Note: 4/3/2011:  Great news gang.  One of the folks who built this car – Mike Budniewski of Buffalo, New York, contacted me recently and gave me additional detail concerning this car.  He was 14 years old when his teacher, Henry Martin Steiger (this is the correct spelling vs the spelling in the article and magazine below) of Buffalo New York, built two bodies and two cars.  One was Volvo powered and one was Austin powered.   I’m in the process of locating the original family in hopes of learning more about this car(s), how they were built, and honoring the person (people) who built it – Henry Steiger.  Stay tuned for more detail.  Geoff

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Hi Gang…

About a week ago, I posted a story about the “H. M. Striger Special” of Buffalo New York.  That was the first clue to the history of an attractive little fiberglass body found in the Detroit area.  Click here to read the full story on the H. M. Striger Special.

Well…in reviewing a different magazine from 1964, I found another picture of a car with the same body, called “The Bohada Special”.  And it, too, is from Buffalo New York.

How interesting!

I forwarded pictures of the magazine article to Rick D’Louhy, Guy Dirkin, and Erich Schultz for their thoughts on the car.   That is, do we have one car, two cars, three cars or more?  How many little Indians are there here gang?  The caption on the image of the car shows:

“The “Bohada” is a custom reinforced plastic body featuring imported English running gear, a tubular frame, hand-built.” 

That’s all she wrote.  The car in the earlier article found by Tony St. Clair shows a very similar car, but with Volvo underpinnings.   The color is different, the parking lights are different, and the “rise” over the center of the engine in the middle of the hood is different too.

Looks like we have another limited production run of one cool little body.  We just need the history of the car now.

I love research!

Erich Schultz Thoughts:

Erich was first out of the gate with comments – and very detailed too!  Here are his thoughts on the 2 cars in the magazine articles and the body we found in Michigan:

“Geoff,

Volvo engines have intake and exhaust on the passenger side of the engine. B16 engines have 5 ports, B18 and B20 have 8 ports.  MG engines have ports on the driver side. The three branch header of the Bohada is consistent with the MGA or MGB 5-port heads ( 2 intake, 3 exhaust).  I could make out patched over holes on the “found” car where the three tube header was on the driver side of the car.

From what I can tell, the wheels of the Bohada are either Dunlop knock-off steel discs like on the MGA twin cam (but the hole pattern is different) or they are steel wheels with a fake dress up knock-offs. You can also make out MG A-arms in the front wheel well of the Bohada.  The Striger car is Volvo based.  You can make out that the rear wheel of the Striger car is Volvo because it has a pronounced ridge around the center to hold on a Volvo hub cap.  Also, the center knock-offs on the Striger car look fake to me because they stick out too far and there doesn’t seem to be any lip around the eared knock-off nut.  It looks like it is all one piece. 

MG wheels are 4-lug (like the Bohada), Volvo are 5-lug.  Different wheels mean different suspension and frames.  I would say that the Striger and the Bohada are two different cars, not the same car with different engines and turn signals.

The obvious difference on the body that was found in Detroit from the Bohada is the absence of the huge hood blister.  The question of whether  the Detroit body/car is either one of these cars, if they are one in the same car, or if the Detroit car is a third car, could easily be answered by looking at the body and seeing if there was a patch from the no longer extant hood blister, or if there is a patch on the passenger side rocker for the Volvo passenger side exhaust. If one or both of these is present or if neither is present then we have the answer to the mystery.

Erich”

Summary:

Great comments from Erich and much food for thought.  Next step is to inspect the body from Detroit per Erich’s comments above and see what’s there to give us a clue to its history.  Maybe it’s the H. M. Striger Volvo Special.  Maybe it’s the “Bohada Special.”  Or maybe, just maybe…it’s a third body/car with an entirely different history.

Time will tell.

In the meantime gang, we have another car to research and that’s the “Bohada Special.”  Perhaps someone will see this story and clue us in on the history.   Ok you guys out there in Buffalo, New York and the Northeast…..it may be up to you.  Anyone want to go “Bohada” hunting this Spring?

Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time…

Glass on gang…

Geoff