Motoring: Wrong footed

I picked up the Bristol 410 from Spencer Lane-Jones, the Bristol specialist in Warminster whose clean and cheerful workshop had swiftly eliminated the petrol smell. It had to have been something simple: the (replaced) fuel tank was from a later Bristol and whoever replaced it failed to reinstall the correct breather.

Marque specialists are a good thing.  Often trained by main dealerships, they have all the knowhow at half the price and, crucially, the enthusiasm and interest to keep older models going. Spencer Lane-Jones is a former colonel of the Royal Engineers who set up his business on leaving the army in 1987. Helped by the knowledgeable Peter Campbell, he does anything with Bristols, from transforming a 406 into a convertible to deploying the sensitive nose of the office female to test for petrol smells. Not only Bristols; there were also a couple of ACs in the workshop and a very nice Hotchkiss.