Bristol 405

Bristol
Bristol 405 Sports Saloon. Left in the background: a Bristol 404
405
Production period:	1954-1958
Class :	Upper class
Body versions :	Limousine , cabriolet
Engines:	Otto engine : 2.0 liters (78 kW)
Length:	4810 mm
Width:	1727 mm
Height:	1460 mm
Wheelbase :	2896 mm
Empty weight :	1230 kg
Previous model	Bristol 403
successor	Bristol 406

Bristol 405 Sports Saloon; Rear end.

The Bristol 405 was a sports car from the British car manufacturer Bristol Aircraft Company (later: Bristol Cars ), which was offered as a four-door sedan and a two-door convertible. The 405 joined the two-door sports coupé 404 , the “Gentleman's Express”, in the fall of 1954 and was produced for a few months in parallel with the established Gran Tourismo 403 before becoming the brand's only model from 1956.

Model history

The 405 was based on Bristol's unabridged standard chassis, which had been used on all previous models of the brand with the exception of the 404. A body supported by a wooden frame rested on it, which corresponded to that of the Bristol 404 up to the A-pillar. As with the Coupé, the spare wheel was placed to the side in a compartment between the left front wheel and the passenger door.

The drive technology

The drive technology largely corresponded to that of the Bristol 404. The car was powered by the well-known 2.0-liter six-cylinder type 100B (405 Drophead Coupé and 404) or 100B2 (405 Sports Saloon) with a compression ratio of 8.5: 1 , which developed 105 bhp (106  PS , 78  kW ) at 5000 revolutions per minute in both variants  ; the maximum torque was 167 Newton meters at 3750 revolutions per minute.

The higher compression, 125 hp (127 PS, 93 kW) engine Type 100C, which was optionally available in the 404, was not offered in the 405 at the factory. However, the manual four-speed gearbox was now equipped as standard with an overdrive from Laycock-de Normanville, which was operated via a switch on the dashboard. The fuel tank was located above the rear axle. This helped to improve the weight distribution of the vehicle as well as increase the volume of the trunk. In addition, the tank was housed relatively safely here in the event of an accident.

The 405 Sports Saloon

The volume model of the 405 series was the four-door Sports Saloon. Its structure was independent, starting with the A-pillar. It was supported by a frame made of ash wood , which was reinforced by a steel structure on the B-pillar. The four front-hinged doors were narrow, but could be opened at almost 90 degrees. The roof line went smoothly into the trunk lid. The rear window was strongly curved and should give the impression of a panoramic window . In fact, it was not a one-piece disc; rather it was composed of three elements. In contrast to the 404, the 405 had a separate trunk accessible from the outside, which was unusually large with a volume of over 501 liters. Over the rear fenders, the 405 Saloon had small rear wings that echoed the design of the Bristol 404.

The seats were upholstered in leather. A wool carpet was laid in the footwell; the dashboard was made of polished burl wood.

The engine of the type 100B2 differed from the model 404 mainly by two three-pipe exhaust manifolds (instead of one six-pipe), which ended in two separate exhaust pipes with a relatively small diameter (instead of a single exhaust pipe with a larger diameter).

The 405 Sports Saloon weighed 1330 kg ready to drive. With the aerodynamically favorable body, it reached a top speed of 175 km / h.

The selling price of the 405 Sports Saloon in October 1954 was £ 2,250 plus a nearly fifty percent purchase tax. The price was thus between the £ 100 cheaper 403 and the £ 100 more expensive 404. The Alvis TC 108 / G was at a similar price level .

By 1958, 265 copies of the Sports Saloon had been built.

The 405 Drophead Coupé

Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe

At the same time as the Sports Saloon, Bristol presented a two-door, almost four-seater 405 convertible ("Drophead Coupé") in the fall of 1954, which the British body shop Abbott of Farnham constructed with factory support. Unlike the 404 Drophead Coupé , which Abbott had produced as a one-off in 1953 based on the short sports car, the 405 Cabriolet had the unabridged standard wheelbase. This enabled the doors to be made wider. The rear of the 405 Cabriolet was also stylistically independent: it was a notchback with small fins on the rear fenders and a large trunk lid. When closed, the soft top was directly attached to the doors; there were no rear side windows. The drive of the Drophead Coupé, the 100B engine, corresponded to that of the saloon.

The selling price of the Drophead Coupé was the same as that of the Saloon. By 1958, 43 copies of the 405 Drophead Coupé had been built. The literature doubts that the cars were actually built at Abbott. Instead, it is assumed that Abbott only designed the car and made the prototype, while volume production was outsourced to Tickford as a subcontractor.

Revival 2010

In 2010 Bristol manufactured a 405 Drophead Coupé with a steel frame for the body at the customer's request - unlike the original vehicle from the 1950s. For the technically modernized vehicle, Bristol used, among other things, a heavily revised six-cylinder engine. In the same year, a two-door coupé version of the 405 with a fixed metal roof was created. Such a version did not exist during series production of the 405.

literature

• A four door saloon from Bristol : Presentation and technical description in: Motor from October 6, 1954.
• Next in Sequence: The Bristol 405 . Presentation in technical description in: Autocar from October 8, 1954.
• Dean Bachelor, Chris Poole, Graham Robson: The Big Book of Sports Cars ; Erlangen 1990 (no ISBN)
• Simon Taylor: Soul Survivors . Brand history for the 60th company anniversary of Bristol Cars with a short description of the 405 models in: Classic and Sports Car, August 2006, p. 132 ff.

Web links

Commons : Bristol 405  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bristol Owners Club website , accessed October 12, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Technical data based on the Carfolio portal , accessed on September 10, 2010
2. ^ Engine from October 6, 1954.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Engine overview for the Bristol six-cylinder models on the Bristol Owners Club website ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed September 10, 2010 
4. ^ Engine from October 6, 1954.
5. ^ Autocar, October 8, 1954.
6. ^ Autocar, October 8, 1954.
7. ↑ In the 1955 sales prospectus, the volume is given as 17.7 cubic feet (1 cubic foot = 28.31 liters).
8. ^ Bachelor, Robson, Poole, p. 99.
9. ↑ Classic and Sports Car 8/2006, p. 139.
10. ^ Sports Car Annual 1956.
11. ^ Engine from October 6, 1954.
12. ↑ Michael Palmer: Bristol Cars Model by Model , Crowood, 2015, ISBN 978-1-78500-077-5 , p. 81.
13. ↑ Brief description of both vehicles on the website www.bristolcars.co.uk (accessed on November 18, 2010).