Bristol Owners Club : Type 402

Bristol Type 402 Drophead - 2 Litre

The Type 402 was the 3rd production model produced by the company.
Introduced in 1949, it was produced alongside the Types 400 and 401.
It was the first production series Drophead manufactured by the company.
Produced to order - cars were leaving the factory from 1949 to 1950.
Manufacture of the Type 402 Drophead ceased in 1950.

page revised 4th May 1998

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Bristol Type 402 Drophead Coupé
This model was fabricated with the same body features as the first series 401 and can be identified as such by the ridge along the lower body panels. Like the early 401 saloon the instrumentation and controls are Ivory coloured. Only 22 of these cars were originally produced. Prior to this venture, a small number of Type 400 and Type 401 driven chassis were bodied as dropheads. These chassis were sent principally to Farina, but chassis were also sent to a small number of other perhaps less well known design houses eg. Beutler, Langenthal, and others. One 403 saloon is also known to have been later reconstructed by its owner in the fashion of the Type 402.
( Full size image 137k jpg )
This is a picture of a prototype 402. Note the ridge along the lower body a feature of only the first series its stablemate the 401 saloon mentioned above.
Also worthy of note in this illustration are the fitted head rests on two front seats, which were not not adopted in the final production series.
( Full size image 127k jpg )
This car was one of a pair purchased by the actor known as Stewart Granger and his then wife, the actress Jean Simmons. This twin sale is attributed to have had the effect of promoting the description, the "Hollywood Special" for this particular Bristol type. This illustration is actually the ex.Jean Simmons car privately restored and now not entirely to the original specification. Whether Stewart Granger's car still exists after all these years is a moot point, there have been several claims, but none as yet has been substantiated.
( Full size image 75k jpg )
A Type 402 presently located in Australia. The wheels though smart are not to original pattern, which was a 16 inch rim diameter "Easiclean" pattern, on which was mounted a Chromed Hub Cap adorned with a "Bristol 2 litre" badge. This model would have Yellow coloured ground to the Bristol Shield within the central circle, similar to that used as the logo on the Home Page, but with the additional wording "2 LITRE" placed in the lower section of the surrounding Black ground.

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