What-If Bristol Cars, the specialist luxury carmaker known for its individualistic reputation had expanded producing roughly 5000 + cars annually as instead of around 500 cars per year in OTL as a result of the following PODs?
POD 1 - Bristol Commercial Vehicles was not sold off in 1935 to Thomas Tilling / Tilling Group and would remain part of Bristol Cars up to the present day.
POD 2 - The Bristol Britannia turboprop airline appeared in 1950 with no teething problems instead of in 1957 as in real-life (where it was plagued with delays and problems during development, which had the effect of negatively impacting projects the car division was working on during that period).
POD 3 - As a result of the above PODs, Bristol Cars manages to bring the 3.65-litre (or 3.6-litre) 6-clyinder twin-cam Bristol type 160 engine into production (the Jaguar XK6 being used as the benchmark during development) along with the Bristol type 220/240 and Bristol type 225 (*1) prototypes in the late-1950s / early-1960s.
POD 4 - After Bristol was merged with Armstrong Siddeley to become Bristol Siddeley as a result of government pressure (who wanted to nationalize everything) in 1959, the car (and commercial vehicle) division is split off as in OTL together with a surviving Armstrong Siddeley Motors by Sir George White who saved both from closure. Together the two carmakers end up forming Bristol Siddeley Motors with Bristol playing a sporting role similar to Bentley (or BMW / Mercedes), while Armstrong Siddeley (*2 / *3) plays a more sedate stately role akin to Rolls Royce.
*1 – In OTL the 2-seater Bristol Type 225 project also known as “the Bullet” on account of its generous performance, was originally conceived as a replacement for the Bristol-Arnolt during the mid/late-1950s featuring a body was similar to the AC Ace and being more refined then the Bristol-Arnolt. It would later appear in modified form as the 2003 Bristol Blenheim Speedster.
*2 – Armstrong Siddeley developed a replacement for the mk2 ASM Star Sapphire prototype during the late-1950s / early-1960s intended for launched in 1962, the car featuring styling influences from the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow and Rover P5, while the radiator shell layout and overall treatment reminiscent of Pininfarina’s BMC Farina designs with trace elements of the Lancia Flaminia in the shape of the body.
3* - Bristol Cars via Bristol Siddeley Motors would also gain the all-alloy OHC 4.6-litre V8 project that Armstrong Siddeley was working on, which was derived from two 2290cc ASM Sapphire 234 4-cylinder engines with potential for the V8 to be increased to 5.2-litres (via a bored out 2.7-litre 4-cylinder version of the 2290cc ASM Sapphire 234 unit), effectively butterflying away the Chrysler V8 engines.