Bristol Cars has gone into administration

cravin penut · 5 Mar 2011 at 17:37

probably some of the ugliest cars that are produced today. Dont get me wrong I think they are great. Just ugly as sin!

PMKeates · 5 Mar 2011 at 17:42

Something to bear in mind is that over the past few years thousands of companies up and down the country have 'felt the pinch' and made losses. Most of them have survived, with many of the causalities being new startups of which Bristol is nothing of the sort. Bristol's demise was very much of its own choice and its own doing.

Hxc · 5 Mar 2011 at 19:05

I wish that someone would be allowed to do some proper tests on the fighter T to see if it lives up to what Bristol say.

GeezerButler · 5 Mar 2011 at 19:11

I will miss Bristol.

Maybe they'll survive like the other 'British' marques like VW/Bentley or TATA/Jaguar Land Rover and become another footballers favourite.

Maybe they're better off dead. At least we won't see a Bristol with an Aston Martin style 'Emotion Control Unit' and encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

The old proper Bristols will continue to run and be cherished by their owners. And will still be running when today's Bentleys and Astons are on the scrap heap.

GeezerButler · 5 Mar 2011 at 19:15

Hxc said:
I wish that someone would be allowed to do some proper tests on the fighter T to see if it lives up to what Bristol say.

Well, Evo did test the regular Fighter:

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/205679/bristol_fighter.html

Mr-White · 5 Mar 2011 at 19:17

wow even their new cars look 50 years old :-/

MW

JRS · 5 Mar 2011 at 20:28

Bristols are designed and built the way they are for sound reasons. The body - simple panel shapes make them easier to build, a seperate chassis gives it strength. The engine - rugged, reliable, blessed with just enough power to move the car along at a good clip and not be too hard on the wallet through petrol consumption. That wheelbase is the right length to keep all the major masses inbetween the front and rear wheels. Bristol would rather concentrate on stuff that matters - reliability, comfort, handling - than stuff that doesn't matter one iota to the target audience. Even stuff that sounds a bit silly at first glance - like the brake discs, they contain twice as much chromium in the steel that they're made of so that they don't rust when they get wet. Other manufacturers don't bother with that - brakes are used often enough that rust never really gets a chance to set in. But Bristol do bother.

They're not, and never will be, fashionable. Which is why they could never sell them in the US - they aren't flashy or obvious about how expensive they are, and don't come loaded to the gills with computer-controlled gearbox settings and the like. They just do what the owner wants them to do, without being intrusive about it. Maybe it's time that Bristol did shut up shop, before succumbing to that kind of design path.

Still a bloody great shame though.

GeezerButler · 5 Mar 2011 at 22:27

JRS said:
Bristols are designed and built the way they are for sound reasons. The body - simple panel shapes make them easier to build, a seperate chassis gives it strength. The engine - rugged, reliable, blessed with just enough power to move the car along at a good clip and not be too hard on the wallet through petrol consumption. That wheelbase is the right length to keep all the major masses inbetween the front and rear wheels. Bristol would rather concentrate on stuff that matters - reliability, comfort, handling - than stuff that doesn't matter one iota to the target audience. Even stuff that sounds a bit silly at first glance - like the brake discs, they contain twice as much chromium in the steel that they're made of so that they don't rust when they get wet. Other manufacturers don't bother with that - brakes are used often enough that rust never really gets a chance to set in. But Bristol do bother.

They're not, and never will be, fashionable. Which is why they could never sell them in the US - they aren't flashy or obvious about how expensive they are, and don't come loaded to the gills with computer-controlled gearbox settings and the like. They just do what the owner wants them to do, without being intrusive about it. Maybe it's time that Bristol did shut up shop, before succumbing to that kind of design path.

Still a bloody great shame though.

Agreed 100% It's sad but I'd rather they disappeared than lowered their standards. There's enough mediocrity and compromise in the world already

Sin_Chase · 5 Mar 2011 at 23:26

atpbx · 6 Mar 2011 at 09:28

So the conclusion we now come to is yes, its entirely their own fault for going under.

Well done everyone, sensible debate rules OK.

Dureth · 6 Mar 2011 at 13:07

OK I think it is their own fault. I had never heard of them, and I'm interested in cars, bikes and motor sport. Even if they kept to the principles and design ideals which their current cars were based on why weren't they trying to advertise the fact that Bristol cars are quality cars. Why didn't they bring their expertise to a new designer and revitalise their line-up with newer looking but still well styled cars. Why didn't they look into a partnership with other small manufacturers, classic enthusiasts, heck even a bit of hill climb motor sport or other alternative competition. They could have done far more than they did to keep the marque alive without compromising their ideals. They simply got left behind.

Scania · 6 Mar 2011 at 13:14

atpbx said:
So the conclusion we now come to is yes, its entirely their own fault for going under.

Pretty much, yes. Alas....

atpbx said:
Well done everyone, sensible debate rules OK.

