STEVE HOLE tells the story of the David Boler’s Ford Model T-inspired T-BONE
Lancastrian David Boler, who ran an exhaust centre in Oldham (proudly marketed as Greater Manchester’s largest exhaust fitting company) was behind this weird rod-inspired creation (which claimed to be Britain’s only all-steel bodied kitcar when launched in 1971). Boler had previously raced an Elva Courier MkIII and a Cox GTM. The T-Bone was designed by Boler’s employees, Paul Dew and Geoff Taylor.
Boler was a successful club racer in the late sixties and friends with then Cox GTM owner, Howard Heerey (Boler raced one) and also raced a Landar R6 and a variety of Lotus’s. The company was also a leading fabricator of aftermarket steel wheels for a time in the late sixties.
First T-Bones were built on the first floor of the exhaust business and had to be hoisted to the ground, although the company moved to larger premises, nearby in Greenfield in 1972, which was later the same site occupied by D&H Fibreglass, who made the Midas range.
Body was made from steel with GRP wings underpinned by a rugged ladderframe chassis with the domor being the Riley 1.5-litre. That car’s B-Series was the preferred engine, although any unit from 850cc to V8 could be utilised according to the feature in Hot Cars magazine in 1971…
Kits were described as very comprehensive with everything you needed to build a T-Bone included with suspension pre-hung for you. The only non-Riley donor part was the B-Series torsion bar-type rear axle. Packages cost £650 in 1971.
Hot Car magazine loved it by the way. They praised its handling and value for money, although they conceded that the styling might not be for everyone. They liked the build quality, however.
Apparently, the late comedian Bernard Manning owned one, as did sword-swallower and fire-eating entertainer, The Great Stromboli, who decked his out with fireman’s ladders and buckets. Real name, Daniel Lynch, he was Bolton-born and based and a proper showman. He died in 2019.
David Boler Engineering Ltd 1971-74 Approx 4 sold.