SECTION: THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. T14

LENGTH: 803 words

HEADLINE: WHEELS: BRISTOL FASHION;
What do Liam Gallagher, Bono and Tina Turner have in common? They've all spent a bomb on a bland-looking car. Michael Booth wonders why

BYLINE: Michael Booth

BODY:

God bless 'em and everything, but Oasis are not renowned for their innovation: whether it's their hotel trashings, chord progressions or cocaine habits, you can pretty much set your watch by them. And that seemed to be the case with their choice of transport too. Patsy had her starlet's standard-issue St John's Wood wagon, an 8-series BMW; Noel bought the band scooters (a pop staple since Tommy Steele) after their Earl's Court gigs; Alan McGee bought Noel a rather vulgar brown Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

But then, in an act of characteristic contrariness, the simian sibling, Liam, went and blew it by buying, of all things, a Bristol Blenheim; a hand-crafted A118,778.40 'gentleman's express' -the Pall Mall club on wheels which, for the educated car cognoscenti, represents the last word in discreet exclusivity. It was rather like hearing that Alf Garnett collects Lalique. Stranger Bristol-esque revelations awaited. Bono, it turned out, is a proud Bristol owner. Chrissie Hynde drove off into marital bliss in a gold Bristol after her wedding last month. Even Tina Turner is a fan: she bought her new Bristol Beaufighter fresh from the showroom a few years ago. Richard Branson owns them; his former business partner turned publisher, Simon Draper, has eight; and, perhaps the ultimate accolade, the designer Paul Smith treasures a 1956 Bristol 405 saloon. I sought an explanation. 'It's the details in this car that I love,' Smith told Classic Cars magazine, 'The egg-timer-type indicator switch, the aeroplane inspired front . . . the hand-stitched leather interior with its pin-prick bespoke finish. The original radio refuses to pick up anything but Radio 4 and the big-buckled safety belts were made in Savile Row.' So, he admires the craftsmanship, but why should Bristol, the car manufacturer that time forgot, find favour with today's less discriminating showbiz set? Simon Draper loves Bristols (if you will excuse the Dick Emery-ism) so much that he has commissioned the motoring journalist and Bristol expert, LJK Setright, to write the definitive history of the marque.

'I'll be staggered if we make any money on the book,' Draper told me (it is likely to be priced at about A300 when published by Palawan early next year), 'but I publish books on things that interest me. Bristols are beautifully-built cars, very idiosyncratic. In fact, the modern ones are decidedly odd, but they are extremely practical - they are very narrow so are good to use in London - but what I like about them is they are hand-built; there's very few of them and they don't make an obvious statement the way some cars do.' Maybe it is their bespoke anonymity that attracts the stars. Bristols, according to Setright, are cars 'in which people who are not only rather well-off, but perhaps also rather well brought-up may discreetly enjoy the finesse of the truly noble motoring'. Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons bought one in 1949; Mrs Gallagher must be proud.

I thought I would go and take a look for myself and popped into the company's sole dealership, a rather shabby teak-panelled room in Kensington High Street in which were crammed just four cars, including the current model (more than a hint of Morris Marina, if you ask me).

There, I met Tony Crook who threatened me with a solicitor's letter if I re -ported even asking him a question. 'No, I'm not going to answer any questions. I've been caught out before. And I'm not talking about any pop stars either. I'll be jolly angry if you write anything,' he warned.

Crook, a former RAF pilot, now 71 (when I arrived he was faxing a letter of protest to the Tourist Authority about their proposals to remove the union flag from their masthead), was in his day one of the country's finest racing drivers. He became the sole owner of Bristol Cars in 1973.

Since 1946 - when the Bristol Aircraft Company began building cars (the first loosely based on a BMW 328 given to them by the War Reparations Board) - less than 8,500 have been made, and most are still running. And while other marques were either swallowed whole by multinationals -Aston Martin - or simply faded away - Alvis - Bristol, thanks to Crook, quietly continued producing an undisclosed (everything about Bristol is 'undisclosed') number of their aluminium-bodied, steel-chassised saloons, uglier and yet more antediluvian each year.

But they continue to find buyers: doctors, solicitors, architects, retired colonels, pop stars, Mancunian monosyllabic monobrows among them; and there are rumours of new partners and perhaps a new model to come (though Crook refuses to comment). Last year, the purveyor of 'Dignified express travel for four six -foot persons and their luggage' celebrated its 50th year. I would not bet against them reaching their centenary.