Bristol Cars

A little known fact is that the bodywork for some Bristol cars was built at Park Royal.  I personally recall seeing Bristol body panels being hand-beaten around timber jigs.  I remember being impressed by the demonstrable skill of the panel-beater.

Very little information is available to support this fact and it seems that, whilst other designers/coachbuilders are mentioned in association with Bristol cars, PRV almost never is; that is until I found an entry below from the Bristol Owners' Club of Australia where one, rightfully proud, owner seems keen to divulge that their Bristol Type 408 was indeed coach-built at Park Royal (Click here for the link to the page).

Only 83 cars of that model were made between 1963 & 66 and it appears that at least 64 of these Chrysler-engined 408's were built at PRV.  I believe my recollections are pre-1963 and if so it would have been the model 407, production of which began at PRV in 1961.  Perhaps a reader can advise me more detail.

But it is evident that PRV's association with Bristol Motors stretched into the 70's as Brian Wilson has kindly supplied me with a number of documents, dated through 1974 & 75, that clearly show PRV building at least 68 of the 287 model 411 cars that were produced between 1969 and 1976 (but it was not just the bodywork as other memos discuss the procurement of leather for the upholstery).

I quote an extract from one of the internal memos:

Note the typical use of the "B" prefix on PRV body numbers. 

Brian recalls the rolling chassis (six at a time) being brought up from Bristol on a double decked trailer pulled by a Land Rover; the full rolling shells being taken away on trailers. The part cars mentioned in the Works Instruction above were as a result of the work phasing out.

Pictured here, in excellent condition, at the 2007 Helston Motor Show, Cornwall, is a Bristol 411 (Series 3) that was coachbuilt at Park Royal and dispatched from the Filton factory on the 9th February 1973 bound for the London dealership.  This particular vehicle was once owned by the actor Trevor Howard who apparently had several of the marque.
Sadly in 2024, she was damaged in a fire, but it's understood that someone has bought her from the scrap dealer; presumably with the intention of restoration.
(Additional information courtesy Brian Ridley-Jones.)
(Perhaps the new owner would kindly keep us informed of progress? Ed.)

I am grateful to Thomas Schaumann who has kindly given the following information:

Other references to the Park Royal bodied Bristol cars can be found on the German Wikipedia page (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_407) that states that the 407 was the first Bristol having a Park Royal body.  Although it used the same basic design as the Bristol 406, the 406 had a Bristol designed body and was (as much as I know) Bristol built  - see note by Nick Challacombe below - (the Bristol "design" might be the reason, not to mention that the later cars were Park Royal bodied¹).  Park Royal bodies were used up to the Bristol 411, all of them using basically the Bristol 406 design. To my knowledge, almost all Bristol 407–411 vehicles were bodied by Park Royal; although I’m aware of three exceptions: the 407 Viotti (1960), the 407 GTZ Zagato (1961) and the 411 Mk 6 (2009²).
The "Bus Lists on the Web" site (http://www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk³) gives some body numbers:

(¹) I do not think that Park Royal provided any "design" input to the Bristol; PRV only provided a manufacturing service. Ed.
(²) PRV closed in 1980 so any Bristol later than this date cannot have been bodied there. Ed.
(³) This link accesses the PRV list within the site - see the "Home" link at the base of the page for the main website. Ed.

Note by Nick Challacombe: The 407, whilst similar in shape to the 406, had no common body parts with the earlier model; the 406 was bodied by Messer's Jones Brothers at Willesden North West London. 

I do not know whether the list is complete; the 410 is missing, but I think that B55774-55813 & B56047-56088 are 410 and not 409 (concluded from the year and the number built). Body numbers B56964-57013 are probably 411 Mk 1 (the build date seems wrong for B56964-56999), and B58176-58234 are probably 411 Mk.2. (Nick Challacombe) 

Update courtesy Brian Ridley-Jones:
With reference to the memo date (5 December 1974) then all the last of the Bristol 411 Series 4 (a few dispatched in 1975) and all of the 411 Series 5 will have been built at Park Royal.  I attach an image from two pages of an excellent publication on the Bristol Cars which mentions Park Royal (see anecdote below).
The new 1976 model (603) was built in house, the other model 412 was styled by Zagato of Italy and I believe they made the first few there before production moved to Filton. 

Here is a PRV bodied Bristol 407 (Chassis No. 6028 - PRV Body No. B4863) from the first batch bodied at PRV between September 1961 and June 1963; it must have been the 28th built after the prototype that had an Armstrong Siddeley engine.  This exquisite example won its class in 2002 and 2009 at the Bristol Owners Club concours and the photograph & details were kindly supplied by owner Nick Challacombe.
Note: At the time Armstrong-Siddeley and Bristol Cars were both part of British Aircraft Corporation.

John Doyle writes:
I can confirm that the Bristol Cars were still being built up to 1975 (at least) when I left PRV to emigrate to New Zealand.  I worked on some aluminium & other metal parts for the Bristol and helped fit the doors with the two tradesman finishing them ready for the next stage.  I recall the seats being made in the trim shop and fitted ready for finishing at another factory.  The wooden horse was set up at the canal-end of the panel shop where the bodies were hand made & inspected. I can also confirm that the Bristol had an 8-cylinder engine and that the spare wheel housing was on the passenger side to the front of the door.

(The anecdote below, kindly supplied by Brian Ridley-Jones, briefly comments on some first hand experience of coachbuilding the Bristol 411 at Park Royal.)

Bristol Cars: A Very British Story by Christopher Balfour (Author)
This was the last body that Park Royal built for Bristol and I am indebted to Marcel Dupree and George Porter for their memories of 15 years working on Bristol bodyworks.  Marcel was the younger of the two and his task was to build some of the steel inner framework, particularly the front wheel arches and the frames for the boot lid; George joined as an apprentice in the war years and by the time Park Royal took over from Jones Brothers and started on the 407, he was an experienced panel beater. Thirty years on he still remembers how he used to enjoy making the bodies. 
He described how the Bristol people (led by Ron Radford) would come to Park Royal and how one of their priorities was to eliminate wind noise.  This meant attention to all seals and, said George, 'I was also responsible for snagging. I had a metal plate to check that the gaps for the doors were uniform and no more than one-eighth of an inch".  This was no production line: the aim was to achieve the highest possible standard with each individual body. Corrosion prevention was another particular concern.  The inner metalwork was carefully painted and a yellow paste, known as Duralac, supplied by Bristol, was put on to the steel before the aluminium was wrapped round. 
George remembers a visit to Filton in the lorry with a completed car.  On a previous journey a body had been roped too tightly and, without a B pillar (because all the glass was packed inside), the roof had sagged slightly.  It was his task to sort this out.  He remained at Park Royal (building buses again) until a year or so before the factory was closed by British Leyland in May 1980, and subsequently worked for a restoration company. 

The book above Bristol Cars: A Very British Story by Christopher Balfour (Author) is out of print but available at specialist bookshops.

This is another excellent example of a Bristol 411 pictured in 2009.

I would be pleased to hear of any information that can add to the story of PRV's association with Bristol Motors, thanks. Ed.