Car production line stolen!!

[Gucci]

Unbelievable!!! News from Autocar website:

---------------------------------
Part of the Bristol Cars production line has been stolen from the firm’s factory at Filton Airfield. The building was broken into last weekend, and huge presses taken.
The presses are used to make the Blenheim coupe, shaping aluminium for the doors, roof and wings. They’re not the sort of thing you can hide under your jumper, either, as they weigh several tonnes each. The thieves would have needed several lorries and a crane to remove them.
Production of the Blenheim may be in jeopardy once existing stocks of panels run out, but only a few cars are made every week. Replacing the presses may cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It is believed the presses were taken for their scrap value, and will be cut up and melted down before the raw metal is shipped to India or China.
Which if nothing else means there is a very, very small chance that machines that used to make Bristols could end up forming part of an MG.

 

[Swiss Toni]

Are they sure it wasn't in leiu of an unpaid debt?

 

[GRAV888]

The thieves would have needed several lorries and a crane to remove them.

All of my lorries have witnesses to where they were

 

[smillion]

........................and consequently Bristol will need procure new presses; and whilst they are about it perhaps design car that does not look more suited to an era popularised by the Bay City Rollers.

All a question of taste of course - but sadly money doesn't always equate to taste.

Just exclusivity.

Which = eccentric

 

[Howard]

Unbelievable!!! News from Autocar website:

---------------------------------
Part of the Bristol Cars production line has been stolen from the firm’s factory at Filton Airfield. The building was broken into last weekend, and huge presses taken.
The presses are used to make the Blenheim coupe, shaping aluminium for the doors, roof and wings. They’re not the sort of thing you can hide under your jumper, either, as they weigh several tonnes each. The thieves would have needed several lorries and a crane to remove them.
Production of the Blenheim may be in jeopardy once existing stocks of panels run out, but only a few cars are made every week. Replacing the presses may cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It is believed the presses were taken for their scrap value, and will be cut up and melted down before the raw metal is shipped to India or China.
Which if nothing else means there is a very, very small chance that machines that used to make Bristols could end up forming part of an MG.

No great loss ...... now that they have make new presses , perhaps they could make one that will press out a good looking car instead of the dreadful tut that they currently produce ....

 

[Dave Lewis]

Production line??

And here I was thinking that Bristol body panels were hand-fashioned by very old Gnomes with little silver hammers......

 

[Dave Lewis]

No great loss ...... now that they have make new presses , perhaps they could make one that will press out a good looking car instead of the dreadful tut that they currently produce ....

Some how I knew you wouldn't be able to resist Howard

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Are they sure it wasn't in leiu of an unpaid debt?

Sounds more likely to me...

 

[MBManInKen]

No great loss ...... now that they have make new presses , perhaps they could make one that will press out a good looking car instead of the dreadful tut that they currently produce ....

Not to put too fine a point on it, Howard?

But I can only agree with you, dreadfully dated looking cans...

 

[glojo]

No great loss ...... now that they have make new presses , perhaps they could make one that will press out a good looking car instead of the dreadful tut that they currently produce ....

I wonder if they were insured?

 

[MBManInKen]

I wonder if they were insured?

For producing tut?

 

[Dave Lewis]

For producing tut?

What's so wrong with the Blenheim? I can think of plenty of worse looking cars......

 

[MBManInKen]

What's so wrong with the Blenheim? I can think of plenty of worse looking cars......

You mean apart from the 70s look and the Medieval technology, all for the price of 2 CLs?

I don't know if they do now, but back in 2001, they didn't even have ABS? All very well this nostalgia about "real" cars and "real" drivers, but I would not touch it with a barge pole. Paying 150K for a car and not even get stability control? Thanks, but no thanks!

 

[Fandango]

What's so wrong with the Blenheim? I can think of plenty of worse looking cars......

well..maybe one. But that's it

 

[Dave Lewis]

well..maybe one. But that's it

Check out ugly cars - there's hundreds of 'em, and Bristol don't even get an honourable mention.....

 

[MBManInKen]

Check out ugly cars

Pammy will be pleased - the Multipla is on their list .

 

[Dave Lewis]

You mean apart from the 70s look and the Medieval technology, all for the price of 2 CLs?

I don't know if they do now, but back in 2001, they didn't even have ABS? All very well this nostalgia about "real" cars and "real" drivers, but I would not touch it with a barge pole. Paying 150K for a car and not even get stability control? Thanks, but no thanks!

But they're a niche car, for eccentrics who don't see cars as a statement, so normal ideas about value and looks don't count. There appears to be enough drivers who like the idea of simplicity, a separate chassis and coachbuilt body to keep them in business. Same goes for Morgans - it makes no sense to some to buy a wooden-chassis car with rigid axle and antiquated ride and handling, but that's what some drivers want. Long may they continue. These sort of cars cannot be compared to mass-produced cars in terms of price and spec.
I think the McLaren SLR is ugly.....I'd rather have one of these - 0-60 in 3.5 secs, and 225 mph at 4500rpm? Now that's eccentric...

 

[Gucci]

I like the fact the website has zero design effort! How ironic.

 

[Howard]

 

[SteveL]

What's so wrong with the Blenheim? I can think of plenty of worse looking cars......

looks like the offspring of a XJ6 and a Capri !!