The Allard Manifold

We were fortunate enough to recently receive the donation of an alloy Allard Intake Manifold (thank you!) and we thought you might like to know the back story behind these unique manifolds…

In the late 40’s, Allard was struggling to make their Ford flatheads more powerful. The stock single carb intake manifold was pathetic and Sydney knew there were several alternatives available in the US. Unfortunately Post War England was very protectionist as it tried to rebound from the war. Basically nothing could be imported into the country, which meant no American speed parts could be sold in the UK.

If you’ve read the Tom Lush’s definitive Allard book, you may recall that in 1948, Reg Canham took an Allard M type to the US and went on a cross country tour towing a caravan to promote the Allard Motor Company (a pre-cursor to GM’s motor-rama). Not much is known about this trip, but we do know that Reg stopped in Los Angeles, where he met a number of hot rodders. One of the people he met was Eddie Meyer who operated a speed shop dedicated to extracting more power out of the flat head. Eddie Meyer Engineering made arguably one of the hottest dual carb manifolds on the market, with several cars using his equipment to achieve several records at Bonneville.

Fortunately post war airports didn’t have metal detectors and Reg was able to sneak one of Eddie’s manifolds back into the UK. The Allard boys soon appreciated the performance gain from the manifold and made quick work of making replicas for use on their performance Mercury 24-stud flatheads.

I must admit that it was a bit disappointing to learn that that Sydney basically ripped off someone else’s design (without even giving Meyer credit!). However, I don’t think it’s that big of a issue. Eddie Meyer couldn’t sell his manifolds in the UK and the odds of Allard selling a bunch of their knock-off manifolds in the US were pretty slim. Fortunately Eddie Meyer wrote a letter to Road & Track magazine (June, 1950), explaining the situation…although it was tough to tell whether he was proud or insulted that Allard had copied his design.

P.S.: If you know anything about or have any photos of Reg Canham’s USA M-type caravan trip, please click here to contact us!

I spy...

with my little eye two...

This cover shot is from the 1950 Motor Racing Annual from the UK. If you look closely, you'll see two interesting cars...what specifically are they? Leave a comment...

Correspondence...

We always love getting mail...and it was a pleasure to receive this message from Roger Murray-Evans this morning...

"Didn't know if you had this picture of TGT703 (P2-4512). Taken in the car park of Dralla House, offices, I believe of Adlard Builders. If I'm wrong I'm sure I'll be corrected pdq!

The car was registered for road use 12th October 1956 and used by Sydney until it  was sold on to Eric Alexander on 15th January 1958. Still painted Allard mid blue at that time, so this photo was obviously taken later, perhaps having been returned to Allards for re painting before going to the next owner,
John Williams on 11th September1962. John did the odd competitive event in the car and the AOC newsletter of May 1963 reports John having competed at a Pembrey sprint over the standing quarter mile recording 17.12secs, good enough for second place behind a MK2 Jaguar in the saloon class. The car was laid up with water pump failure in 1966, and was sold by his widow after he passed away in 1978.

Having passed through 3-4 subsequent owners it never found it's way back to the road.Currently still in the middle of a protracted restoration by me, realistically another 3-4 years will see the car back in good health."

Thanks for writing Roger, We look forward to hearing how the restoration goes. Perhaps you'll be racing in the Goodwood saloon class in a few years?

The 2014 Cavallino Classic

An update from Vince Vento, new owner of the ex-Fred Warner J2X, #2192.

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...We took the J2X to Mar A Lago for day two of the Cavillino Classic in Palm Beach that is put on by the Ferrari People but open to all cars. We competed in the Historic race car class against two Ferrari

Testrasoas, a 1929 Aston Martin race car and two Bugattis. We won second place with one of the Testrosa's taking first. Not bad for our first time out!

Congrats Vince and we look forward to your future plans for 2192!

Something New...Something Blue...

While perusing the SCCA "Sports Car" newsletters that were kindly shared by Andy Picariello of the AOC, I came across this interesting story about the Dam Rally. Apparently Sydney decided to debut his fiberglass Palm Beach prototype with the entrants at one of the check points. Apparently the car caused at least a few entrants to be delayed. Click here or the photo above to read the story.

Back in the Day...

From Lindsey Parsons...

"I ran across a few photos the other day while cleaning out some old storage...

