Very special Bristol Farina

[GREG]

I noticed the latest sales comment on a car for sale !!!

- Quote-

The 406 is the last of the Bristol-engined 6 cylinder cars, and has standard overdrive giving 5 gears, and disc brakes all round. Lots of unique features only fitted to the 406 model. Some consider it the best car Bristol built, myself included, -Quote-

For me the best Bristol ever made within my price range is the Bristol 411 S1
and that is why I own one.

It seems a bit strange that a Bristol dealer would state that the 406 is the best car ever built by Bristol but not own one according to the register !

I don't know if the register is complete. ?


Or is it me ! :-)

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by GREG

It seems a bit strange that a Bristol dealer would state that the 406 is the best car ever built by Bristol but not own one according to the register !

The register could be out of date, or maybe it isn't. But I don't think it is strange at all if Andrew doesn't currently own a 406.

An individual private dealer who specialises in a particular marque ends up driving them almost every day, and Andrew has probably driven almost every type of Bristol ever made, including one-offs (I still regret not buying the Abbot 404 from him many years ago). So he probably sees no great need to own a particular type.

I know an individual dealer of classic cars in Melbourne who has bought and sold more Astons than anyone in Australia. I have bought three from him and sold two through him myself. I once wondered how he could possibly sell some of these cars, particularly the fine examples of rare models, and why he didn't have a stable of superb Astons for his personal use. But I realised that dealers have to detach themselves from the desires that drive enthusiasts like ourselves, otherwise it would impact on their business. The other thing is they know that they will keep on having opportunities to drive these cars again and again, sometimes the exact same cars.

[GREG]

Fair comment.

And I guess the other problem would be that if they don't get used often enough the mechanical condition will suffer.

Some of the big car collectors like Jay Leno on Simon Draper must have a permanent team of mechanics just to keep them all in running order !

What a great problem to have !

Jay Leno's Garage

[Kevin H]

We're getting a bit off topic so I started another thread here about car collections.