RM Monterey Auction Preview - K2 1804

This August, RM will auction two Allards, the second of which is this K2 Roadster, chassis #1804. This K2 was delivered to an LA dealer (likely Noel Kirk or Moss Moss Motors) on December 1, 1950. Originally painted blue and fitted with Cadillac power, this K2 features Allards' De Dion rear suspension which was a rare option for K2's. The car now features Hallibrand disk wheels, Brooklands windscreens and looks very sporting. The car was featured in the June 2010 issue of "Auto Trader Classic Cars & Parts" magazine. This car is register as lot #142 and will be sold on Saturday evening. The estimate for this car is $100-120,000. You can view more photos of this car at the RM's web site.

RM Monterey Auction Preview - M 834

This August, RM will auction two Allards, the first car is the M Drophead Coupe (DHC), chassis #834. At first glance, the car looks to be a nicely restored M type, but our records indicate that this chassis had a busy race history. Chassis 834 was sold by the Scottish dealer Alexanders on January 27, 1949 and was registered as GSF 756. The car was raced from 1950 to the mid 60's in a wide variety of events ranging trials, hill climbs, and even track races at Snetterton (1965). This car is register as lot #123 and will be sold on Saturday evening. The estimate for this car is $60-80,000. You can view more photos of this car at the RM's web site.

Mystery Allard - Custom K2

Have you ever seen or heard anything about this custom bodied K2? Our build records don't note any K2's being shipped with partial bodywork so we must assume the car was rebodied at some time, likely after an accident. We're going to make a wild assumption that the car was rebodied in the mid to late fifties due to noticeable tail fins and 'continental kit' spare tire mount. If you know anything about this unique K2, please leave a comment or click here to email us.

 

Update on 2011-08-20 05:39 by Colin

From Lindsey Parsons...

"Back in the early 1950's  the "Giant's Despair" hill climb near Wilkes Barre was associated with a road race event for under 2 liter cars at near by "Brynfan Tyddyn". This latter course was a short 3.5 mile road surrounding the lake estate of N Y State Senator T. Newell Wood. Senator Wood had a very "fancy" red K2 Allard in those days. I attended the race as a spectator one year, possibly in 1953 when I ran the hill climb in my new J2X (#3147) or perhaps the summer before, I simply don't recall. I do remember seeing the Senator's car there and was impressed with the shiny wire wheels it had in contrast to the normal ones. I vaguely remember how custom it appeared and I thought at the time it was very garish but, sadly, the details of its exact configuration have totally faded. It definitely could be this car however."

Allard K2 races on the sand @ 1953 Speed Week

Before the Daytona 500, Nascar hosted their Speed Week event in Spring on the sprawling sands of Daytona Beach. It's not known how many Allard's raced there, but in 1953 NASCAR had a sports car class. Robert "Bob" Hunt took his K2 there to compete and did quite well finishing second to probably the fastest sports at that time, a Jaguard XK-120C. Bob completed the standing mile with an average speed of 84.09 mph (the C-type was a hair quicker at 84.92!) and flying mile at 114.58 mph. The flying mile speed demonstrated superior aerdynamics [and gearing] of the C-type, which finished with an amazing average speed of 134.07 mph...besting Mr. Hunt by almost 30 mph (or 4 seconds)! Either way, the times and speeds posted by Mr. Hunt and his K2 were very impressive...although we must wonder what a Allard J2X-LM or JR could have done... Click here or the image above to view the full size image.

This scan came from the March 13, 1953 issue of Motor World magazine.

Tick Tock

One of our generous members sent us this amazing clock the other day for our archives. The free-standing clock is made from cast pewter and measures 8" wide X 5 1/4" tall and weighs several pounds. Little is known about the clocks except that they were made here in the US several years ago, with a limited run of 100...this is clock #14. The clock movement is nothing special, it's just a AA normal battery powered unit like you'd find in most wall clocks nowadays. If you know any more about these clocks, please let us know!

