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| Bristol 404 Bristol 405 | |
|---|---|
 Bristol 405 four-door saloon | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Bristol Aeroplane Co. (nowBristol Cars) |
| Production | 1953–1958 52 (404) 308 (405) |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Luxury car |
| Body style | Two-doorcoupé (404) Four-doorsaloon (405) Two-doordrophead coupé (405) |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 1,971 ccohvI6 2,216 cc ohv I6[1] |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Bristol 403 |
| Successor | Bristol 406 |
"In this latest product from Bristol Cars Ltd, I am in the happy position of having very little with which to find fault"
"One starts to throw this car into corners after a very few miles of motoring. The high geared steering responds to a single quick turn of the two spoke wheel, and the 405 goes round, as uncompromisingly upright as a Calvinist pastor ... "
Mike Brown inThe Autocar, May 1955[2]
TheBristol 404 andBristol 405 areBritish luxury cars which were manufactured by theBristol Aeroplane Company. The 404 was manufactured from 1953 to 1958, and the 405 from 1955 to 1958. The models were successors to theBristol 403. The 404 was a two-seatcoupé and the 405 was available as a four-seat, four-doorsaloon and as a four-seat, two-doordrophead coupé.
Unlike previous or later Bristol models, there is considerable confusion in nomenclature when it comes to the Bristol 404 and 405. The 404 was a very short-wheelbase car introduced in 1953, whereas the longer 405 was introduced in 1955. The wheelbases are 8 feet (2,438 mm) for the 404 and 9 feet 6 inches (2,896 mm) for the 405.
The 405 itself was seen in two versions. The more common (265 of 308 built) is a four-doorsaloon built on the standardchassis of the previous Bristols, whilst the 405 drophead coupé or 405D (43 built) had aconvertible body byAbbotts of Farnham. The body used aluminium panels over a steel and ash frame, mounted on a substantial horse-shoe shaped chassis.[2] Most cars built had a highly tuned (through advancedvalve timing) version of the 2 litre six-cylinder engine called the 100C which developed 125 bhp (93 kW) as against the 105 bhp (78 kW) of the standard 100B 405 engine. Even the 105 bhp engine was fitted with Solex triple downdraft carburettors.[2] With UK fuel supplies no longer restricted to the low-octane wartime "pool petrol", all engines for the 404 and 405 came with highercompression ratios than predecessor Bristols — 8.5:1 as against 7.5:1. Rack and pinion steering was fitted and the car's handling won accolades from press reports when the car was introduced (and subsequently).[2]
Compared to the 403, the 404 and 405 had an improved gearbox with much shortergear lever which improved what was already by the standards of the day a very slick gearchange. The 405, thoughnot the 404, had overdrive as standard apart from the earliest models, and frontdisc brakes became an option apart from the earliest models, and were fitted to almost all 405 drophead coupés. A few late 405s were fitted with the higher torque 2.2 litre engine introduced in the later406.[1]
Externally, a notable feature of the 404 and 405 was the abandonment of theBMW-style radiator grille for one much more like an aero-engine. The 405, although the only four-door car ever built by Bristol, had styling that the company was later to refine for many years on their laterChryslerV8-engined cars during the 1960s. It was also the model that introduced the Bristol feature of sizable lockers in the front wings accessed externally by gullwing doors. The locker on the nearside held the spare wheel and jack, whilst that on the offside housed the battery and fuse panel.
In the 1955 comedy filmJosephine and Men, one of the main characters, Alan, played byDonald Sinden, drives a maroon 405.
A silver 405, described as a 1955 Bristol, is driven by the character Jack Kerruish (played byKevin Whately) in the first three series ofPeak Practice, set in the early 1990s in thePeak District.
A maroon 405 is featured prominently in the 2009 independent filmAn Education, directed byLone Scherfig, which is a period film set in 1961 in the London suburbs.
The vicar, Sidney Chambers (played byJames Norton), was given a lift in a maroon 405, at the beginning ofGrantchester, series 3, episode 5 (2017).
Daniel Day-Lewis is featured driving a maroon 405 aroundWhitby,North Yorkshire, in the filmPhantom Thread, directed byPaul Thomas Anderson and released on Christmas Day 2017.[3]
In the 2017 Sony Pictures film adaptation of Agatha Christie'sCrooked House, private detective Charles Hayward (Max Irons) uses a maroon 405.