1954 Arnolt-Bristol Bolide Roadster

Stanley Harold “Wacky” Arnolt built his fortune during World War II by supplying marine engines and, by 1952, had become a regional distributor for British Motor Corporation products and the U.S. importer for Bristol cars. Arnolt’s financial backing provided critical support for Bertone, effectively rescuing the company from the brink of insolvency. Leveraging his Chicago-based dealership and newfound seat on the Bertone board, Arnolt selected the recently introduced Bristol 404 chassis as the basis for his next venture.

Unveiled in October 1953, the Bristol 404 featured a compact wheelbase and was powered by the marque’s BMW-derived 1,971 cc inline-six engine paired with a four-speed manual gearbox. The car utilized a transverse leaf and torsion bar suspension, providing an agile and balanced platform ideal for Arnolt’s project. He placed an initial order for several chassis and contracted Bertone to develop the coachwork, which would be sold through his dealership at a base price of $4,500.

Bertone designer Franco Scaglione was given free rein to execute the design and responded with a clean, purpose-built form defined by deeply inset headlights and sharply creased fender lines. Offered in various forms, the Bolide variant, designed with competition in mind, was stripped of weather gear and bumpers, emphasizing performance and light weight. In total, just 142 Arnolt-Bristols were produced. However, 12 roadsters were lost in a warehouse fire in Chicago, bringing the final delivery number to approximately 130. Of those, an estimated 85 examples are known to survive today.

A remarkably well-equipped example, the consignor's deep admiration for these Arnolt-Bristol Roadsters would begin in high school when a fellow classmate had one and frequently drove it to school, prompting him to one day own one as well. The current long-term owner's 56-year-long love affair would come true when he acquired this 1954 Arnolt-Bristol Bolide Roadster in 1970 from The Sports Car Store. Enjoying the car for a number of years, he would entrust noted restorer Skip McCabe of McCabe Automotive Restoration in Chicago, Illinois to comprehensively restore it. The choice of the exquisite Del Rio Green color would come when he saw a Ferrari 275 in an Automotive Quarterly book draped in the color. Tracking down the then-owner, he would gift him the spare paint from his Ferrari to be paint matched to this Arnolt-Bristol and be applied during the restoration.

To further its sporting appearance, the current owner was luckily able to source the last set of Borrani knock-off wheels from the “factory” in 1979, acquiring them directly from S.H. “Wacky” Arnolt’s son, Mike, in Warsaw, Indiana. At this same time, he secured a set of hubs from Mike Rahal, father of three-time Indy Car Champion Bobby Rahal. Originally a $400 add on, it’s said that only about eight or ten sets of factory Borrani knock-off wheels were ever made, most of which Arnolt had made for his racing team.

Under the finely sculpted hood lies a Bristol inline 2.0-litre six-cylinder engine with crossover pushrods and hemispherical combustion chambers originally designed by Fritz Fiedler. A fine-tuned sports car, this Arnolt-Bristol delivers a thrilling amount of power and produces a proper and sporty exhuast note that adds to the full immersive experience. Furthermore, this Bristol is offered with an optional anti-rollbar, fitted with Alfin drum brakes, an optional extended “remote” manual transmission shifter, and a competition windshield. Enjoyed and admired around the country, this Arnolt-Bristol presents remarkably well today, and offers a sporty and spirited open-air driving experience unlike anything else. Accompanying the sale of this Arnolt is a tool roll kit, owner’s manuals, spare wheel, and a large grouping of spare hard to find spare parts. 

A rare and significant American-Italian hybrid, this stunning, race-bred yet street-legal roadster is presented in exquisite colors, offered from 56 years of ownership, and has been thoughtfully enhanced with desirable period upgrades, making it ideally suited and granting you access for the world’s most prestigious driving events, rallies, and concours, including the Mille Miglia, Colorado Grand, and California Mille.