Quirky cars that inspire the loyalty of their owners

By Julia Werdigier | The New York Times | Updated: 2010-10-10 09:07

The Bristol Fighter, top, sells for $564,000. The company expects to sell about 150 of its handcrafted cars in 2010. Photographs by Patrick Barth for The New York Times

LONDON - In the office of Toby Silverton, 52, the owner of the British luxury carmaker Bristol, hangs a photograph of a smiling female customer standing next to her 30-year-old Bristol 603 car. Mr. Silverton recounts how she bought the car from him secondhand about four years ago without knowing that its previous owner was Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2.