Very Rare 1955 Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe Emerges, Will Sell at No Reserve

Founded in 1945 from the original Bristol Aeroplane Company, Bristol Cars made hand-built luxury vehicles, with each model seeing only hundreds of examples sold mostly within the UK. The 405 Drophead Coupe saw even fewer than that: only 43 cars were made, and of these, just three were left-hand drive.

This is one of them.

Bristol cars hardly ever emerge on the public market, whether in their home country or abroad. They’re so rare and few in between that collectors usually trade them quietly among themselves. Seeing an actual Bristol car on the road is even rarer.

This makes this 1955 Bristol Drophead Coupe all the more special, if only for the reason that it will be going under the hammer on February 5, when the Parisienne 2021 event from Artcurial kicks off.

It was sold as new on September 20, 1955 and shipped to France and, until 2004, it led a completely mysterious existence within the borders of the country. It reemerged again in 2006, when the current seller acquired it, and had already had a restoration that replaced the light gray metallic paint and brown leather interior with dark green metallic paint with red leather interior.

As it is, this example is in need of a second restoration but presents “very healthy bases,” according to the auction house. It has the original instrumentation and the 2-liter engine mated to the manual gearbox, since it was based on the BMW 328. However, it is clear it hasn’t been started in a long time.

This very rare and still decent-looking Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe is expected to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000 ($121,000 and $182,000 at today’s exchange rate) when it goes under the hammer, and will sell without reserve.