NEW CAR AGAIN.... 1956 Bristol 405 CHASSIS - 4106. 405GMT

[Geoff Kingston]

Raymond,
You did not get off to a bad start at all on the forum, your comments about the paint on LRU and better interiors shots made me laugh but I hate adding LOL after a comment far too new a phrase for an old luddite like me, I also like to get the old wooden spoon out to stir things up so beware.
I would strongly and seriously however advise anyone considering converting any Bristol to electric to forget it, I 'll say no more on the forum but if anyone wants to know the reason behind this comment please send me a private message, suffice to say a lot of conversions like this are dangerous in more ways than just a keep out sign.

Hesketh,
The engine robbing has been going on for years, when I started running Bristol 401's they cost about £150 to £250 each a 405 more if good but with wood rot less a 406 £450 max. Engine dies then buy another car to use or rob the engine out of. Then the AC Ace factor, a lot found their way to the US, taken racing, V8's fitted, the exchange rate changed and many were bought back into the UK, where did new owners get their engines from, poor old Bristol engined AC Greyhounds which were not fashionable or Bristol 405's. Then the historic racers, 406's escaped this because the engines were not eligible for historic racing, sadly the rest were and if you had a £100k racer £10 spent on a sad old Bristol to pinch its engine was a bargain. 405's seemed to be the first victims, then the 403's and eventually the 401's when people realised that these too could be modified to race or FNS specification. I wasted almost two weeks recently assembling a parts package for a potential buyer who wanted a engine for an early Frazer Nash only for him to drop his offer because he had been "offered later engines for less money", one at a plausible price, one that a very knowledgeable friend of mine said if it was available for that figure it would be scrap, a 100D at about a quarter of current market value.
The sad reality was that to build an authentic spec engine for the Frazer Nash in question a later engine would knock a lot off the value whereas in a Bristol it won't. The guy in question I suspect may actually have had a Werner Oswald clone but an FNS spec build on a correct series engine would have been a better bet.
As I said before its a funny old world, enjoy it!
Geoff.