Words in the July 2011 issue of Motor Sport

[Markus Berzborn]

Originally Posted by Ronald G. Stephenson

Does this mean that some of us should make Bristol 409 bodies out of fibreglass and offer several donor chasiss options. Intriguing, what?

No, not really intriguing.
Because it's to a large extent the separate chassis and the aluminium bodywork that defines a Bristol.

Regards,
Markus

[TBC]

the Caterham 21 was the unsuccessful attempt by the company to produce a 'modern' 7. It proved no match for Lotus's Elise

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

The Caterham and other replicas have been driven hard, tested by many of the enthusiast magazines, and they have gotten rave reviews. Technology marches on, and small specialist cars come and go as all of us know. It is a tribute to the original ideas that made these cars possible,and in no way is a replica any sort of 'knock-off' of the real thing. Few people can be deceived by them,and it makes for a lot of hands-on fun to construct a car.
My idea for the reproduction 409 stands, and if I only produced one car, that would be satisfaction enough. Besides, beauty may only be skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone. You have to love the 409 in order to stand the nasty comments people make when seeing the car. Matter of taste? Who knows?

[Markus Berzborn]

What's the use of a 409 replica as long as you can get a 409 upgraded by the company itself?

Regards,
Markus

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

Well, for starters, I would have to ship the car to GB. Second, I daresay that the cost of refurbishment would outstrip the cost of a car in decent condition. I can purchase good examples here for 35,000 USD.

[Markus Berzborn]

Originally Posted by Ronald G. Stephenson

Second, I daresay that the cost of refurbishment would outstrip the cost of a car in decent condition.

Sure, but so would a one-off replica.

Regards,
Markus

[Kevin H]

A copy of a Bristol body in fibreglass, on a non original chassis and drivetrain is not a "replica", it's an imitation. It's definitely not a Bristol in any way. It has zero Bristol "DNA" in the classic car sense.

But why do this anyway when you can still buy a real original Bristol at a reasonable price?

I saw a funny thing at the weekend. A US built Ford Taurus with oversized Mercedes badging and hideous non original Mercedes wheel trims. The clown who did this had removed all the Ford badging but obviously couldn't bring himself to remove the Ghia badges from the wings! Oh, it had the number plate "BAD9" which was undoubtedly worth more than the car itself.

Why not do something like that Ron. Just get some Bristol badges and stick them on some mass produced piece of junk. It would be much cheaper than making a fibreglass copy of a 409 and so few people in the US would have even seen a real Bristol it wouldn't really make much difference