The Allbon 2.8 cc diesel was the first commercial product of Allbon Engineering of 51A Thames Street in Sunbury-on-Thames, then located in Middlesex, England. Introduced in January 1948, it was a basically conventional long-stroke sideport diesel of its day. It was a very well-made unit having a good performance by the standards of its day, thus establishing Alan Allbon as a designer and manufacturer of considerable talent. Its main weakness, which was never addressed, was the rather flimsy design of the mounting lugs, which were easily distorted or broken in a crash.

The engine passed through three successive variants having slightly different cylinder porting arrangements. There was also a very limited production run of a version having a single ball-race at the rear of the crankshaft. This variant is extremely rare today.

Serial number evidence suggests the production of some 1800 examples of the Allbon 2.8 over an approximately 20 month production life. Full details and a comparative test of various versions of the engine may be found elsewhere on this website.