SHED LEGEND

IT'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS MANY OF US DREAM OF: FINDING A LEGENDARY CAR THAT'S BEEN SLEEPING IN A SHED FOR DECADES

- GUY ALLEN

I've had a Bolwell all my life. When I first wanted to buy a car, I showed one that was for sale to my father. It was with Linaker Motors, near where we lived in Melbourne, there was a yellow Nagari coupe and I said to Dad I'd love that, he said no way and I ended up with Mum's Datsun 1000!

I always loved the cars. When I was at school, I wrote to Bolwell and even looked at a kit. Most of them were factory cars, but you could build your own and that option was always in my mind.

Turn the clock forward to the early 1980s and I got to buy one and joined the club — over 40 years ago.

I've owned a number of them and have two today: the coupe and a sports with a 302.

As for the coupe, when you buy a Bolwell there is always someone in the club who says “that used to be my car’. It's a bit like farmers — you're in the Smith place - not yours, but the previous owner's! These cars are like that and I really wanted one that I could call my own.

We were at Phillip Island a few years back for the classic races, with the club celebrating 50 years of Bolwell. The club members were all standing around when a young bloke came up and said, "My dad has one of those." So we asked him about the car and where it was and whether his dad was a club member. Apparently he wasn't and the car had been sitting in a shed for years — which immediately got my interest. It was up at Moree in NSW, which was a long way from home. I eventually rang the owner. He said it hadn't been out since 1979. Though he had driven it around years ago.

We got up there after a two-day trip and opened the doors of the garage. It had vines growing over it, the rats had been in there, it was a total mess. But it had the original wheels and lots of other Bolwell gear such as instruments. I said we could do something with it but it was going to be a big job.