#ArnoltBristol

Between 1953 and 1968, S. H. Arnolt Inc., based in Chicago, Illinois, and Warsaw, Indiana, marketed cars combining mechanical components supplied by four British manufacturers with special bodies built by Carrozzeria Bertone. The resulting Anglo-Italian-American automobiles were sold under the Arnolt name. The collaboration initially involved MG, followed by Aston Martin, Bentley and Bristol. After MG proved unable to fulfil the original order for 200 cars, Arnolt needed to find another source of chassis in order to meet his commitment to Bertone, in which he had invested heavily. He consequently negotiated with Bristol Cars Ltd in the United Kingdom for the purchase of 200 chassis derived from the short-wheelbase Bristol 404, together with the 1,971 cc six-cylinder engine developed from the unit used in the earlier Bristol 403. In the higher state of tune adopted for the Arnolt-Bristol, the engine produced approximately 130 hp. The Bristol chassis were sent to Bertone in Turin, where they received the lightweight bodywork designed by Franco Scaglione, before the completed cars were shipped to the United States for sale through the Arnolt organisation. The recorded production period extended from 14 January 1953 to 12 December 1959, with most examples completed during 1954 and 1959. A total of 142 Arnolt-Bristols was produced. Twelve were subsequently written off following a fire at an Arnolt storage facility, although components from the damaged cars were later retained and used as spare parts.

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