Bristol was always a low-volume manufacturer; the most recent published official production figures were for 1982, which stated that 104 cars were produced in that year.

On the outbreak of World War II, Sir Stanley White, managing director of the Bristol Aeroplane Company from 1911 to 1954, was determined not to suffer the same difficulties a second time.

[6] In May 1945, a chance discussion took place between D. A. Aldington, a director of Frazer Nash then serving as an inspector for the wartime Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP), and Eric Storey, an assistant of George White at the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

Aldington and his two brothers had marketed the Frazer Nash BMW before the war, and proposed to build an updated version after demobilisation.

This seemed the perfect match for the aeroplane company's own ambitions to manufacture a high quality sports car.

With the support of the War Reparations Board, H. J. Aldington travelled to Munich and purchased the rights to manufacture three BMW models and the 328 engine.

[6] The car division originally merged with Bristol Siddeley Engines, and was marked for closure, but was bought in September 1960 by George White, the chairman and effective founder.

White retained the direction of the company, but sold a forty per cent shareholding to Tony Crook, a leading Bristol agent.

As the ties with the White family were severed, British Aerospace requested the company to move its factory from Filton Aerodrome and it found new premises in nearby Patchway.

The showroom on Kensington High Street became the head office, with Crook shuttling between the two in Bristol's light aircraft.

Under Crook's direction the company produced at least six types, the names of which were largely borrowed from Bristol's aeronautical past: the Beaufighter, Blenheim, Britannia and Brigand.

In February 1997, Crook, then aged 77, sold a fifty per cent holding in Bristol Cars to Toby Silverton, with an option to take full control within four years.

[13][14] The car, a two-seater roadster, made its first public appearance, slightly camouflaged, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2016.

The Bullet was said to be powered by a normally aspirated 370 bhp (280 kW; 380 PS) 4.8-litre BMW N62 V8 engine (sharing the same drivetrain and chassis as the most recent Morgan Aero 8) driving the rear wheels, had a body of carbon fibre, weighed 1130 kg, and would cost £95,000.

On 5 March 2020 it was reported that Bristol cars had been officially wound up in order to pay creditors, with court-ordered liquidation under way.

[8] Bristol would use this same engine in the 450, entered at Le Mans in 1953; it broke its experimental crankshaft, but despite being less than aerodynamically ideal proved fully five seconds a lap quicker than the competition.

It was built to extremely exacting standards, and the price reflected it; this, plus newly introduced "punitive taxation", meant only 40 were produced.

It also saw Bristol become a private company and marked a return to quality to the exclusion of output: no more than three cars a week were to be made.