The Family Car

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-Click here or on any of the photos to see more of the Porter J2X.

By Tom Porter

When we consider the famous Allard J2X’s, I would suspect that few would associate them with a small auto dealership in St Louis Park MN. But yet, in the spring of 1952, five of the 83 J2X’s produced were delivered to Walker Imported Motors. Three of them were (3057, 3058 and 3060) were all a part of the same shipment arriving on May 24, and were sent to Fond du Lac WI.

There they were turned over to Carl Kiekhaefer to be fitted with specially modified Chrysler 331 hemi engines. Kiekhaefer owned Mercury Marine, manufacturer of Mercury outboard boat motors. He participated in the 1952 and 1953 Carrera Panamericana where he entered hemi-equipped Chrysler Saratogas in ’52, and ran four Chrysler New Yorker Specials in the '53 race. He then moved on to NASCAR where he was the moving force behind the Chrysler 300 NASCAR success story of 1955.

J2X 3058’s Chrysler hemi engine was equipped with a Weiand manifold and twin Carter four-barrel carbs. The car was first sold to Eddie Jones of St. Paul MN. Eddie entered the car in Wisconsin’s Elkhart Lake Road Race in the fall of 1952, carrying the number 9. The car didn't finish the race as the gearbox broke during Saturday’s practice. Evidently the ‘48 Ford Pilot 3 speed box wasn't robust enough to handle the hemi’s torque. The car doesn't appear to have raced again.
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My father, Bill Porter, was still in high school when he and my uncle Jim drove the family’s Jaguar XK120 from Milwaukee up to Elkhart Lake. The Jag was entered in the Memorial event, with Air Force pilot Donnie Warren at the wheel. The event went fairly well, but the Jag was out of brakes and filled with hay bale residue when Warren returned it to Bill and Jim. While they were watching the event, they happened to notice an Allard J2X parked next to the Pine Point Resort. They thought it was the coolest thing they had ever seen, and they ended up taking lots of pictures of the car. The hook was set with my old man – someday he was going to own an Allard.

Fast forward to the Milwaukee Hot Rod Show at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in November 1969. My dad and his close friend, Mark Daniels (who at the time owned Maston Gregory’s C-Type Jag), went to the show and came across a cream and blue Allard J2X for sale. The owner, Richard Blaha gave the young men his contact information, and upon leaving the Hot Rod Show, Mark passed the information on to my mother. She subsequently bought the J2X as a surprise for my dad.

Shortly thereafter – while Bill Porter was at work – Mrs. Porter succumbed to the temptation to take the Allard for a ‘little spin’ around the block. She fired it up in the garage, shifted it into reverse, and gave it a little gas as she released the clutch. It immediately squirted out of the garage and proceeded 100 yards across an adjacent meadow before she was able to bring it to a halt. It took her a couple minutes to regain her composure and shift it into first. Releasing the clutch resulted in ‘déjà vu all over again’ before she reigned it to a halt just before crashing into the garage. At that point, she coerced her children to push the car back into its stall and swear to never breath a word of the event to their dad.

Dad, together with us kids, commenced doing some mechanical work on the car, and repainted the Allard in our garage. As we were going through the car, we found handwritten information that mentioned Eddie Jones as the original owner. That made it easy to trace back and find the car’s history, and correlate that information with my dad’s 1952 pictures from Elkhart Lake. We were thus able to verify that this was the #9 Allard, and those photos were very helpful with our restoration.

We have a great black and white picture of my mother and father on the cover of June Sprints Program from the early ‘70’s. I felt pretty cool as a kid being able to ride along with my dad as he and Mark Daniels stormed around Milwaukee’s northern suburbs in our Allard and Mark’s Jag C-Type.

My dad eventually parked the Allard when the keys in the stub axels started to fail. He planned to do a complete restoration, and stripped the car down to the frame, where it sat in the garage until 2002. The biggest reason he didn't restore the Allard sooner was that he had too many other cars and not enough space to properly undertake the project. And of course his law practice and family of six took priority.

During the ensuing years my dad raced the ex-Auto Delta 2 liter Trans Am championship-winning Alfa GTA of Horst Kwech in the C Sedan class from 1974 to 1978. He then bought a TIGA Sports 2000 2 liter car which we still have. He raced this car until 1983 when he bought another TIGA SC83 which I currently vintage race.
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Dad was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and the family decided it was time to restore the Allard so that he could have a chance to drive it again. He got to drive the car around the Elkhart Lake road circuit on several occasions in 2005, and it won a reserve award from Road & Track magazine with the car during the racecar concours at the 2005 Kohler International Challenge.

The least I could do for my dad was to give him back this car after all the amazing experiences he had growing up around the cars, circuits and people of road racing. To my knowledge it is one of the most well preserved Allards around. It is completely original, except for the 42 gallon fuel cell inside the original tank. The car has the original hemi engine, Ford transmission and enclosed driveline - along with the original generator and tach drive. We drive the car weekly, and drive it up to Road America at Elkhart Lake 3-4 times per year for various vintage events,.

          I now understand and appreciate the Allard Allure and the Grendel Fable!
 Special thanks to Joe Oliver for sharing his photos of the Porter J2X. To see more of his work, please visit his web site at www.M-V-Photo.com. 

Another Missing Family P1...

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We're not sure what it is about P1's, but they seem to have found a real soft spot in the heart of their previous owners. Of all the requests we get to track down missing cars, the vast majority of them are for P1's. It's not hard to see why...distinctive styling, big V8, sporty suspension (for a late 40's sedan), and suicide doors...very cool. Please see David's request below and click here if you can help us!

Hello fellow Allard lovers.

Firstly, thank you for your web-site that has motivated me to track down the Allard my father brought to Australia in 1956. It was a black P1 that was sold originally to the steel works manger in Swansea (Wales). Photo of it here in Australia attached.

My father sold it due to parts being difficult to access. He told me that he heard that the car was later used for racing in Victoria (Australia). Any help with tracking down this car (I am an avid car restorer) would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards, David Richards.

For Sale: Allard Safari

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This Allard is quite unique. It’s an Allard Safari, essentially it’s an Estate (wagon) version of the P2. The P2 Safari, Monte Carlo, and K3 all carried essentially the same style of tube frame chassis with a J2X style split axle front suspension and DeDion rear end. The tube frame chassis was considerably stiffer than the formed channel chassis of the J2X. The car also features a left hand drive setup (the only Safari so configured) and an automatic transmission. Coupled with the 5.4 Liter Lincoln 368 V8, this was likely one of the most potent 50’s era wagons on the planet.

This car is chassis 4513, the thirteenth and last of the Safari’s built. This car was displayed at the 1955 Earl’s Court. The original owner, Dr. Elkingpon purchased the car some 2 years after it was built. He had it delivered to Vancouver Canada; and soon decided that he didn’t like how the front clip tilted up. This led him to commission a regular front end so he could have a bonnet…which really makes this Safari a one of a kind. The Car was sold after 10 years to the Wells family. Norman Scott purchased the car in 1989, followed by the current owner Doug Quantz.

The car was brought to the Monterey Historics in 1990 (Allard was the featured marque), where it was presumed a fake due to the front end. That’s when Allard engineer; Dudley Hume remembered transporting the car from the factory to Liverpool for shipment to Vancouver.

The asking price for this very rare and unique Allard is a reasonable $52,000 (US). If interested, please click here to contact the owner. 

Click here or the photo above to view the extensive photo gallery.

PS: Did we mention it's a woodie?

Old Magazine Covers, Part 15

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This is probably the least flattering magazine cover featuring an Allard. It comes from the August 1951 issue of Autosport Magazine. The photo shows Peter Reece crashing on lap 22 into a sand bank, which surprisingly resulted in just a twisted nose and bent steering arm. The steering was quickly fixed and the car returned to the race. Soon after, the rear end started making ominous sounds, but the car and team perservered. The Hitchings & Reece J2 finished the race, but were disqualified because their last lap took longer than 30 minutes. In all the car finished 214 laps, which would have put the team in 20th place.

