The Bristol 400 is a luxury car made by the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable ...

from 1947 to 1950. It was the first model of car that the company made. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, BAC decided to diversify. In 1947 it formed a car division, which later became the

Bristol Cars Bristol Cars was a British manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Bristol, Bristol, England. It was formed from the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the World War II, Second World War and later became indepe ...

company in its own right. BAC inspected the Soviet-controlled BMW factory at

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

in the

Soviet occupation zone in Germany The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

, and returned to Britain with plans for the

BMW 327 The BMW 327 is a medium-sized touring coupé produced by BMW between 1937 and 1941, and again produced after 1945. It sat on a shortened version of the BMW 326 chassis. Launch The first 327, launched in 1937, was a cabriolet. In 1938, this was j ...

and the six-cylinder engine as official war reparations. Bristol then employed BMW engineer Fritz Fiedler to lead its engine development team. In 1946 BAC acquired a majority shareholding in

Frazer Nash Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed ...

, which in the 1930s held a licence to build the

BMW 328 The BMW 328 was a sports car produced by BMW from 1936 to 1940. Its body design is credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II (although technically the car was designed by Fritz Fiedler). Specifications Aw ...

. In 1947 the newly-formed Bristol Cars released its 400 coupé. It is a lengthened version of the BMW 327, and features BMW's double-kidney radiator grille.Norbye, Jan P. (1984). ''BMW – Bavaria's Driving Machines''. Skokie, IL, USA: Publications International. ISBN 0-517-42464-9. LCCN 84060309, p. 80 Bristol based the 400 on the best features of two outstanding pre-war BMWs: the engine of the 328, and the chassis of the

326 __NOTOC__ Year 326 ( CCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Constantinus (or, less frequently, year 1079 ''Ab urbe condita''). The den ...

. These were covered with a mainly steel body but with aluminium bonnet, door and boot skins inspired by the 327. The 400 has a slightly modified version of BMW's six-cylinder

pushrod A valvetrain is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) into the combu ...

engine of 1,971 cc (bore 66 mm, stroke 96 mm). This engine, considered advanced for its time due to its hemispherical combustion chambers and very short inlet and exhaust ports, develops 80

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

at 4,500

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

, and gives the car a top speed of about , with acceleration to match. Bristol 2 litres 4910332282

In order to form a hemispherical combustion chamber, the valves are positioned at an angle to the head. In order to drive both sets of valves from a single camshaft, the Bristol engine uses a system of rods, followers and bell-cranks to drive the valves on the far side of the engine from the camshaft. Owners soon found that setting and maintaining the numerous clearances in the system was difficult, but vital to keep the engine in tune. The gearbox is a four-speed manual with

synchromesh A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system where gear changes ...

on the upper three ratios and a

freewheel image:Freewheel en.svg, Freewheel mechanism In mechanical engineering, mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission (mechanics), transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driv ...

in first. The 400 is the only Bristol that has a steel and aluminium skin. It has all flat glass, apart from the curved rear window, which is glazed in

Perspex Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...

, and was available to specification with a top hinge. This was very welcome on warmer climate export markets, where the sliding door windows provided only marginal ventilation to the occupants. Bristol 2Litre 2

The 400 has

independent front suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in ...

with a transverse

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring (device), spring commonly used for suspension (vehicle), suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, e ...

and a

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle, or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically, they have a ...

, located by an A-bracket over the differential case, and longitudinal

torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end ...

s with transverse arms and brackets at the rear. It has a lengthy wheelbase and a very BMW-like grille at the front of its long bonnet. The passenger area is very short, with the spare tyre mounted inside the boot on the first cars. In later 400s the spare wheel is mounted on the rear hinged boot lid, inside an aluminium cover. Battista Pininfarina designed an alternative body for the 400. Its lines prefigure the 400's successor model, the

401 __NOTOC__ Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

, which Bristol launched in 1948. Bristol 400 Farina 1949 Front.JPG,

Farina Farina may refer to: Places * Farina, South Australia, a former town in outback South Australia * Farina, Illinois, a village in the United States * Farina railway station, a former railway station on the Central Australian Railway, South Australi ...

-styled 1949 400 Bristol 400 Farina 1949 Heck.JPG, Farina-styled 1949 400

References

External links

* * * {{Bristol Cars

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 (Roman numerals, CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (consul 400), Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

Sports sedans Cars introduced in 1947 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles