Bristol presses stolen

The legendary British carmaker Bristol had the unpleasant surprise last Monday when it discovered that thieves had broken into its factory and, rather than stealing the cars, had stolen the company’s presses. The presses were used to build body panels for the Blenheim coupes.

Thanks to its low volume production of about 150 cars per year, Bristol has enough body panels for the coming months. Executives are nonetheless expecting a slowdown in the future.

Bristol is a new victim in the metal madness where scrap prices are motivating thieves. Since 2005, metal prices have risen by 95% according to Barclay’s base metals index. AT&T has lost £1.5 Million in copper wiring to thieves since January. In 2006 more than 24,000 manhole covers were stolen from the streets of Shanghai.