Allards in Scale

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As Allard enthusiasts, one of our pet peeves is that is that there are so few scale models of our beloved cars. Sure there are a few models from Kenna (K1 & K2) and Bizarre (J2), but nothing that's really unique. Recently we were contacted by a scale model enthusiast Niek van der Mark from the Netherlands about the paint colors of the Abbott Special (a special coupe based on the Palm Beach). After some digging (and help from David Hooper), we were able to confirm the lower body was light green with a cream roof.

We were pleased to check our email the other day when we found an email from Niek with photos of his latest creation. Also included were photos of a number of Niek's other Allard creations including a GT, JR, K1, K2, K3, P1, and L-type. If you're wondering where you might pick one of these up...they might be kind of hard to come by. The Abbott and GT were made by a small company TW, who made small batches (5-6) of cast metal (body in white) 1:43 classic sports cars back in the 80's. As you can see Niek has an impressive eye for detail.

Hopefully with the advent of 3D printing, we'll start to see more Allard scale models. 

Allard K2-1969

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One of the nice things about putting this site together are the interesting emails we receive from our readers and members. The other day we received the note below from one of our members describing the unique history of his K2. We thought you might enjoy it...
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A few years I purchased an Allard K2, chassis #1969; purchased from the family of the previous owner, Bernard Berman, who passed away many years ago. Mr. Berman extracted this car from a barn in 1992. The car was sold new locally in August 1951 and Mr. Berman purchased it from the family of the original owner. It had just over 5,000 miles at that time but the barn storage had taken a toll on the cosmetics. Mr. B had the car fully restored cosmetically being careful to save the original parts and correctness of the car. No major rust repair or engine rebuild was required. The color was changed from the original sky blue with red wheels and red interior to red with black interior. Today the car has a shade over 6200 miles on it. I had to do a major engine and fuel system service when I got the car because it had been sitting for a long time and I did a fairly thorough detailing of the car. I am planning on adding seat belts to it, but otherwise I'm loathed to touch anything for fear of losing what remains of the originality.

There's an interesting story as to how the car was originally sold here. There was a major department store in Allentown, PA owned by an eccentric and by the 1950's very wealthy business man named Max Hess. Hess loved cars. He would buy new and exotic cars and drive them for a day or two and give them away to employees. He was also known to buy the latest sports, passenger, or exotic car and not even drive them, but put them right in the name of a friend or employee. That’s what happened with this car. His manager of store facilities was a man named Luckenbach. Luckenbach is the original owner of this car, although we know Hess paid for it – confirmed by the original owners card. Over the years Luckenbach received several cars from Hess including a 1954 Corvette, 1961 Jaguar XKE coupe and roadster. All of these cars were purchased by Mr. Berman, but and now have been scattered to the wind. 
-Jed
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If you'd like to tell us about your Allard, click here to send us an email. 

The "Bitch" wins at the Concours d'Elegance of Texas

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Attached are pictures from our latest Concours. We came away with Best In Class and Best Sport Car. It was a large turnout. We drove in the 50 mile tour on Friday, May 2nd and with exception of trying to overheat it was enjoyable to get the Bitch out and driving again after the winter time of trailer storage. We had a great time, but had to tow the car back home - we blew the radiator about 10 miles past Brenham, Texas and had to have two tow trucks, one to haul the car and another to haul the trailer. Came back Monday to pick up our tow car, which had just been repaired and was test driven only to find out it still had problems and parts must be ordered from Houston so----we spent the rest of the day and night in Brenham and on Tuesday drove back to the farm. Needless to say it was quite an expensive trip. Take care----Bill

Allard Art

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Richard Saunders, a lifelong Allard enthusiast and owner is also a bit of an artist. Recently, he sent us a few prints of his Allard paintings. We were very impressed with them and thought you might like to see them as well. If you are interested in purchasing one of them, please click here to email us.

