Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration

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Sat 5 Mar 2011 07:34
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Buster Cambelt

Very sad to note that Bristol Cars has gone into administration this week. Another great name passes, but with new car construction down to less than 2 a month it was hardly a great surprise.

A real pity in my opinion, they at least dared to be different and the fact that most folks wouldn't have a clue what one was was a major plus to those who did.

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Sat 5 Mar 2011 11:27
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Avant

I agree - it's a great shame as Bristols have been around for much the same length of time as I have (born 1948). But as Chas Hallett of Autocar rightly says, 'In tough business conditions, Bristol just wasn’t making the sort of models that luxury sports car buyers want. In which case, it deserves to die'.

It's good to dare to be different. But you have to be different in a way that will attract potential customers, not put them off. One of Bristol's models has ben around since 1961, and it didn't look anything special even then - a big, thirsty two-door saloon that couldn't claim to be a coupe.

Bristol was probably kept going all those years through Tony Crook's private money.



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Sat 5 Mar 2011 16:19
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Buster Cambelt

Tony Crook sold his stake back in 2001 and it is to be hoped that he is behind one of the bids to refloat the company. The problem is, of course, that in trying to keep the marque 'special' they went too far, one dealership in the UK (which was staffed by wonderfully zealous types, zero advertising budget, no press cars..... etc. It was probably all a bit too eccentric.

I have to disagree about the model range. The Fighter and Speedster were glorious but I'm not sure they ever made a production Speedster. I'll admit that the Blenheim was rather dated (but not 50 surely).

At the end of the day a 6 litre V8 engine in a car built by an eccentric company in the west country was never going to thrive though.

I always promised myself one the day we turned in a million profit and I guess that's part of the problem.

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Sat 5 Mar 2011 18:28
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Harry Boy

Great shame and with their history poignant given that it coincides closely to the anniversary of the Spitfire's first flight. i really admire the older cars but the gentlemans carriage is a bit of a throwback in this day and age. Such marques are surprisingly resilient though and refuse to die, witness the many re-incarnations of Jensen (are they still going?)

The losers, however, are the Company creditors, often small concerns themselves. The manufacturer goes into administration, debts are effectively written off and the company bought by another party with a new name. Often, under pre-pack arrangements, the existing management buys the company from the receivers, but now debt free. At least that way the employees are often re-employed.

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Sat 5 Mar 2011 19:00
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - ddr

A shame indeed. But could they have done anything different? Apart from their rather eccentric approach (only selling to those who they liked the look of!), some may say Bristol failed to keep up with the times.

As it was Bristol in recent time tended to turn out rather expensive cars with US made 1970s era engines, and the rest (body, interior, chassis) was very much the fred in the shed school of engineering. Having said all that the Fighter does look the business! Hopefully a new management team/new owners will give Bristol another lease of life.

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Sun 6 Mar 2011 13:04
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - ForumNeedsModerating

I read the reviews & specs of their cars, hoping to find some 'beauty under the skin' , but to be quite frank the only good quality I'd noted was their repair-ability & longevity. I'm sure putting a big engine in a handmade chassis/coachwork with plenty of leather inside & charging top dollar will produce something rather grand - but with looks that belong more to a kit car than a svelte coupe I'm not surprised they've folded. I do feel sorry for the undoubtedly skilled workforce (it seems to be that sort of comany that would have had many long serving artisans/engineers working for them..), but they wre surely let down by a top level inability to comprehend modern marketing, styling, efficiency & dynamics.

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Mon 7 Mar 2011 17:37
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Sofa Spud

It's sad to see Bristol Cars go, but their product was antiquated. And yet it had none of the obvious olde-worlde character of a Morgan. The Bristol car made until a few days ago begun life as a competitior to the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud! Over the years the body styling was modified until the final version that looked like a 1970's Ford Escort Mk 2 with a lengthened bonnet.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 07/03/2011 at 17:39

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Tue 8 Mar 2011 11:28
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - able1

I saw a beautiful pair of bristols over the weekend - the trademark beautiful flowing lines emphasised by the early bright spring sunshine.

The fantastic full bodied shape was surely created by a higher being - then the young lady saw me looking, buttoned up her jacket and flounced off.

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Wed 9 Mar 2011 11:54
Bristol - Bristol Cars in administration - Roly93

I must admit, I have to agree with Sofa Spud.

As a business they were relying on trade with a tiny niche of society, ie people with loads of money not much sense and with extreme eccentricity !

The cars were undoubtely good quality but were either 'me-too' in the case of the Fighter or just ugly in the case of some of the other models.

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