Brabazon Motors performs bespoke
upgrades on classic Bristols. Whatever you want for your car, they’ll do it.
The team at Brabazon Motors have set
themselves no easy task, improving what is already an incredible motor car. Yet
if anyone’s qualified to do so, they are. Most of the workshop staff previously
worked for Bristol Cars although the two companies are in no way affiliated.
‘We’re doing the type of upgrades that
wouldn’t have been done by Bristol,’ explains sales and marketing manager
Oliver Smith. ‘We currently produce five cars a year because we need to be
fastidious about the finish. If the demand is there the only Limiting factor is
available donor cars.’ Build time is around eight months for each car,
depending on requirements.
The
team at Brabazon Motors have set themselves no easy task, improving what is
already an incredible motor car. Yet if anyone’s qualified to do so, they are.
Brabazon takes a customer’s Bristol or
sources one from stock. The car is completely stripped, taken back to bare
metal and receives bespoke interior and suspension, including an eight-link
live rear axle with LSD and torsion bars.
Our test car is a 1975 Bristol 411 Series
Six. Under that long bonnet is a brand new 5.9-liter Chrysler V8 crate motor
with multi-port fuel injection, providing 245bhp and 335lb ft of torque.
There’s also a choice of 5.7 or 6.1-liter Hemi engines; it’s all down to a
customer’s imagination. ‘We don’t produce an options list,’ says Oliver, ‘it’s
too restrictive. We’ll do whatever a customer wants and we’re not in the habit
of saying no.’
The Brabazon 411 is comfortable and quiet
at any speed. It grips so well that even wet mini-roundabouts with uneven
camber can’t unsettle the rear. Kickdown affords an urgent shove towards the
140mph top speed. A six-speed automatic or five-speed manual gearbox can be
specified.
‘it’s
too restrictive. We’ll do whatever a customer wants and we’re not in the habit
of saying no.’
The only outward clue to the upgrades is
the 18-inch alloy wheels, needed to clear the custom-made grooved and vented
brakes. Brake upgrades, climate control and stereo packages with iPod
connectivity have proved most popular so far. Future projects include further
development of their independent rear suspensions -and the very intriguing
potential of a 412 shooting brake.
There’s
also a choice of 5.7- or 6.1-liter Hemi engines; it’s all down to a customer’s
imagination.
My initial concern was that modern upgrades
would have taken away that uniquely Bristol feel, but they’ve enhanced it. This
doesn’t feel like an old car, although no Bristol ever did.
In some ways it’s an odd idea, spending
around $195,000 on an extremely exclusive car that is trying its damnedest to
be understated. Car people will understand the Brabazon fettled 411 but the
majority of onlookers won’t. If you’re trying to impress someone other than
yourself, then perhaps you’re not Brabazon 411 material after all.
