While its specialty had always been based in the aircraft industry, the Bristol Aeroplane Company branched out into vehicle manufacturing following the end of World War I. Bristol Cars was never a volume car maker, and the performance potential of their cars, coupled with the fact that each vehicle was hand-built, made them a desirable and expensive purchase. This 1974 Bristol 411 is just such a car, and the owner has decided to part with it. Bidding has seen the price reach $22,600, and the reserve has been met. Located in Azle, Texas, you will find the Bristol listed for sale here on eBay.
With a hand-made aluminum body, rust issues on the outside of a Bristol is not a concern. The concerns usually revolve around electrolytic corrosion where the aluminum meets up with steel, and the rear of the frame can also be prone to rust. The owner makes no mention of issues in this area, and the car does present very well. Being made of such a soft material, the Bristol can be prone to denting fairly easily, but this one looks really straight. The 411 was also the first Bristol to feature quad headlights, and the frontal treatment and grille is something that people either tend to love or hate.
It’s under the hood where things become a little more complicated with this car, as the seller’s description is quite confusing. I have been able to establish that the engine is a 400ci V8, and normally this would be mated to a 3-speed automatic transmission. However, it appears that the car has received an upgrade in this area, as it now features a 4-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission. Not surprisingly, power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning are also part of the package. The air cleaner on this car isn’t completely original. The engine and its surrounds present very nicely, and with a claimed 37,500 original miles on the clock, this is not that surprising.
Life in a Bristol is never going to be fraught with hardships. Leather upholstery, walnut trim, luxurious Axminster carpet, it’s all there. The interior presentation of this car is all that you would expect from a hand-made classic that has been cared for. The car is fitted with an aftermarket stereo, but the interior is otherwise original. You can’t help but think that with that engine and transmission, combined with this sumptuous interior, the Bristol would just eat up the miles in the sort of style and comfort that you would expect from a true grand touring car.
The Bristol 411 is a bit of a surprise packet amongst the sea of classic cars. It is a hand-made British classic and was produced in extraordinarily low numbers. You would think that this would equate to massive prices, but it simply doesn’t. You can buy an immaculate example for around the $36,000 mark, and this one is probably in that sort of league. Interestingly, I have seen this car advertised elsewhere for $99,500, so if you really want it, it would pay to bid on the eBay auction.
Advert gone .. scam?
Upgraded with a 426 Max Wedge Ramcharger engine and 8 speed auto wold have made this wonderful Bristol quite agile.
If someone bought this $22,600 they STOLE it. In this condition it should’ve pulled $50k or more, unless the nonoriginal engine caused it to go for less, but I’m sure this was either a scam or the seller was nuts and someone got a helluva good deal. A Bristol of that yr routinely goes for at least 40,000 British Sterling pounds. How do I know? I’ve got a ’64 Bristol 408 driver with Chrysler 313 V8 tweaked by Bristol to 250 hp with pushbutton Torqueflite autobox and 4 wheel power disc brakes, all aluminum handmade body also – one of 87 built. One doesn’t see any similar competition at Cars & Coffee with a Bristol. And having been to Bristol Cars in London last Apr. before they moved the Works, I got an eyefull of a near identical car to this 411, and it was freshly restored and listed for around $80K. If I’d seen this ad when it was up, I’d have hocked whatever I needed for that $22+K and bought it on the spot. There’s an AC compressor under the hood plus some strange looking intake system – maybe a turbo hidden somewhere? These are quite fast cars – especially for their day. My ’64 is supposedly good for 122 mph.
When it seems too good to be true it’s usually not true – lots of scams. My 928 appeared on ebay using my pictures at a very attractive price but not for sale by owner ! Some of the scams are easier to spot than others – if your sense tells you something doesn’t feel right – be careful.
Ken, you are a lucky man!
Thanks Husky – I really got lucky in April – I’d put a deposit on a ’53 Bristol 403, last of the 401-403 series cars with the BMW 328-based engine, which had just been dragged off a pig farm in the UK after 48 yrs storage. Amazingly, the steel chassis wasn’t a sieve from rust, and what floored me is the engine, out of the car but the original one, was in amazing shape. Not frozen one bit. I changed oil. spun it over sans plugs to pump new oil thru the gallery, everything turned. After rebuilding the dizzy which had been cannibalized for something else, but standard Lucas unit, a bit of brakekleen in the intakes ahd she fired right up – I darn near fell over. Turns out it’s a few serial nos. behind Leno’s ’53, which of course is in gorgeous shape compared to my crusty ride, but I don’t have his deep drawers, so my own sweat equity is going into this one but it’ll be on the road this yr if all goes well.
