We were seated next to the sound engineer as a select group of Toronto jazz musicians recorded background music for a General Motors TV spot I'd written for my ad agency employers. Pianist Jimmy Dale was music director that day. At precisely 3PM he called a halt to the proceedings in order to make a phone call. Grammy-winning players stopped playing, the needs of the ad agency were ignored, and as for the client, since when did GM rate with Jimmy Dale's car collection? Jimmy was negotiating the purchase of an Arnolt-Bristol and the rest of the world could wait. I was reminded of this when noting that Collectible Automobile magazine and Business Week's classic cars site both produced features on the Arnolt-Bristol in the same month.

I'm really sorry that Collectible Automobile has no Web site where visitors can at least get a preview of the contents, for it offers an excellent in-depth article about the Chicago-based entrepreneur who rescued Nuccio Bertone's design firm from near-bankruptcy, in the process becoming V-P. With his UK connections "Wacky" Arnolt arranged to buy chassis and engines from Bristol and had them shipped to Italy where the bodies were fitted. Most of the cars were convertibles; a handful of coupes were also produced. In America, Arnolt-Bristol roadsters were snapped up by enthusiasts who raced the lightweight two-seaters with considerable success. Though manufactured in low numbers, you can still spot them competing in vintage races.

The history of the Bristol engine, which was also used by AC in its exquisite Ace-Bristol, is intriguing enough to merit its own blog. Originally a pre-war BMW engine with a successful race history, it fell into the Bristol aircraft company's hands during WW2 reparations. With a few upgrades, the 2.0 liter six gained a new life with AC, Bristol, and Frazer-Nash. Not long ago I wrote an article on the Arnolt-Bentley, the only Arnolt with a Bentley engine. The Business Week article
can be seen here; the Arnolt enthusiast site can be viewed at this link. I'm out of touch with Jimmy Dale, who gave me my first ride in a Rolls-Royce, but his son Jeremy is active as a road racing team owner.