They are of #3147 on a visit back to friends during my senior year at Colgate University in 1953-4. The car was only months old when these photos were taken. As the car appears in these photos the spare tire was in the back hatch along with a foldable canvas top and half side curtains. The two little wind screens were stored back of the seats. I used the machine winter and summer and found the top quite effective in keeping one dry with the car moving but I put the half side curtains in a closet at home as they were far more trouble than worth as far as any useful effect when installed on the car."

-Thanks for sharing Lindsey!

For Sale: Allard K3 3283

SOLD!

K3 3283 was one of the last Allard K3’s built and it was the last K3 exported to America on April 4, 1954. The car was sold by Allard’s new and short lived West Coast dealership, House of Allard. As with many K3’s, the car was well used in its early life. Unfortunately cars wear out and parts break, which is no big deal for a one of 1,000,000 Chevrolet…but for a one of 63 built Allard K3, finding replacement parts could be a challenge. Eventually 3283 ended up with a live rear axle, bucket seats, and a number of other minor modifications. The current owner, an enthusiast having owned several Allards, set out to return the car to its Allard roots, but with a few modifications like disc brakes and improved suspension to make it more drivable for extended periods. The car features a 390 Cadillac as installed by the original owner in 1959 and a 700 R4 Turbo Hydromatic 4-speed transmission installed by the current owner during restoration. The De Dion rear end was restored using  factory parts except for the inclusion of safety hubs adapted from the C-6 Corvette . 3283 is a dream to drive and will be ideally suited for a new owner that is looking to put some miles on a classic Allard. The car was repainted back to the original green, while the interior was converted to tan. Original or correct parts are included to retrofit modified components if desired. For example the car is now equipped with Wilwood Dynalite Pro Series front disc brakes , but the spares include the original Lockheed Dual Leading Shoe drum brakes near ready to install. The car is located in Las Cruces, NM and the owner is asking $120,000, negotiable.

Click here or any of the photos to several additional photos of K3 3283.

Check your newsstand!

It's always great to see Allards getting some press in the mainstream automotive magazines. This time we are happy to report that Classic & Sports Car magazine will be featuring Chris Pring's J2 #2120, reg #OZ4444 in their February 2014 issue. OZ4444 was exhibited at the Festival of Britain before being delivered to racing driver Desmond Titterington in Belfast in September 1951. Following 14 podiums in his 24 outings in the Allard – including an outright win in the 1952 Leinster Trohpy – Titterington moved on to the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar team and the Allard went to Calcutta in India. In the article James Mitchell tells the story of OZ4444's remarkable history and the meticulous restoration following its return home.

Photo by James Lipman.

Save the Brighton Speed Trials!

As an Allard enthusiast, we ask that you take a moment to sign an online petition to help save the Brighton Speed Trials. You may recall that a competitor was tragically killed during the 2012 event. In the wake of the accident, the Brighton city council would like to permanently discontinue this historic event. Yes, the loss of a life is very unfortunate, but all competitors that participate in motorsports realize that it is an inherently dangerous activity. Much has been done to make motor racing safer, so much so that back in the 60's and 70's, death was commonplace, but today thankfully it has become a rarity. However that is no reason to cancel an event that has brought so much joy to competitors and spectators around the world for over 100 years.

Fortunately the Brighton and Hove Motor Club aren't throwing in the towel. They've created a e-petition with the Brighton & Hove City Council to hopefully change some minds on the city council. As of today, the petition has almost 6,100 signatures. Please click here to add your name to the list!

You may be asking why Allard enthusiasts would be concerned with saving this event? Well, Sydney, Eleanor, and many of their friends raced various Allards to great success in the streets from the late 40's through the mid 60's. And today, most notably the Tiller family have raced their beastly J2 to several FTD's at Brighton over the years.

Please help save the Speed Trials.

Merry Christmas from the Allard Register

Since you've all been good boys and girls this year, we're giving you an early Christmas present...four actually. Click each of the drawings below to download a pdf of the corresponding file. We hope you enjoy!

J2 Chassis

J2 Assembly

J2X Frame Weldment

K3 Chassis & Body

Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing the J2 & J2X drawings and to Dudley Hume for the K3 drawing!

From the Chevrolet Files...

