Design and the Bristol Car contains a description of the evolution of draughting and, in particular, lines drawing techniques from shipbuilding days, through aviation design and car design into the Computer Aided Design era, interspersed with the life story of Dudley Hobbs, chief designer at Bristol Cars from 1946 to 1976.
The second part of the book contains previously unseen Bristol Aeroplane Company reports on visits (by Dudley Hobbs) to Geneva, Lugano and Milan, the Paris and Geneva Motor shows and to Carrozzeria Touring. Also included are a critical appraisal of the work of Dudley Hobbs by a current car designer and a summary of the pre-war history of the BMW 326, 327 and 328, which might be described as the first Bristols.
The book concludes with a 1950 D.E. Hobbs patent for Improvements in or relating to Motor Road Vehicles, and a summary of the specifications of the major Bristol Cars models.
For further information visit butterfieldpress.co.uk. A reduced price purchase code for the book is available for those viewing the on-line presentation on the Brooklands Museum website.
Further illustrations of the book are shown below.
Four alternative covers are available, and may be purchased separately – the four together showing the master lines drawing of the 603
Video link
John Hobbs gave a talk on the contents of the book for the BOHT at the Bristol Archive in April 2019 and was due to give one at Brooklands Museum in April 2020 which had to be cancelled.
However, so you don’t miss it, John has kindly recorded it for the Brooklands Museum and they have put it together with his slides.
It is on the Brooklands Museum Vimeo channel which can be seen by clicking:
“Design & the Bristol Car”
Bristol Owners Heritage Trust 