This one-off machine is featured in the 1954 Hollywood feature film “Johnny Dark” starring screen legend Tony Curtis. The movie was filmed in Technicolor by Universal Studios and the story centers on a road race from Canada to Mexico. The movie utilized real racecars and top-flight drivers of the era that included Phil Hill, Don Freeland and Louis Tomei. This is one of eight cars seen racing in the film. Six were recently engineered production cars; two were custom built with aluminum bodies. This particular car is one of the two with the hand-crafted alloy body. The Bohman Special was known as the “Tiger Special” in the film. It was a prime contender for the race win in the film with Phil Hill being announced as the driver and the car carrying the number 17.

This beautiful roadster was built with a hand-fabricated aluminum body, three years prior to the film, by Lawrence Chris Bohman. He is the son of Christian Bohman, one of the principals of the renowned coachbuilding firm Bohman & Schwartz of Pasadena, California. Chris Bohman, as he was known, went into partnership with his father after the dissolution of Bohman & Schwartz in 1947, then after his father’s death in 1950, took over the firm entirely.

The car is a restored original platform that has a Ford chassis that was modified and strengthened for road racing. The engine is set back several inches. The rear axle is a Ford Banjo with a transverse spring with coil springs on each end. The Bohman Special is powered by a Buick V-8 engine that has an Offenhauser tri-power carburetor set-up and is connected to a four-speed manual transmission.

The custom engineered and crafted aluminum body is quite special and it is readily recognized as having been built by a true artisan. The car has European influences from the era. Among some of the notable features are a side-access louvered hood, “suicide” doors and full front and rear body clips. Additionally there is polished stainless steel in the form of the firewall, inner front fender wells, radiator shroud, door-opening kick panels and belly pan. Other details that further enhance the Bohman are a custom grille, side pipe exhaust system, chrome hood latches, two-piece windshield, tonneau cover, wood steering wheel, snap-in armrest, chrome wire wheels and whitewall tires.

The car was restored in 1986 and remains in excellent overall condition. The black and white interior is restored to its original design. This was done in 2013 and relied upon period photos. This car is well-documented. The owner has pictures of the car during its construction and also a photo-shoot with a model around 1953-54. The Bohman Special has also been written about in the June 2011 edition of Vintage Racecar. It was also featured in the Hemmings Blog on February 2, 2012.

This exciting car has won many awards over the years. Among these are the People’s Choice Award at the September 2012 Intermountain Concours d’Elegance in Lehi, Utah – First Place for Retired Active Racecars at the Concours d’Elegance Salt Lake City, Utah 1986 – First Place for Radical Hand-built Sports Class at Autorama over a several year period.

And for two years in a row (1992-93) the Bohman Special was the American Dream Calendar Winner. This is an international competition from top ISCA winners. With the final competition being held in the Las Vegas Stardust Hotel, this car received the honor of being featured for a calendar month.

This well-known roadster has received many local car show awards over the years. It was also used as an ArmourAll Product promotional vehicle for many years. It always draws an interested crowd. This one-off California design is first-class in design and build.