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Post by Christian on Mar 21, 2011 22:25:12 GMT 1
Yup, next one goes belly-up. www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/2011/03/03/bristol-in-administration/Frankly, I never thought this would happen. They were always kind of "there". They are of course insignificant to today's auto industry, but I would have liked to see them go on (even if the last of their cars that I really liked was the Beaufighter). Maybe some rich eccentric Englishman will still step in and save them from a TVR/Reliant/Jensen/AC (sort of) fate. |
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Post by hemicuda on Mar 22, 2011 0:15:24 GMT 1
I never understood the appeal of the cars themselves, but they did extend their life a little bit with the Viper-engined Fighter when everyone was trying to have the most powerful car on the road in the mid-2000's.
I thought that they were just not exotic enough; their "regular"cars, the Blennheim (sp?) lineup, should have had Viper engines. The Fighter should have had the twin-turbo Viper engine as standard, rather than optional.
Their retro roadster should have had the SRT-8 V8 engine as standard.
I mean, the prices they were charging....
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Post by Christian on Mar 23, 2011 21:04:38 GMT 1
Yes, the SRT-8 engine would have been great for the Blenheim Roadster. But Viper power for the sedans? I don't know, those cars are cruisers.
As you mention, in the end they did put the biggest engine available in the Fighter - but they still lost money with every car sold ...
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Post by hemicuda on Mar 26, 2011 1:55:06 GMT 1
Bristol was selling exotic cars--they needed exotic engines. The specs still show them using a 360 engine for the Blenheims--the 360 had some decent power these past few years via Chrysler's performance parts division, Mopar, in their list of crate engines, but from what I remember, the 360's were recycled (from old 360's rebuilt to new specs, but still 'used').
If they wanted to remain eccentric and continue using Chrysler engines, then the only engine for them would have been the Viper V-10. Dodge had a 2 door performance pickup with this engine and 6 speed manual trans at one point, but then introduced a massive 4 door/auto trans 4 x 4 pickup with the same engine later on for posing and towing duty (not to be confused with the regular iron-block V10 pickups they used to offer). In other words, the 500 hp/aluminum engine was docile enough in a tow vehicle, not just for all-out performance vehicles, but still managed to get the massive quad-cab behemoth into the 13 second range in the quarter mile!
At the very least, they could have used the SRT-8 V8 engines, especially now with the increase in displacement and power to 475 hp (assuming Bristol survives) and the new 6 speed auto transmission (or is it 8-speed).
I don't know how they lost money on the Fighter--it does not look like it cost them anywhere near $400k USD to build it (perhaps they could have sourced the car from the same company that makes the Noble and the Superformance Cobra, and a new one that looks quite promising at $100k, the Perana/Zagato z-one)
Come to think of it, I should have been put in charge of Bristol!!! LOL
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