Bristol lever type shock absorbers

[Geoff Kingston]

Checking the 401 parts book I see the change over to Telescopic's on the rear of the 401's took place before they changed over to them on the front, I am sure as Stefan has said you would have to carry out alterations to the rear of the car to make them fit, at the front you could change to the later 401 or 403 suspension units that take telescopic's but an awful lot of work for no real benefit. My 1951 401 still has the Bristol shock absorbers on the front and as Stefan said they are beautifully engineered and the only thing we had to do was to change some small paxolin discs in them to restore proper damping action, I never had any complaints when we ran that car and I certainly would not change them now even though I have a spares car to donate the later parts.
I read years ago that the main reason Bristol went over to telescopic's was the cost saved rather than any ride or handling improvements.
There are also a number of firms who repair this type of shock absorber and I have seen reference to this service on one of the club websites.