July 23 Demo Day @ Simeone Museum

On Saturday July 23, The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia will feature their Allard J2 #1975 in one of their monthly Demo Days. The theme of the Demo Day is "American Mega Motor Racers" and will feature the Allard, and the museum's '53 Cunningham C4R, '63 Corvette Grand Sport, and '66 Ford GT40 MkII. If you live in the Northeast, you should make plans to check out the demonstration and the rest of Dr. Simeone's amazing collection. The Museum features a large parking lot, which allows them to put on a good show. You can click here to learn more about the event and museum.

Click hereto read about our visit to the Simeone Foundation Museum last year and view our photo gallery.

The Restoration of J2 1739

Click here to view a photo blog of the Burt Collection's restoration of their Allard J2 #1739. The photos are fantastic, enjoy!

Roy Richter and his J2

Did you know one of the most influential people in motorsports and the automotive aftermarket, owned and briefly raced one of the first J2's in the US? That man was Roy Richter, owner of Bell Auto Parts, Bell Helmets, and was the leading figure behind SEMA for many decades. He also won the first (and only) sports car race he ever entered...beating the likes of Phil Hill and Jack McAfee at Santa Ana. His racing career was tragically cut short when he confessed to his wife who had been away for the weekend.

Our friends over at the Blog, "Getting' a lil psycho on tyres!" have published another Allard related story, this time on Roy's J2, chassis 1513. Click here to read it!

Old Magazine Covers, Part 8

This issue of "Car Collector and Car Classics" magazine was published in January of 1984 and features two stories on Allards. The first story is about the J2X, using photos of the cover car. The second story is about the Palm Beach MkI, but unfortunately all of their photos are of a K3! To the untrained eye, it's an easy mistake to make, but an error like that shouldn't have made it past the Editors desk.

MYSTERY CAR: If you, or you know who owns this J2X, please click here to email us! 

Another J2X, Back on the Road!

Alan Beall has owned J2X 3062 since 1969 and has had the car "restored" twice before, but "not professionally.”

She is Cadillac powered with a 331 engine, Edelbrock intake, 6 Stromberg ‘97’ carbs, increased compression, ported heads, Schneider Cam. The engine will be dyno’d soon.

Trans is Lincoln Zephyr and all the running gear is original (except the engine) and all the original body panels were restored. J2X 3062 features (2) spare wheel carriers, (chrome wires wheels are on the way) and the fuel tank has dual fillers. The original gauges were missing, but it came with Stewart Warner gauges from the early 60's.

Alan entrusted the restoration of 3062 to Steve Dennish of Lime Works Speed Shop in Whittier, CA. Steve picked up the car from Alan in Hawaii of December 2009 and loaded the stripped car into a container. The restoration started in February, 2010 and she was ready for the LA Roadster Show by June, 2011. As you can see, the car still needs a few finishing touches, but everything should be wrapped up soon.

Alan is hoping to race the car, but now that it looks so good…he’s not so sure! You can read about 3062’s restoration on the H.A.M.B. , by clicking here.

Allard K1 #156

Our friends over at "Gettin' a lil' Psycho on Tyres" have posted their third Allard post in as many weeks. Click here or the photo above to view their post on the K1 #156 that's at the Haynes International Motor Museum in Somerset, UK. This particular car was raced in the 1947 Alpine Rally by Len Potter to 5th in class, or 17th overall. It was part of a three car team, consisting of Goff Imhoff and Maurice Wick who failed to finish. The cars were apparently painted red, white, and blue...think of it as a precursor to the Italian Job.

Allard Sales By Region

Over the next few weeks, we'll be presenting a number of charts representing various Allard statistics based on the database we received from the late Tom Lush. We hope you find them interesting...or at least not too boring!

The Farrallac...

Our friends at the Blog, "Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres!" have posted another Allard related story...this time focusing on the Farrallac MkII. Click here or the photo above to see the story!

Photo above by Richard Crawford Photography

The Crash - Watkins Glen 1952

While going through our archives, I found this amazing piece of history. The photo above is a small excerpt from a full page spread in a magazine that we believe to be Life Magazine (unfortunately all we have are these pages). The story was likely published the week after the infamouos 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix in late September. In addition to the photo above, the story features a large, disturbing photo of the post-crash scene. To my knowledge, these photos have never been seen outside of this article. Click here or any of the photos to view the large (7MB) image. If you have any more info on this magazine, please let us know.

