John Bolster 59 Autosport Press Car Part 1
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:49 am
918 GFC was one of the very early press cars, which was given to John Bolster Autosport by BMC to road test it for 1 year. After testing it for a year the only thing part that had to be replaced was the gearbox in about 1960. The car was taken abroad a number of times, it done the journalist race, in Goodwood in 1960 and many more races by John Bolster, which is shown in the pictures. It had a SPQR gear remote fitted and also, as shown in the pictures it had a wood rimmed steering wheel fitted. It also had a demister in the rear parcel shelf fitted all these were done around 1960. The car remained in the family, I knew John very well and am close friends with the family. After many offers to sell the car they wouldn’t sell but eventually asked me if I wanted to buy the car.
There are quite a few differences on this car, which you wouldn’t see normally on a 59 car. One of the things is the back seat and on the front panel, on the top of the slam panel, there is no square indentations which is normally on them. There are a lot more, the body number is 155, chassis number is 1290, I believe that the car is earlier than what the chassis number states as I have been told by a friend of mine who worked on the 59 cars, some cars went through the system twice. I believe that this car was in the workshops being experimented on and also the car was actually in the launch of the 59 cars. John Bolster wanted a clipper blue car but if you look at the chassis number, it would probably say that it was too late to be in the launch, but John and his family said it definitely was in the launch. There are signs of the car being a left-hand drive car but all the time that John had it, it was a right-hand drive. This is a bit of a mystery about the left-hand drive bit. It has the original shell and all the parts, which you see, are correct. The car was complete when I bought it although I have done a full restoration.
The nice thing about the car is that it still has the original number plates, suspension, interior trim, the longer corner bumper’s front and back. I rebuilt the engine and gearbox completely, funnily enough all the gears were absolutely perfect. I also own one of Issigoniss’ 59 cars, these cars are very special cars, sadly you will struggle to find anyone who knows anything about them.
Many thanks
Dave Boswell
There are quite a few differences on this car, which you wouldn’t see normally on a 59 car. One of the things is the back seat and on the front panel, on the top of the slam panel, there is no square indentations which is normally on them. There are a lot more, the body number is 155, chassis number is 1290, I believe that the car is earlier than what the chassis number states as I have been told by a friend of mine who worked on the 59 cars, some cars went through the system twice. I believe that this car was in the workshops being experimented on and also the car was actually in the launch of the 59 cars. John Bolster wanted a clipper blue car but if you look at the chassis number, it would probably say that it was too late to be in the launch, but John and his family said it definitely was in the launch. There are signs of the car being a left-hand drive car but all the time that John had it, it was a right-hand drive. This is a bit of a mystery about the left-hand drive bit. It has the original shell and all the parts, which you see, are correct. The car was complete when I bought it although I have done a full restoration.
The nice thing about the car is that it still has the original number plates, suspension, interior trim, the longer corner bumper’s front and back. I rebuilt the engine and gearbox completely, funnily enough all the gears were absolutely perfect. I also own one of Issigoniss’ 59 cars, these cars are very special cars, sadly you will struggle to find anyone who knows anything about them.
Many thanks
Dave Boswell
