405 - The Only Four-Door Bristol

With one exception, all Bristol cars were two-door models.  The exception was the Bristol 405, Wikipedia entry here.  It is the subject of today's post.

The 1954-1958 Bristol 405 (and the 2-door 404 of 1953-1955) marked the end of the classic 401-403 series design produced 1949-1955.  I wrote about the Bristol 401 here.

Apparently the 405's saloon (sedan) configuration was distant enough from Bristol's high-performance luxury market-target that its replacement 406 model reverted to 2-door status.

Images below are of a for-sale Bristol 405 located in Tasmania.

Gallery

Previous Bristols featured the prewar BMW grille theme.  The grille we see here is hard to explain.  The opening is nondescript, the grille mesh is recessed a couple inches.  I suppose this could be rated as "distinctive."  But not in a positive sense.

Frontal sheet metal sculpting features complex shapes that do not relate well to one another.  The grille opening was slightly widened on the redesigned Bristol 406, and minor brightwork added on the 407.  It wasn't until the entry of the Bristol 408 in 1963 that a more conventional Bristol grille appeared.

The passenger compartment greenhouse is a rounded fastback with large windows.  This contrasts somewhat uneasily with the long, rather flat hood line.  Note how narrow the front door is compared to the back-seat door.  A three-inch (73.5 mm) rearward adjustment to the B-pillar might have improved the appearance.

Those small, odd tail fins preview a somewhat similar touch found on Bristols 406 to 410 (1957-1969).  For some reason, I rather like the fastback zone (apart from those fins).  Especially that large, three-piece backlight window.