1949 Bristol 400 Coupe - 1 of 487 Made! Great Runner!

Description for Other Makes Bristol 1949

View our eBay StoreSign up for our Email Newsletter 1949 Bristol 400 Coupe offered with a reserve

This rare and attractive car is in very nice condition save for some cracking lacquer. It runs and drives exceptionally well and has just been fully serviced and is ready for the road. In the current owners care for roughly the past 20 years, he car has always been kept stored inside, nd used on sunny summer days only.
This is a rare opportunity to acquire an exciting Post War British Sports car powered by a legendary BMW designed engine that stood the test of time.

We have many more photographs of this car, lease click on any image to be taken to our full-size image list!
The Bristol 400 luxury car is the first automotive product of the British Bristol Aeroplane Company. After World War II, AC decided to diversify and formed a car division, hich would later be the Bristol Cars company in its own right. BAC subsequently acquired a licence from Frazer Nash to build BMW models. Bristol chose to base its first model on the best features of two outstanding pre-war BMWs, amely the 328's engine, nd the 326's frame. These were covered with a neat mainly steel body but with aluminium bonnet, oor and boot skins and inspired by the BMW 327's.
The Bristol 400 featured a slightly modified version of BMW's six-cylinder pushrod engine of 1,971 cc (bore 66 mm, troke 96 mm). This engine, onsidered advanced for its time due to its hemispherical combustion chambers and very short inlet and exhaust ports, eveloped 80 horsepower at 4,500 revs per minutes and could carry the 400 to a top speed of around 148 km/h (92 mph) with acceleration to match. In order to maintain a hemispherical combustion chamber, he valves had to be positioned at an angle to the head. In order to drive both sets of valves from a single camshaft, he Bristol engine used a system of rods, ollowers and bell-cranks to drive the valves on the far side of the engine from the camshaft.
The gearbox was a four-speed manual with synchromesh on the upper three ratios and a freewheel on first. The model 400 was the only Bristol to be fitted with a steel and aluminum skin, nd had all flat glass, ut for the curved rear window, lazed in perspex, hich was available to specification with a top hinge. This feature was very welcome on warmer climate export markets, here the sliding door windows provided only marginal ventilation to the passengers. The 400 featured independent front suspension with a transverse leaf spring and a live axle, ocated by an A-bracket over the differential case and longitudinal torsion bars with transverse arms and brackets at the rear. It featured a lengthy 2895 mm (114 inch) wheelbase and a very BMW-like grille at the front of its long bonnet. The passenger area was very short, ith the spare tyre mounted inside the boot on the first cars, ut eventually mounted on the rear hinged boot lid, nside an aluminum cover.
Total Production from 1947 thru 1950 was 487 units. Our Ebay Policies:
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