As you know, this accident had a dramatic effect on sports car racing in America. It highlighted how vulnerable spectators actually were and that their safety was critical. The aftermath of this unfortunate accident led to the creation of dedicated road courses and airport tracks that kept spectators at a safer distance.

Note: The story and photos have been posted without permission and will be removed upon request.

Update on 2011-08-20 05:37 by Colin

From Lindsey Parsons...

Those photos and article on the Wacker accident were indeed from page 34 and 35 of the Oct. 6, 1952 edition of LIFE magazine. If you look carefully at the picture, you will notice that Wacker's left door had been opened by the contact. At the time I was a spectator standing with friends about a quarter mile up the course on Old Corning Hill Road when the race leaders passed at full chat. Wacker's "Eight Ball" was surrounded by a bevy of Cunninghams but they all were definitely at full throttle climbing the hill. I am absolutely certain that Fred Wacker was totally unaware of the tragedy his "flick of the fender" caused back on Franklin Street. Although he appeared to be concentrating on his driving he was reaching out with his left hand on the left door trying to secure it closed when he passed us. When the cars passed from our view, he was still struggling with the door but was keeping up his position in the very rapid procession. Although I was intently watching Wacker specifically as he was a contending leader in a car I was about to order,  I didn't notice any damage to the left side of the the car except for the door being unsecured. We were on the south side of the hill road so we had a a good view although a very short one of the left side of the Allard when it passed. I did wonder about that later but figured that I was so interested in Wacker's efforts to secure the door, I simply didn't notice what damage was done to the left rear fender. It couldn't have been much however as it clearly was not effecting the car's performance as it would have been if it was contacting the tire. As I recall, it was some time before we actually heard the reason the race so abruptly ended. One of the nearby flagmen heard it on the race radio he had with him.

Mystery J2 Races Pikes Peak

This photo of a J2 was sent to us by Matt of the Colorado Hill Climb Association. The photo was grouped together with several from the 1953 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, but there are no records of the car running. If you know anything about this car, please click here to let us know!

An Interesting J2...

Click here or the photo above to go to the Blog, "Getting' a lil' psycho on tires!" to read about John Aibels very interesting J2. This car has had a very interesting history, part of which included a streamlined Sorrell body for racing at Bonneville.

Demolition Derby - Allard Style

Special thanks to David Brown for letting us know about these videos from Mildenham in the UK. If you look carefully, you will find an Allard P1, aka "The Jackal" racing and wrecking it's way around the track.

Mike Knapman from the AOC was able to track down some info on the car, here's what he found...

"The car was donated to the racer on condition that it must not be sold before it was raced. The car had stood in a garden for a very long time so dash had rotted away and wings about to fall off.  Rear axle and engine scrapped. Rear axle now a Ford Transit and the engine is from a Granada.  Other drivers were not happy about the strength of the Allard's chassis.

 In first race one steering arm broke but was welded. The P1 made it to the final "Destruction Derby" less its bodywork but clad only with its roll-cage and heavy gauge race mandatory roof. It was one of last three cars left running and received an award for Best Entertainer. A fitting end for a P1 maybe, but not necessarily the final curtain."

For Sale - Allard M Project

This M drophead coupe is chassis 859, and was delivered to Bournemouth England on Feb. 23, 1949 and registered as DJT 876. The owner has the original build and inspections sheets for the car. It was originally grey with grey interior and a blue top. Little of the car’s ownership history is known prior to 1978 and the current owner had the car shipped to the US in 1998. The car is in original condition, is mostly complete, but in need of a complete restoration. The car is equipped with a stock 3.6 liter (221 cid) Ford flathead engine with a Ford 3-speed transmission with column shift linkage that reverses the shift pattern from normal. All of the major mechanical components are the same as used in the English Ford Pilot. Click here to view additional information and photos. If you are interested, please click here to contact the seller. This car is available for $12,000/US.