New 403 owner

[Bellerophon]

The question how did the members of the BMW Car Club view the Bristol
owners.
Well I entered the first Bristol concourse held with the BMW club at Esher
in 1965, The event was split into two sections, the Bristol half was run as
one class for all models of Bristol cars, being just a first second and
third ect. I had fitted my car with Cintura radial tyres (one of the first in
the country) the judges did not like this as it was not in the original
specification so marked my wheels and tyres down. Dispite this the car came
fourth overall the winner being Lt.Col. G.T.E.Grey with his 406Z ,of
interest was L.J.K.Setright's 405 which came seventh.
We ventured onto the BMW section and were very taken with the very good
looking type 507 sports car with the V8 engine however this was only LHD, the
general feeling among the people present was that it was great to have an
enlarged club with much more of interest to look at. (no them and us at all)
In those days the Bristol News appeared in the BMW magazine and if you look
on the CD the club issued covering the magazines you can see how the two
makes were run side by side.
Hope this gives you some idea of how it was at the start, it was only when
the number of Bristol owners grew that a parting of the ways took place.
Bristol Cars always had a special place being manufactured by the Great
Bristol Aeroplane Company similar to Rolls Royce it stood for something which
I do not think can be quite matched now.
My regards,
Bellerophon