The Bristol 407, 408, 409 and 410

Two threads led to Chrysler. Reginald Verdon-Smith's enthusiasm for the Torqueflite began when Bristol Aeroplane's man in Canada lent him a Chrysler on a skiing trip in the 1950s, and Tony Crook's spirited demonstration laps in a Simca Aronde at Brands Hatch led directly to Chrysler inviting Bristol to try the gearbox. The 5,130 cc V8 doubled the engine size of the 406.

Keeping the 406's shape avoided delay. The transverse leaf gave way to coil springs at the front and the rack to Marles cam-and-roller steering. The Torqueflite was worked by illuminated push-buttons to the right of the dashboard, where the overdrive lever had been, and there was no parking lock. The Autocar found its test car almost neutral in its handling and extremely refined, though the steering was heavy at low speeds.

From the 407, bodies came from Park Royal Vehicles, bus-body builders since 1919. Their panel beaters wheeled 16-gauge aluminium over the bucks for the long wings, made the side window frames in brass before chroming and trial-fitted every screen and window before the body went by lorry to Filton. The work was of very high quality. Air Commodore Rod Banks recorded that John Mayo's first-production 407 had covered more than 300,000 miles yet looked completely new.

One 407 chassis went to an Italian coachbuilder, introduced through Zagato, for a convertible. The steel-bodied prototype was heavy, and the actor Peter Sellers talked his way into becoming its first owner. Otherwise open Bristol motoring waited for the 412.

The 408, shown at Earls Court in 1963, won the SMMT Coachwork Award in its class. It had a flatter roof, more chrome, a larger rectangular air intake and four headlamps, the first Bristol so fitted, with a bonnet now running the full length of the front. Filton's engineers achieved the new front by reshaping the body buck at Park Royal without altering the flowing wings. Armstrong Selectaride rear dampers could be adjusted electrically. The Mk2 408 of late 1964 took Chrysler's improved alloy-cased Torqueflite, with a lever and a parking lock, and the slightly larger 318 cu in V8.

The 409 added an alternator, a lighter battery, a higher axle ratio and a heated rear window, and Girling servo-assisted discs replaced the Dunlops after fade testing. The front suspension was softened by ten per cent and its roll centre raised. ZF power-assisted steering, developed over three years with ZF of Schwäbisch Gmünd, became an option for the 1966 show, on the 409 Series 2. Motor's verdict in 1965 summed up the method: Bristol took good advantage of new developments without pioneering them, since pioneering at such small volume would be a costly error. One press review compared the car's quietness at speed to a glider's.

These were the years of the Kensington High Street showroom, opened in the mid 1960s less as a sales outlet than as a reminder to Londoners that the car existed. Bristol offered five blues, three greens, three greys, black, crimson, light maroon and silver, with eight leather colours and special requests besides, which is why two identical Bristols are rare.

The 410, shown at Earls Court in 1967, had full-length twin chrome side trims, a floor-mounted selector in place of the push-buttons, which the American authorities had ruled against, and two fully separate brake circuits. Smaller 15 in wheels with Turbospeed cross-ply tyres lowered the centre of gravity. Special requests were met where they were safe: a customer's wish to move the fuel tank to make room for a sleeping platform was refused. In September 1969 Sir George White was gravely injured when a van slewed into his blue 410, an accident that changed the course of Bristol Cars; that story continues with the 411.

Figures as recorded in period and historical sources, reproduced as quoted rather than as tested figures. Blank cells are not restated in those sources.