In spite of totally flaky original paint on the 408 (I’m selling patina chips for $1 a pop), I took a 2nd place at a Morgan Hill Ca. British car meet last fall – no one had ever seen one before!
I do wonder if it was a scam. It has that page they use on known scams I have seen in past.
Lovely cars ..
I see a lot of Bristols at times .. they seem to have lots of club events local to me.
I would want it left hand drive.
NO NO NO! Driving a RHD car in the US is just as easy as driving a LHD car in the UK.Please take it from me.
neat hand built car!
Nice looking car. I’ve heard of the Bristol. I’d never seen one in person. For some reason, the ebay ad that was supposed to show the car isn’t there. If it was taken down, so be it. But I wouldn’t think it would be taken down *so soon* after this ad was posted, unless the owner decided to withdraw the ad and possibly keep the car. That’s his/her decision to make.
They normally have the yellow strip with listing ended I think if seller takes down?
That screen I have seen on known scams. I.e £50k Porsches for £23.5k, please email deposit to me at …. etc etc
There was one the other day I spotted have over x50 scam listings all st once. Rolex, cars, boats, diggers etc
Well done, Ken Nelson. These cars are wonderful touring cars, even daily drivers, and will not disappoint when it comes to elegance, serenity and speed.
Luke’s right – driving a right hooker in the US isn’t difficult – you just have to be careful moving left into another lane as you’re not on that side of the car to see ahead in two-way traffic. A cheap forward camera could take care of that. Only thing that ever bothered me was having to pay tolls around the Bay area, as I’ve got to slide across to hand over the money! And actually, one’s blind spot on the left side isn’t as blind in a RH steer – one partial glance to the left and you see everything on that side, so it’s not really a blind spot anymore. My 408 is a relatively big car, and now I can see much better how much right side clearance I have when driving on narrow streets with lots of parked cars on the right, so I can compensate for not seeing LH clearance as well by tightening up on the right safely. Besides, it’s always fun to watch other’s surprise as I pass them!
I’ve seen a few of these in various years/models from living in, and traveling around, Europe. This model is handsome, and to me evokes a sort of Alfa GT/GTV front treatment (without their signature grille) and the rest of the body like a scaled-down Rolls or Bentley coupe. Even the wheel/tire combo reminds me of big Jags or the other English vehicles I’ve mentioned. For those of you that own one, or know, was one engine manufacturer preferred over others, or was that the choice of the buyer ?
Here is where the scammer got the photos.
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/bristol/411/2055797.html
Frank
Hah! Great sleuthing Frank – $99K is more like it! So they pirated Hemmings pics – no wonder the ad was removed fast – maybe Ebay has an algorithm to spot frauds like this one. The 400 series cars never used GM engines – Bristol was always using Chrysler V8s when they needed one to get them into the horsepower wars as the BMW six at best put out only about 100 hp, and they could get them out of Chrysler’s Canadian facilities without having to pay duty as Canada’s a British colony. So they saved big bucks. And their brand new megabuck car uses a Viper engine! I saw one last April in the London facility – gorgeous car, with a well laid out engine compartment, but about a quarter mil. for the car –
How does the scam work and how do they make money? By posting up phony photos?
They will ask for deposit to an email to secure the car then disappear.
Perhaps even the whole cash purchase price if the buyer is gullible enough.
I know this a way late comment but someone pointed out the wonky intake and questioned a turbo hidden in there. The vehicle is set to run on natural gas (LP). Hence the weird looking intake.
I saw a Bristol this morning ..
Hi, who knows how to find a Bristol 408-411 LHD? Best. Matthias
Contact the Bristol owners club – it might be more difficult now, as I recently heard – last week – that the co. has gone under, after being resurrected for a short time by a group of Indian investors, but evidently that didn’t last either, sorry to say. But try googling various versions of Bristol clubs.