Used car buying guide: Bristol Fighter

Hop aboard and that throbbing and seductive V10 dominates. The manual gearlever is canted over towards the driver and the change itself is remarkably good for something that has to cope with so much (525lb ft) torque. Its driving position is set high but is exceptionally comfortable with excellent visibility and there are enough quirky touches – the aircraft-style instruments in the rooflining, for example, featuring an engine hours display – to let you know you’re not in an Audi. 

The fit and finish is standard British hand-made; like so much about the Bristol, you either get it, or you don’t. Press on and there’s little in the way of dive or squat. 

It feels rigid, carved from the solid. The ride is good and the brakes are strong, but for me, the most impressive thing about the Fighter I drove (they can all be set up differently, and probably are) was the steering, which was well weighted and, at 2.7 turns lock to lock, pleasingly direct. 

So, what it is, this Fighter, is a supercar made by Bristol, quick, thoughtful and highly individual, and if it failed to capture the attention of supercar buyers with quite the vigour it should have done, more fool them.

What we said then

24 May 2005: “There’s a familiar, mighty rumble to the engine as it starts. The performance is simply immense. The car is a safe handler, too – benign when cornering hard and long enough in the wheelbase to resist unscheduled tail-out stuff. This old aeroplane company really can build a modern car, and (evidently) one with enough individuality and performance appeal to attract people who just want something entirely different.”

An expert says:

Richard Hackett, SLJ Hackett: “My father bought a Bristol from Tony Crook’s showroom in Hersham when I was a boy and that started the affair for me. I then worked for Bristol Cars for over two decades. The Fighter is an exceptional car. It’s amazingly fast, easy to drive and beautifully made – it handles superbly. I think it’s actually got better looking as it’s got older, too. The good news is that it’s very dependable and most parts are still easy to come by. Prices are definitely on the up, too.”

Buyer beware

Engine: The mid-front-engined V10 from the Dodge Viper is a clever and reliable unit. It weighs just 528lb, which is remarkable for an engine that produces 525bhp, and can just as easily give a lot more. Indeed, the ram air effect at high speed gives the engine another 25bhp. 

Everything in the engine bay has been designed to allow easy access for maintenance, so parts such as the spark plugs and starter motor are all accessible. Reliability reports so far suggest no obvious problems, with good spares supply and easy servicing. Its long gearing in the Fighter gives it just 1500rpm at 70mph.

Body: Among hundreds of clever features, the exhausts run through the sills to keep the underside smooth. There are no spoilers to ruin the airflow, and the Fighter has ground clearance that no rival supercar can match. The Max Boxstrom-designed two-seater has a rigid all-steel box-section frame with an integral front bulkhead, windscreen surround and rollover protection. 

It got honeycomb flooring, carbonfibre doors and hatchback, plus aluminium wings, roof and bonnet. The highly stressed suspension parts were all steel. The Fighter is also a usable hatchback, with a full-size spare tyre in the boot.

Transmission: from either a six-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission, though it’s thought that only one automatic car was made. Bristol fettled the manual gearbox from the Viper for a shorter, sweeter change. All Fighters are rear-wheel drive. No faults have been reported so far.

Steering: The Fighter has an exceptionally tight turning circle, rare in its class, thanks to its front wheels’ ability to turn up to 41deg – not far off that of a London taxi. This is an exceptional figure for a car with such wide front tyres, too.

Also worth knowing

Because of the firm’s legendary secrecy, the exact number of Fighters produced and sold originally is a matter of speculation; there seem to have only ever been nine registered in the UK. Richard Hackett, of Bristol specialists SLJ Hackett, reckons that in total 20 Fighter chassis were made, of which 19 are accounted for.

It seems 13 were finished by Bristol. SLJ Hackett recently purchased a selection of certified chassis in various states of completeness from the previous owners’ chattels, and it now has two of them nearly complete and already sold. If you fancy a ‘new’ continuation Fighter, or indeed any other type of Bristol, you had better address yourself to the firm pronto. When the Fighter first went on sale in 2005, the price was £229,000 for the regular 525bhp car or £256,000 for the 628bhp S version.