The Bristol 400 is a luxury car made by the Bristol Cars division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Manufactured from 1947 to 1950, it was the first model of car that the company made.
As World War II progressed, Bristol Aircraft considered its future, which resulted in forming a car division in 1945, later becoming the Bristol Cars company in its own right. Engineers from Bristol inspected the Soviet-controlled BMW factory at Eisenach in the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, and returned to Britain with plans for the BMW 327 and the BMW six-cylinder engine as official war reparations. Bristol then employed BMW engineer Fritz Fiedler to lead its engine development team.[1][2][3]
In 1946 Bristol Aircraft acquired a majority shareholding in Frazer Nash, which in the 1930s held a licence to build the BMW 328. In 1947 the newly-formed Bristol Cars released its 400 coupé.