Background
The late LJK Setright, that flamboyantly bewhiskered and knowingly eccentric grandee of motor journalism, regularly opined that Bristol made the world’s finest automobiles (in later life, presumably just to be perverse, LJK would bestow the title of World’s Best Car upon the Lexus LS400).
This was an opinion held by LJK Setright, all owners of Bristol automobiles and hardly anyone else.
And yet it’s the very contrariness of that opinion that is the key to understanding the quiet but fanatical devotion to the marque shown by Bristol owners.
Ownership of a Bristol has always said something about the owner. It says that here is a free thinker, an iconoclast, an individual; someone who ploughs his or her own furrow, takes the road less travelled and is resolutely beyond the reach of anything as vulgar as fashion, fancy or whim.
Yes, for a similar amount of money in 1960 you could have bought a Rolls-Royce, Bentley or Aston Martin, but to the Bristol-buying demographic these choices would have been too ostentatious, too caddish and too aggressive, respectively.
And, worst of all, you would have looked just like everyone else with a bit of money. You know, like some arriviste social climber with more cash than taste.
The Bristol 406 was a luxury car manufactured between 1958 and 1961 by the Bristol Aeroplane Co, which later became Bristol Cars.
It was the last to deploy the BMW-derived straight six engine that had powered all preceding Bristol cars. In an attempt to give it more of a chance of competing with the more powerful engines favoured by ‘competitors’, it was given a 245cc increase in capacity.
Like most Bristols that preceded it, the 406 looks like a car that’s been designed by people who’ve never been shown previous examples of what a car looks like, where the levers and switches are ‘meant’ to be and how things usually work.
And it’s all the better for that, in our opinion.
Yes, the spare wheel is concealed within one of the front wings. And, yes, the battery is hiding in the other front wing. Well, where else would they be?
The truth is that Bristols are not and never were for the common herd.
They are for people who inherit their father’s Savile Row morning suit and their grandmother’s dinner service. They are bequeathed, handed down, entrusted.
Or they are bought by rock stars, actors, writers, artists, designers or other similarly one-off individuals.
74% of Bristol owners live in a house with a moat.
OK, so we made that last bit up. But you know what we mean.
Bristols are not part-exchanged or parked on a dealer’s forecourt with a price stuck on the windscreen.
And Bristols are very rarely advertised for sale – which can make buying one something of a challenge.
So, the question is, do you feel it’s time to give external expression to your inner contrarian?
Are you ready and willing to join the ranks of illustrious Bristol owners and drivers past and present - people such as Jack Brabham, Paul Smith, Jay Leno, Richard Branson, Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Mike Hawthorn, Bono, Liam Gallagher, Stirling Moss and Tina Turner?
(We’re willing to bet those last two have never appeared in the same sentence before.)
If so, we can help you realise that noble dream with this magnificent 1960 Bristol 406 – one of just 174 ever made.
