Chassis No. 404X3132
Engine No. BS1/MkII/298
Transmission No. BWCR9 209
The 1951 Geneva Salon saw Carrozzeria Bertone taking a calculated risk, showing a coupe and a convertible on MG TD chassis at a moment when Italy's coachbuilders were struggling against inflation and material shortages. The gamble paid off when Stanley Harold ''Wacky'' Arnolt II, a Chicago industrialist rarely seen without his Stetson and cowboy boots, bought both cars on the spot and ordered 200 more.
Having effectively rescued Bertone from bankruptcy, Arnolt took a seat on the carrozzeria's board and went looking for a more serious chassis, settling on the Bristol 404 with its 1,971-cc BMW-derived inline-six, four-speed transmission, and transverse-leaf and torsion-bar suspension. Franco Scaglione, given free rein, answered the tall Bristol engine with a raised central hood intake set between sharply drawn fenders, headlamps inset into the grille opening. Only 142 Arnolt-Bristols were completed, of which approximately 85 survive.
Bertone finished chassis 404/X/3132 on 28 July 1954 under Bertone invoice no. 255, a copy of which remains on file, and the car sailed for Chicago aboard the SS Annick the following week, originally supplied new with a steel trunk lid, a special-order, ultra-rare feature on an Arnolt-Bristol Bolide. According to the consignor, who has long been close to the Arnolt family, 3132 was the last car sold from the factory. Rather than passing quickly to a private buyer as most Arnolt-Bristols did, 3132 stayed on with the Arnolt organization and served as a factory demonstrator. The car was sitting in Arnolt's main Chicago showroom, next door to the warehouse, when fire broke out on 12 December 1956 and claimed twelve Arnolt-Bristols. Fortunately, chassis 3132 was damaged but not beyond repair, and its body and remaining components were salvaged from the showroom, though the engine had been removed at some earlier point and was never recovered. Its first private owner is recorded as Dr. Michael Russell, who took delivery in 1959.
Dave DuBrul, a Burlington, Vermont enthusiast and VSCCA activities chairman, bought the car in November 1979 from Bruce Erlin, owner of ex-Sebring team car 3136, after the two met at Carlisle. Writing to Arnolt-Bristol Registry keeper John Simmons, DuBrul reported taking on an extra body together with engine, transmission, running gear, rolling chassis, and steering, adding in a hand-written note that the new car was chassis 3132. A second letter dated 28 January 1981 further described its condition as a rolling chassis on its wheels with suspension, steering, engine, and transmission in place, and a body rough but repairable. DuBrul later advertised 3132 in the Registry in the summer of 1986 as a ''good project car'' offered with its engine. Tom Trotman, who by then had assembled eight Arnolts, acquired it in 1988, followed by Dr. Scott Stewart in 1991 and Ed Howell in 1994.
Howell was restoring Arnolt-Bristol prototype 404/X/3000 at the time, and he used 3132 as both physical reference and parts source for that effort, its four-speed transmission and rear end going into the prototype-therefore helping to preserve the very car from which its own design had descended.
Following a brief Connecticut ownership, the current caretaker and European Arnolt-Bristol guru, Dr. Lieven Goeman, acquired 3132 in 2014 and commissioned a complete nut-and-bolt restoration with no expense spared, photographed throughout, beginning with the bare chassis and original steel panels. In April 2020 he purchased Bristol engine (no. BS1/MkII/298) and a correct four-speed transmission (no. BWCR9 209) from Jonathan Bradburn on the Isle of Man, both sold requiring full rebuilds, and the invoices on file record exactly that work. Completed in 2022, the car was finished in stunning Parmatti Blue drawn from Scaglione's Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7, with blue leather trim carrying the theme inside. The completed restoration totaled more than €140.000.
Offered freshly restored from one of the most significant collections of the model in the world, Mille Miglia eligible, and accompanied by an extensive photographic and documentary record, 404/X/3132 carries a connection to the Arnolt story that few survivors can match.
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- Transmission
- Exterior Colour
- Number of doors
- Interior Colour
- VIN Code404X3132
