1953 Bristol 404 Drophead Coupé

This was one of the cars displayed in the paddock by the Bristol Owners Club at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

I've seen photographs describing it as a 1953 Bristol 404 Drophead Coupé with body by Abbott of Farnham. The Bristol 404 was produced from 1953 to 1958 alongside (from 1955 to 1958) the Bristol 405, 52 examples of the 404 being made, all of them supposedly two-door fastback coupé models. The 405 had a longer wheelbase than the 404 and 308 of these were produced, mostly as a four-door saloon, but 43 were two-door drophead coupés with bodies by Abbott of Farnham. Both the Bristol 404 and 405 had the 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc engine, though some of the later 405s had a larger 2,216cc unit.