The report above is a vehicle test report from Zora Arkus Duntov regarding the Cadillac-Allard #952. Test car!? Allard!? Chevrolet!? It's no secret that the major car companies bought their competitors cars to test and dissect, but we think it's pretty cool that Chevrolet had an Allard as a test car. A few points of reference...this report was dated August 19, 1953 and the first Corvettes started rolling off the production line on June 30th of the same year. The first Corvette could hardly be called a true sports car, it was basically an underpowered sedan chassis wrapped in a sleek body. With the lack of comparable production sports cars from the competition, it makes sense that the bow tie would would want learn what made an Allard tick so they could make the Corvette better.

So what car did Chevrolet acquire? We know they had access to Fred Warner's J2X, but that was an outright race car. After checking the database, we found that Chevrolet purchased K3 3171 from Vauxhall Motors USA (Vauxhaul Motors was acquired by GM in 1925). It makes sense that they would use the K3 as a test mule...convertable body, V8 engine, sporting suspension. Although we don't learn much about the car from the report, we do learn that with a fairly stock automatic transmission, the car could hit 0-60 in 8 seconds flat...not bad! It also sounds like they have some plans to tune the car to see what else it could do.

Our records also indicate that Fred Warner ended up with the car and that it was raced. In case your curious, the car was light gray with a red interior and black top - and yes, the car still exists.

-Click here or the image above to download the pdf. Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing this document!

Old Magazine Covers, Part 14

The 4th issue of Vintage Motorsport from 1990 is probably the 'Holy Grail' of magazines for Allard enthusiasts. Pretty much the entire issue is devoted the Allard Motor Company. Why would a magazine do you such a thing? Well, Allard was the featured marque at the 1990 Monterey Historics...and by (no) coincidence Allard enthusiast Syd Silverman (our benefactor) also happened to own Vintage Motorsport at the time. If you can find a copy of this one...buy it.

Correspondence from years past...

Few people realize the significant roll the Allard Motor Company had in General Motors. Sure many Allards shipped to the US were fitted with Cadillac engines, but they were also fitted with Chrysler, Lincoln, GMC, and of course Ford power. In 1952, Ed Cole was Chief Engineer at Chevrolet where he was tasked with developing the legendary small block V8. He was also friends with US General "Butch" Griswold, who was in command of the Third Air Force in the UK. Butch was a regular at the Allard plant and was good friends with Godfry Imhof. At that that time it was next to impossible to get anything imported into the UK, let alone a hot rodded American V8. That's where the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," comes into play. Imhof wanted to upgrade his J2 and read about Fred Warner's J2X (pictured above) that had been equipped with a hot Cadillac engine that was serving as a Chevrolet test mule. So Imhof talked to Butch, and Butch talked to Cole. In the end, we don't know if Imhof ever got his engine, but if you read the letters below; you'll get to learn more about the "Warner" engine.

Click here to read the "Warner" letters (Acrobat pdf)

Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing these letters. Barry's dad Frank, was General Foreman of the Cadillac Experimental Garage. Frank also handled Fred Wackers Allard and was invited by Curtis LeMay to support the Allard team at the 1953 Le Mans.

Video: Allard Stand @ Classic Motor Show 2013

Below are a few videos of the 2013 Classic Motor Show in Birmingham. Special thanks to Graham Clark for shooting and posting these videos!

Allard Register #62

Click here or the photo above to download the latest issue of the Allard Register. We hope you enjoy!

The Pole Position

By Bill Pollack

Every time the number fourteen Allard raced it always started on the pole as the fastest qualifier. I don't think I really appreciated just how important that really was until years later. Thinking about it I'm not sure how I really accomplished that. It didn't seem to matter where we raced, the car was just scary fast compared to other cars in the field.

Being on the poll was always a little frightening because you have the entire field behind you, thousands and thousands of horsepower all screaming to go and if for some reason I stalled or some other stupid thing, it would be a terrible mess.

I know that when I was in front and the starter would give us the signal to start your engines there was always that awful moment when you thought God I hope the battery isn't dead. After the engine roared to life I've probably put the car in 1st gear at least 5 or 6 times just to make sure I was really in 1^st gear. Sometimes I would actually let the clutch out just a little bit to make doubly sure that I was in number 1 slot. Of course, that was only the beginning.