Monte Carlo, 1952

Le Mans, 1953

Bill Pollack, 1951

Fred Wacker, 1951

Bob Lytle

Allard Auction: J2X-2138

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Sorry for the short notice, but we just found out that J2X 2138 will be sold this coming weekend at Coys at Ascot auction (April 26). J2X 2138 is unique in that it was the first J2X. On top of that, the car has received FIA HTP certification, which makes it eligible for just about any vintage event in the world. To learn more about the car, please visit the Coys web site by clicking here. The car is listed as Lot 125 and no estimate is noted. From what we know, the car is an exceptional find and should bring the new owner a lot of joy as well as being a great investment.

The British Pathe Archives

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We were excited to learn today that the British Pathe, who has been archiving world history on film since the 1890's...has posted their archives on YouTube. What does that mean for Allard fans? We get to enjoy at least a dozen or so Allard related films that we likely never seen before. Our favorite so far is this clip of the one-off Allard Dolphin. A car built on a L-type chassis that featured one of the earliest retractable hard top roofs. Loyal readers of the Register will recall that we published a story on the Dolphin back in 2009. Click here to learn more.

From the desk of...

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Erwin Goldschmidt was probably one of our favorite Allard racers. Not only was he an outspoken supporter of the Allard marque, but he was extremely competitive. As early as June of 1951, Erwin realized that his 331 Cadillac powered J2 would soon lose out to Chrysler's new 331 Hemi. Desperate for more speed, Erwin wrote the following letter to the Cadillac Engineering Department in order to persuade them to share their latest speed secrets. Click the image below to view the complete letter and the response.

Special thanks again to Barry Burrel for sharing another great find from his father Frank's archives.

Phillip Island 2014

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An update from our man in Australia...
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We had a fun week of racing at Phillip Island, Graham in his J2, and I was running my 1960 Corvette.

Graham was doing really well all week in the Allard, but broke a rear stub-axle in the final heat race before the main event, and was not able to repair it at the track.  He and his pit crew (pictured below) worked together vigorously, but he ultimately decided to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the races.
I had better luck with the Corvette, finishing the main event race, but possibly I did not have as much fun as Graham did.
We are going for a drive down the Great Ocean Road tomorrow in my J2, one of Graham's friends J2's, and Graham in an older Ferrari, life is good.
Talk with you later, .........................Steve

Big Money...

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Wow...Normally we don't report on auction prices, but we were shocked to see the results for the two Allards at RM's Amelia Island Auction this past Saturday. Both the K1 and K3 set what we believe are world record prices for each model. K1-249 sold for an impressive $176,000 and the K3 went for $220,000.

We must admit that we're a bit conflicted with the results. On one hand, we're excited to see Allard's finally getting their due, for a long time we've believed that Allard's have been undervalued due to their uniqe design, competition history, and rarity. On the other hand, it will likely mean fewer cars will be driven and enjoyed as Sydney intended. However, we firmly believe that for cars to gain in value, they need to be seen in public...at vintage races, ralleys, car shows, magazines, and the internet. 

Auction Preview - K1-249

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On March 8, RM will auction off K1-249 at their Amelia Auction sale. 249 was originally sold by Dagenham motors to a Mr. Sandos on June 27, 1947. The car was originally painted green with black wings (fenders) and a red interior. The car is beiing offered as lot 177 and it has estimated value of $125,000 to $145,000 (no reserve). Please click here to learn more about the car.

Auction Preview - K3-3189

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On March 8, RM will auction off K3-3189 at their Amelia Auction sale. 3189 was shipped on March 18, 1953 to Allards delership in NYC. The car was originally painted silver with a green interior. The chassis was set up for a Chrysler engine, 3.78 diff, and disk wheels. The car is beiing offered as lot 144 and it has estimated value of $160,000 to $200,000. Please click here to learn more about the car.