Bristol 400

The Bristol 400, a sporting 4-seater saloon, was the car that launched the Bristol marque. It went into full production late in 1946 after being unveiled to the press a few months earlier. It featured a two door mostly steel body that was constructed around an ash framework and mounted onto a sturdy box-section steel chassis. The door panels, bonnet and boot lid were fashioned from aluminium, which in later Bristol models was used for nearly all of the bodywork. The engine was a 2-litre six-cylinder unit that Bristol had developed from an earlier BMW design. In the early cars this was fitted with a single carburettor but this was soon replaced by a triple carburettor arrangement which gave an increase in engine power from 80 to 85 bhp. The interior was very well appointed and reflected the high overall quality of the car. Production ended in 1950.