What else from OC/UK? :confused:

sigma · 6 Mar 2011 at 13:41

Dureth said:
Why didn't they bring their expertise to a new designer and revitalise their line-up with newer looking but still well styled cars. Why didn't they look into a partnership with other small manufacturers, classic enthusiasts, heck even a bit of hill climb motor sport or other alternative competition. They could have done far more than they did to keep the marque alive without compromising their ideals. They simply got left behind.

I have to agree with this. If they're so good at building top quality cars why couldn't they adapt to newer markets? That's not to say go all out and mass-produce but surely they had options?

Guess we'll never know the hows and the whys.

GeezerButler said:
Agreed 100% It's sad but I'd rather they disappeared than lowered their standards. There's enough mediocrity and compromise in the world already

Why would they have to lower their standards?

Westyfield2 · 6 Mar 2011 at 14:05

Dureth said:
I had never heard of them

TBH if you hadn't heard of Bristol Cars you weren't their target market.

GeezerButler · 6 Mar 2011 at 14:49

sigma said:
Why would they have to lower their standards?

Because the bean-counters would be in control - same as they were at Mercedes-Benz when they started building cars down to a price point. Bristol were lucky to have a customer base that didn't need to ask how much the cars cost - the price wasn't a concern.

sigma · 6 Mar 2011 at 14:54

GeezerButler said:
Because the bean-counters would be in control - same as they were at Mercedes-Benz when they started building cars down to a price point. Bristol were lucky to have a customer base that didn't need to ask how much the cars cost - the price wasn't a concern.

They should never have let it get to that stage though to be honest. There should always have been a backup plan.

GeezerButler · 6 Mar 2011 at 15:33

Bristol is a small niche luxury car company. Their cars are built by hand to order for a small client base. They aren't going to diversify into building family hatchbacks or stick a Bristol grille onto a Toyota iQ. The only backup plan they could have was a huge pile of cash to see them through when their normal market goes through a dry spell like it is now. They aren't big enough to go begging for a hand out from the government like Jaguar-Land Rover. Like I said before, I'd rather they go out gracefully. Bristol's employees and directors probably feel the same - like Sid Lovesy, for instance, who started out with the company as an electrician in 1945 and was still working in 2008, but as a director, at the grand old age of 89. I doubt he'd want to see the Bristol badge on a mass produced piece of junk.

Some companies like Bristol just have their time and should be allowed to pass into history and remembered for what they stood for. I hope someone will step in to keep the restoration and servicing side of the company going to keep these cars on the road.

Hxc · 6 Mar 2011 at 16:00

From what I gather the Bristol service centre is a seperate company to that of the car manufacture, in much the same way as TVR was split up.

sigma · 6 Mar 2011 at 16:05

GeezerButler said:
Bristol is a small niche luxury car company. Their cars are built by hand to order for a small client base. They aren't going to diversify into building family hatchbacks or stick a Bristol grille onto a Toyota iQ. The only backup plan they could have was a huge pile of cash to see them through when their normal market goes through a dry spell like it is now. They aren't big enough to go begging for a hand out from the government like Jaguar-Land Rover. Like I said before, I'd rather they go out gracefully. Bristol's employees and directors probably feel the same - like Sid Lovesy, for instance, who started out with the company as an electrician in 1945 and was still working in 2008, but as a director, at the grand old age of 89. I doubt he'd want to see the Bristol badge on a mass produced piece of junk.

Some companies like Bristol just have their time and should be allowed to pass into history and remembered for what they stood for. I hope someone will step in to keep the restoration and servicing side of the company going to keep these cars on the road.

Who mentioned anything about hatchbacks or iQs?

I guess where we differ is that I'd prefer a company to keep running (or at least try to keep it running without differing too far from the original ethos of the company) rather than become a distant memory.

The luxury car industry is still around from what I can tell.

Perhaps they did try as I can't imagine them wanting to shut it down for the sake of it. Would be interesting to find out exactly what went on.

DM · 6 Mar 2011 at 16:27

GeezerButler said:
Bristol is a small niche luxury car company. Their cars are built by hand to order for a small client base. They aren't going to diversify into building family hatchbacks or stick a Bristol grille onto a Toyota iQ. The only backup plan they could have was a huge pile of cash to see them through when their normal market goes through a dry spell like it is now. They aren't big enough to go begging for a hand out from the government like Jaguar-Land Rover. Like I said before, I'd rather they go out gracefully. Bristol's employees and directors probably feel the same - like Sid Lovesy, for instance, who started out with the company as an electrician in 1945 and was still working in 2008, but as a director, at the grand old age of 89. I doubt he'd want to see the Bristol badge on a mass produced piece of junk.

Some companies like Bristol just have their time and should be allowed to pass into history and remembered for what they stood for. I hope someone will step in to keep the restoration and servicing side of the company going to keep these cars on the road.

Well said.