The Bristol 603, Britannia and Brigand, 1976 to 1993

Bristol introduced the 603 alongside the Zagato-bodied 412 to replace the 411. The company's own description, written for a sales listing in 2015, puts it plainly: the 603 and the 412 "represented the first major new models since the introduction of the 406 and the considerably more streamlined designs improved the aerodynamics of the vehicles whilst offering more head, leg and shoulder room than any previous Bristol". Bristol's history adds that the 603 was "dramatically restyled to be much more streamlined, with a large, curved rear window".

The car kept the Bristol formula: a separate steel chassis, a hand-formed aluminium two-door body seating four, a Chrysler V8 set well back with the spare wheel and battery in the front wings, and an automatic gearbox. Two engines were offered. Beside the 5.9-litre unit, Bristol made a 5.2-litre engine available "for a period because of rising fuel prices"; the smaller engine, in the company's words, "was phased out by the second series, which offered a 5.9-litre engine as standard". Bristol's production table gives "Type 603 Production: 1976-1982".

In 1982 the Series 3 603 was renamed. Bristol's history records that this was the moment the company "began adopting names of the famous Bristol Aeroplane Company models for its cars": the Britannia after the post-war turboprop airliner, the Brigand after the wartime attack aircraft. Under Anthony Crook the company went on to produce, in its own words, "at least six types, the names of which were largely borrowed from Bristol's distinguished aeronautical past: the Beaufighter, Blenheim, Britannia and Brigand".

The Britannia was the standard, naturally aspirated car. The Brigand added a turbocharger to the 5.9-litre V8. Bristol wrote in 2015 that "the late 1970's fuel crisis led to the introduction of more economical engines for the Bristol range" but that "the dawn of the new decade and a general economic upturn paved the way for a new era of performance motoring", and that the Brigand was launched in 1982 with a turbocharged 5.9-litre Chrysler V8 which, in the company's words, "firmly established the model amongst the fastest cars of its day". True to Bristol understatement, the Brigand was distinguished from the Britannia "only by a subtle bonnet bulge, a chrome strip on the bumpers and the alloy wheels that came as standard". The turbocharger, Bristol said, let the car "remain tranquil at low revs" and then deliver "progressive and linear" power.

The Britannia and Brigand ran, by Bristol's table, from 1982 to 1993. In 1993 the fourth series of the 603 line was renamed again, as the Blenheim, and given multi-port fuel injection; its story continues on the Blenheim page.

Because the same car carried three names over seventeen years, individual cars can be described in more than one way. Bristol's own 2015 sales pages, for instance, listed a "1977 Bristol Brigand" with a 1977 chassis number and a turbocharged 5.9-litre engine, although the Brigand name dates from 1982. A later factory conversion or update is a plausible explanation, and Bristol upgraded earlier cars to later specification throughout its history. Buyers of any 603-family car should read its history file with that in mind; Bristol Cars Approved describes each car on SLJ Hackett's own description.

Bristol's own statements, from its histories of 2015 and 2018 and its 2015 sales page, reproduced as the company's figures.