We would like to thank Adrian Berry who owns Bristol 400 Farina chassis 181, for allowing us to publish these photos and the text from his website.
Official publicity shot #468
An official publicity photograph for Carrozzeria Pinin Farina S.p.A. Rather confusingly, this photograph and the following photograph both carry the same reference number – 468 (bottom right of photograph and on reverse).
2nd official publicity shot #468
Another official publicity photograph for Carrozzeria Pinin Farina S.p.A. Same reference number as the previous photograph
Reverse of both photographs
Reverse of these official publicity photographs for Carrozeria Pinin Farina S.p.A. These two photographs were taken by Foto Moncalvo Torino shown on the front at bottom left of both photographs.
Official Bristol Sales Brochure
The original sales brochure, showing both the Pinin Farina convertible and the Touring saloon. This appears to be the first reference to the Bristol Farina under the Prices section. The cost shown is £2,500.
The Motor review – 1947
A review from The Motor dated 17th December 1947 of chassis 400/102 which was the car used in all of the Bristol publicity activities.
AFN advertisement – 1947
A full page advertisement for AFN in The Autocar of November 17th 1947, page 15. The centre section refers to the availability of the Farina (this time on a 401 chassis) as being only available for overseas customers. The customer restriction may be as a result of pressure from Bristol. The price shown was £2,500 (the same as the previous year).The lower section refers to the availability of the Farina (without reference to chassis type) as being only available for overseas customers at a price of £2,500.
Article in The Autocar
This article appeared on 5th December 1947 in The Autocar, possibly on page 1091. In it AFN are credited with having drawn up the agreement with Pinin Farina to produce the convertible body on the Bristol chassis. It also talks about the rear of the chassis being extended and a new 18 gallon petrol tank being installed. Note that the photograph at the top of the article is the second publicity photograph shown above.
BMW 328 – From Roadster to Legend
This photograph, appearing on page 281 of the above book by Rainer Simons published in 1996, incorrectly ascribes the model as Bristol 402. The 402 was created and produced entirely in-house by Bristol. The photograph is unique as it shows the Pinin Farina body with round auxiliary lights at the front. All other Pinin Farina bodied cars, Bristol, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, etc., always have the trademark oblong auxiliary lights or air vents. This difference, together with the fact that it is left hand drive, leads us to believe that this is the only in-period photograph of our car. The car was subsequently returned to AFN when it was changed to right hand drive.
Pininfarina Factory 400 buck
A photograph from the Pininfarina factory showing the 400 buck being created with a 400 cabriolet behind.
Bristol the Quiet Survivor
This photograph appears on page 24 of the excellent little book by Charles Oxley-Sidey published in 1988. It also reappears in his second book – Bristol an illustrated history published in 1990, on page 63.
Photograph from the Internet
This photograph was found on the Internet, and may be a PhotoShoped picture of Adrian’s car as it displays it’s unique features.
Adrian Berry’s Bristol 400 Farina
A look in the cockpit of Adrian’s Farina
Bristol Owners Heritage Trust 
It is interesting that Adrian Berry’s car Chassis 401/181 from various photos seen and Farina bodied cars inspected , is the only known example that was fitted with the round spot /fog lights, which look like Lucas FFT462P . It could have possibly been fitted with those lights when it returned to England and was converted to right hand drive.
One might question whether it is a 400 or 401 ?
The BAC despatch/advice docket of 12th December 1947 for this car clearly states it was a 401 chassis that left Filton , not a 400 .
Chassis 161 , 171 , 181 & 191 are all marked on the despatch dockets as Type 401 chassis.
LikeLike