The 2020 Allard Global Online Concours Class Winners!

We have been blown away by the positive response to the 2020 AGOC! Many owner-exhibitors have written in to say how much fun they’ve had seeing their cars in the Concours…and several non-exhibitors have written to ask us if we can do it again so they can enter.

Before we announce the AGOC class winners, we want to thank our judges who had the challenging task of evaluating the 73 entries. They did a great job and we can’t thank them enough for sharing their time and expertise with us to make this event a success. THANK YOU JUDGES!

  • Alan Allard: Son of Sydney Allard and co-owner of Allard Sportscars

  • Tony Adriaensens: Head of Corsa Research & author of many fine books like “Weekend Heroes 1 & 2”

  • Chris Campbell: Head of The Vintage Connection, Allard Restoration Specialist

  • Colin Comer: Author, Shelby Expert, Car Nerd

  • Mike Dicola: Retired Allard Restoration Specialist

  • Mel Herman: Allard Owners Club Member, Allard Showman

  • David Hooper: Retired Draughtsman for Allard Motor Cars

  • Chris Lowth: Mr. Allard, Australia

  • Stefan Marjoram: Automotive Artist

We also want to thank all of the owners that took the time and shared their Allards with us, they all looked fantastic…THANK YOU!

Without further ado, here are the class winners:

(Best of Show will be awarded the weekend of May 9 after the class winners are reviewed with our judges.




Allard J-series Class

  1. J2X-2221

  2. J2X-3041

  3. J2-2086


Allard Specials Class

  1. J2-1911 - Farrallac

  2. J2 Model

  3. Dragon Dragster


Allard Restoration Class

  1. J2X-LM-3149

  2. K3-3171

  3. K1-458


The 2020 Allard Global Online Concours

Welcome to the 2020 Allard Global Online Concours! It’s something we dreamed up while sitting around waiting for Covid-19 to pass. As the weeks went by, we learned of more and more car related events…races, concours, rallies…all being canceled for 2020. Then we heard that Andy Reid and Bill Warner created the ‘Isolation Island Concours’ for for homebound car enthusiasts and their scale model cars. It sounded fun and it inspired us to do something similar for the Allard community. We put the word out on our web site, Facebook page, email list, and to the Allard Owners Club. We were going to host a Concours on our web site that was open to all Allards…100-point Concours cars, race cars, daily drivers, replicas, specials, and even a toy…wherever they were in the world.

Below we are pleased to present the 73 entrants to the 2020 Allard Global Online Concours, which is the largest gathering of Allards since the 1990 Monterey Historics where over 100 Allards gathered (in person). Thank you to all of our entrants for taking the time to submit your photos and descriptions. Based on the submissions, we changed up the original plan and decided to divide them into five classes below:

  • L, M, and P-types

  • K-series and Palm Beach’s

  • J-series

  • Specials

  • Restoration class

We’ve selected nine experts in their respective fields to judge the cars. They include Allard employees, restorers, artists, historians, and a few knowledgeable enthusiasts. Keep in mind most concourses have 10 cars per class…in this case the judges had to review 73, so they definitely had their work cut out for them.

We hope you enjoy the show!


Allard L, M, and P-series Class

(Click the photo or headline to view the entrants for this class)


Allard K-series and Palm Beach Class

(Click the photo or headline to view the entrants for this class)


Allard J-series Class

(Click the photo or headline to view the entrants for this class)


Allard Specials Class

(Click the photo or headline to view the entrants for this class)


Allard Restoration Class

(Click the photo or headline to view the entrants for this class)


The 2020 Allard Global Concours

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UPDATE: I’ve designed the trophy (see above) and I think it looks pretty cool. Each trophy will be 3D printed with the chassis number and will measure an impressive 4.5” (115mm) wide (what other Concours gives the winners customized trophies?).

Judges: I’ve invited the judges and I’m just waiting on the final confirmations. They are a diverse group of Allard experts, enthusiasts, and creatives that will hopefully lend some credibility to this endeavor.

To say the 2020 Allard Global Concours is a prestigious event is definitely an overstatement. This is just a fun diversion that’s only open to Allards (and replicas). I don’t care if you enter a 100-point Concours winner or a rough-around-the-edges driver; I want to you to enter your car or cars as is. Look, we know these cars aren’t Ferrari’s or Duesenberg’s, but the truth is, each Allard is rare and unique with an interesting story. So far I’ve received around 20 submissions and I’d love to have at least 100. Submit your car and share its story with the world.


