I do find myself occasionally wondering what the P35 would have been, had Browning lived to complete it.
Browning intended to design a simpler pistol, easier to manufacture, but improved in several ways over the 1911.
If Browning had lived to complete the project, I imagine it might have been a bit larger, sans magazine and grip safeties, single-stack, and chambered in a serious caliber.
Other items in Browning's original designs included a striker rather than a hammer, the substitution of a connecting bar for the trigger stirrup of the 1911, and the substitution of a cam block for the pivoting link.
A key to the design was a more modular approach eliminating all tool requirements for assembly or disassembly (although an original 1911 requires nothing more than a .45 ACP cartridge to initiate complete disassembly)
The P35 realized part of the Browning simplification goals, eliminating a couple of items that are troubling to some on the 1911 (barrel bushing and plunger tube, for example) but was truly a product of F.N. designer Diedudonné J. Saive. It was Saive who was largely responsible for the minor caliber, mag safety, spurred hammer, and double-column magazine.
It seems that FN was smart enough to realize the Browning reputation would sell the pistol better than if it had been called the "Saive Grande Puissance."
One wonders what might have become of the 1911, had the P35 been chambered in .45 ACP.
