On the market: a famous Bolster special

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Of all the motley and memorable characters to have been involved with British racing specials in the pre-war years, few enjoyed such renown as brothers John and Richard Bolster.

The first Bolster special was the famous Bloody Mary of 1929, which survives today on display at Beaulieu. With an ash chassis and various GN components, it evolved into twin JAP-engined racer with which John accumulated numerous best times and course records up to 1937, after which it was retired but later restored by John and preserved.

Richard, meanwhile, found Bloody Mary too wild for his tastes, so pieced together his own GN special, the car offered for sale here, in 1932. Originally built around a GN chassis with a GN Vitesse engine, the desire to go faster led to Richard rebuilding it with a Powerplus-supercharged 1100 cc MG Magna engine. With 'very effective' Lea-Francis brakes on the projecting front axle, the set-back Darracq radiator, and a tall, dark red monoposto body, the Bolster GN-MG was instantly recognisable and appeared in numerous races at Brooklands and Donington.

Victory at Donington and Shelsley

Despite a race win at Donington, the MG engine was not as fast as Richard had hoped, so he rebuilt the car again with four 500cc single-cylinder Rudge dirt-track engines arranged in-line along the chassis, and achieved a class win at Shelsley Walsh. Unfortunately, in this guise it was a notoriously temperamental machine, and prone to breaking some of its more fragile components.

The end of the story is tinged with sadness. In seeking something more reliable, Richard  fitted a straight-eight Hudson engine, and would have débuted the revamped car at Shelsley in September 1939. Sadly, the declaration of war meant he never raced it. Pilot-Officer R. V. C. Bolster was killed in 1941 aged only 29.

The Bolster family kept the car until the 1960s, when it was sold to G. F. Grant who crashed at Shelsley in its first competition appearance. The wreck went into storage and the Hudson engine was rehomed in another special. Happily, in 1986 enthusiast Peter Wigglesworth restored it to race-ready specification using another blown MG engine, increased to 1318cc.

Now, the Bolster GN has enjoyed many outings with the VSCC at Prescott and Shelsley, and participated in the Bolster Cup for pre-war specials at the Goodwood Members' Meeting.

Offered for sale with the Polson Motor Co., this is a wonderful opportunity to acquire a rare surviving pre-war special, still period-correct and with reams of history.

Words: Zack Stiling; pictures: Polson Motor Co.
 

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