Eastern promise, Bristol fashion
“I think you could be looking at an engine rebuild.” That wasn’t what I wanted to hear while sitting by the roadside, 2500 miles into a 6000-mile expedition to the Syrian border and back. My sixth sense, finely honed after 20 years of marriage, told me it wasn’t the sort of news that would be entirely welcomed by my wife, either. “What was that?” she asked suspiciously. “Nothing serious, darling,” I replied. “We’ll just keep an eye on the spark plugs.” Welcome to the Bristol Owners’ Club Turkey Tour 2022, an innocent-sounding expedition that, halfway in, we had already renamed the Bristol Endurance Rally. Our route, designed by Geoffrey and Hilary Herdman – marque trailblazers and owners of a 1956 405 drophead that has driven around the world – took us across Europe…