Bristol 401

The Bristol 401 saloon and Bristol 402 cabriolet were the sucessors to the initial Bristol 400 produced by Bristol Aeroplane Co. between 1947 and 1950.

Although mechanically the 401 and 402 used an improved version of the BMW engine used in the 400, the styling was a huge advance on the pre-war bodies of that first Bristol model. It was inpired by the Milanese designer, Carrozzeria Touring, and its most notable feature was that the door handles were not exposed and to open the doors the owner had to press a button into a groove in the door. The body also was more spacious than the 400 and was a full five-seater.

At the front the 401 and 402 were also quite distinctive with their headlights moved quite a distance into the centre of the body on either side of the narrow grille, which resembled BMW a little less than did the 400. They were also deeply curved at the front: this, along with the then-unique door handle arrangement, is believed to give the 401 a drag coefficient of less than 0.36 - impressive even by today's standards and remarkable for the time.

The engine was the same capacity in-line six of the 400, but was upgraded through improved carburettors to produce an extra five horsepower, which improved the performance further beyond what was achieved by the impressive aerodynamics.

Although the 401's production figure of 611 is still the largest of any Bristol model, the 402 is regarded as one of the rarest classics among cars of its day. In a recent survey, 13 of the 23 produced could be accounted for.