My adrenal glands had probably been asleep for weeks or months since my last race and it was a rude awakening when the clutch came out and the car burst forward in a blinding explosion of speed. For some reason my vision immediately narrowed down to the front wheels and the road directly in front of me with little or no indication of what might be in my periphery. I don't think I was really aware of who was chasing me until at least the 2nd or 3rd corner had been negotiated without any serious mishap. Finally, I probably took a deep breath or let one out that I had been holding since the start of the race, and took a look to see who was back there. It was no surprise when it was usually Phil Hill.

I've never really had a chance to talk to other drivers about what it's like to sit in front and lead a race from pole to pole or from start to finish. The pressure which is enormous at the beginning of the race gradually diminishes as you complete each lap without serious actions bordering on dumb. There were moments when only you and no one else realizes that you had probably made a very small error and you simply told yourself don't even think about doing that again. It might have been experimenting with a slightly different line on a corner or changing the breakpoint for slow down by 5 or 10 feet. You quickly learn that the once you're in front this is not a good time or a place to experiment with how to go faster. After all, you're in front, what more do you want, all you have to do is stay there and everything should work out to your satisfaction.

People often commented to me about how difficult it must have been to drive the Allard, which they assumed was a bad handling car. The people who made those comments had never driven that car so I always took them with a grain of salt. But it wasn't until I drove several other Allards and then the black number 14 that I realize how much minute care and preparation went into that particular car. It was a number of adjustments and modifications that were made that resulted in the handling characteristics of that car being far superior to any other Allard I ever drove. Tom Carstens, in fact, had won a championship in midgets so he was well equipped to set up a car. Tom Carstens and Dave Fogg, his partner, were a team that was hard if not impossible to beat.

These days for a couple of hundred thousand dollars you can buy something from Italy, Germany or Great Britain that will go fast and is fun, but I will put up the Allard up against them. The Allard in terms of fun would be at the top.

For Sale: Cadillac Engine Parts

West Coast Allard friend and Kurtis racer Joe Harding is clearing out his stock of 50’s era Cadillac engine parts. If you are interest in anything, contact him at Bubbree@aol.com. The parts are located in the LA area. 

Heads:	Price:
Pair of 1461727-8 with valves	$         500
Pair of 1454022-3 with valves	$         500
Pair of 1456439-40 bare head	$         300
1454253-4 bare head	$         300
Pair 1459736-7 with valves	$         500
1454022-3 bare head	$         300
Some of the heads are 390's, they have rocker shafts with them and will bolt straight to 331 blocks for a lot more power. The rocker shafts go with the 390 heads.
Blocks:
1456291 with heads 1454022 standard bore	$      2,500
1456291 with heads 1456439	$      2,000
1456291 short block +030 bore (has pilot bushing in crank for manual box)	$         600
1460704 short block standard bore	$         700
Core parts:
Water pumps (5)	$         100
Generators (7)	$         150
Valve covers (12)	$           20
Push rods (42)	$           20
Flex plates (5)	$           20
Breather tubes (4)	$           10
Starters (4) - 331's & 390's	$         150
Fuel pumps (4)	$           50
331 adapter bell housing to manual transmission (2)	$         750
390 adapter bell housing to manual transmission (2)	$         750
Intake manifolds with carbs 1949 – 1956 from $100 to $2,000 for a complete original tri-power set up.

New Link - Classic Automobilist

We just added a new technical link to the site for a company out of the UK called Complete Automobilist. They carry a number of unique parts such as Lucas components, Brooklands wind screens, fuel fillers, wire covers, trim parts, etc. Check them out at http://www.completeautomobilist.com/

Found Fotos - L-852

One of the best parts of hosting this site is getting random emails from people who were going through old family photos and they came across some relatives Allard. In this case, a gentleman asked is we knew who owned an Allard with registration #KLO 128. After checking the database, we confirmed the car was chassis L 852, but unfortunately we had no ownership history. According to our new freind, the car was originally owned by Mrs. Hilda Charlotte Mary Lee. Apparently Mrs. Lee had a thing for speed. According to a newspaper clipping, she once had an accident on the M1 in a Mercedes 300 SL with "lift-up seagull-type doors" which at the time was the fastest ever crash on this motorway being in excess of 100mph. These photos are from a trip Mrs. Lee, a family freind of our sender took with his uncle to the south of France. Enjoy!