Bristol Cars has announced its return with a limited run of five ‘new-era’ Fighters.
The first has been unveiled at this week’s Salon Privé, held at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire from 2-6 September.
This also marks 80 years since the Car Division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company completed its first model, the 400.
The Bristol Fighter’s overhead-valve V10 powerplant
The original Bristol Fighter was powered by the 7990cc, all-alloy Chrysler V10 developed for the 1992 Dodge Viper, and it was created by a team led by then-chairman Toby Silverton.
This 200mph-plus supercar wasn’t the comeback its maker hoped it would be: numbers are vague, but no more than 14 were built between 2004 and 2011, when the marque entered administration.
But 15 years later, the firm’s new owner, Paul King, and chairman Richard Hackett – a former Bristol employee and co-owner of classic car dealer SLJ Hackett, a marque specialist – are set to revive the 525bhp Fighter. And it will keep the all-alloy V10.
The new run of gullwing-doored Bristol Fighters will be constructed in the UK
