held Bristol in great respect. If we haven’t written about them that much over the past couple of years, that’s because neither have they. What, if anything, will come from this silence, who knows, but if and when they re-emerge, will they maintain any of their idiosyncratic past?
Bristol, of course, made much of their aviation heritage. I’ve always felt that should be put into perspective. The Bristol Car Company was always a separate entity from the aviation business and, although there might have been some synergy, it doesn’t follow. In truth the aeronautical heritage was more of a marketing tool but, to consider Bristol’s post war aeronautical output, let’s look at two planes.
First, the Bristol Britannia. This, a long haul turboprop, was, by the accounts of pilots and passengers, a fine aircraft. Smooth and civilised ‘The Whispering Giant’ was, however, very late to the party and, by the time it was in service, pure jets were well in the ascendancy – it was a thoroughbred out of its time. All In all, you can see a relationship to the cars.
Second is the Bristol Freighter and the grandly named Superfreighter (a bit longer), memorably described as 20,000 rivets flying in close formation. I have flown on these and they were noisy and rudimentary, if fun. They felt and looked like something you could knock up in a scrapyard challenge, a chance meeting of odd bits. All In all, you can see a relationship to the cars.
To those who don’t know, the panels behind the front wheels on both sides of many Bristol cars lift to reveal the spare wheel, tools, battery and other bits. This is a sensible piece of packaging for a car built on a separate frame and seems to reference aeroplane construction in a vague way.
For this reason, the otherwise rather graceless gaps (I can’t even think of them as shutlines) seem oddly acceptable.
Driven To Write 
Please tell me that this bumper “shutline” is the result of parking by ear and not the designer’s intention.
The same question occurred to me.
Much as I like Bristol, photos like this showed how far out to sea they had drifted. You’d imagine that coach building would have freed them to do better things than late model Blenheims. I’d still want one though. The looks matter alot less than the other attributes.
Yes, the bumper is crooked not by intent but by inattention. But I like this particular Bristol since it is one of a group of interesting cars I know that are based on London’s streets, like my SM. These range from a Fiat Mirafiori, but most memorable are a Bentley S-Type Continental fastback and a GT350 (or very convincing replica) Mustang which have both been around for years. Inevitably they get minor damage and weather takes toll of the paintwork, but they add interest to the streets and, speaking for myself, I’d rather it was that way than tucking my car up in a snug garage.