We sure are living in crazy times! With the 2020 car season in question due to Covid-19, I decided it would be fun to have an online Allard Concours. This event will be open to all Allard owners, wherever they are in the world. Here’s what you’ll need to submit:

  1. Eight (8) photos of your Allard. Submissions must include at least (1) photo each of the chassis plate, interior and engine bay. The remaining photos will be of the exterior. Bonus points will be awarded if one of the photos is of the cars undercarriage. You don’t need to have a pretty background, but the photos should be in focus.

  2. A written description of the car, its features, and history. The catch? Submissions can be no longer than 100 words. Non-English entries are encouraged, but will be translated to English via Google and cleaned up by me.

Entries are due by Friday April 24 and will be posted on the www.allardregister.org website by Sunday April 26. To protect your privacy, owner names will not be posted and license plates will be obscured. There will be at least (4) classes:

  • Best Touring Car: L, M, M2, M2X, P1, Monte Carlo, Safari, and Clipper

  • Best Sports Car: K1, K2, K3, and Palm Beach MkI & II

  • Best Racing Car: Pre-War, J1, J2, J2X, J2X-LM, JR, Dragster, and Allard based specials

  • Best Restoration Project: Open to any active Allard restoration project

You’ll notice that I said “at least (4) classes”. If there’s a great turnout, I may add more classes. So, what’s in it for the entrants? Trophies will be awarded to the top (3) places as well as Best of Show and People’s Choice. Trophies will be custom designed and 3D printed by me…I have no idea what they’ll look like, but they will be cool and very exclusive.

Judging will be done by a select group of judges that I have not asked yet…watch out, you may hear from me soon!

Entries should be emailed to allardconcours@gmail.com and must include the chassis number, photos, and description. Entries will be cross-checked with our database to keep everything honest.

I look forward to your entries!

Cheers,
Colin Warnes
www.allardregister.org

LAW AND DISORDER

Republished from the February 1986 "GENERATOR & DISTRIBUTOR" Vintage Chevrolet Club of America

By Jan Eyerman

After 25 years of so of taking automobiles apart and sometimes getting them back together again, I have come to the conclusion that Murphy's Law rules everything with an iron hand, However, in a field such as antique automobile restoration the possibilities of Murphy's Law applying are almost endless. So I have put together a list of a few variations of Murphy's Law that either a friend of mine or I have discovered, such as:

GRANDPA'S LAW - Do not fix something that isn't broken.

EYERMAN'S FIRST LAW - The least accessible nut or bolt will always be stripped or frozen.

EYERMAN'S SECOND LAW - Any tool, once laid down, will never be found again.

GLENN CHILTON'S MOTOR LAW - Reassembly is never the reverse of disassembly.

LOUIE'S LAW - Giving a bolt or nut one last turn to insure tightness will always snap it off. However, failure to do so will cause it to loosen and fall off.

MARSHALL'S FIRST LAW - A given job will always require one more hand than is available in the shop, unless many extra people have been called in to help in advance. Then the job can be done single handed.

MARSHALL'S SECOND LAW - When buying a part for a particular vehicle (no matter how common a vehicle it is), that vehicle will either not appear in any parts list or be specifically excluded.

VANISHING BOLT LAW - If when removing a special, unreplaceable bolt it is dropped on a spotlessly clean garage floor, it will be heard to hit the floor and then vanish from the face of the earth.

EVERMAN'S THIRD LAW - The more unlikely a substitute part appears to be, the more likely it will fit. But the reverse is also true, the part that is obviously identical will not fit or perform correctly.

JUNKYARD LAW - Parts car that are clean and obviously quite new from a junked car are always defective. The dirtier a part is, the more likely it will work … unless you clean it.

LIQUID LAW - There will always be more fluid to drain from a car than there are containers to hold it.

LAW OF PERMANENT ATTACHMENT – In any repair, the key nut or bolt will either be of a size that no wrench in the shop will fit, or in a location that no tool available can get at.

QUICK REPAIR LAW – If a job has to get done quickly and the wrong materials are used, the fit will be perfect.

CORRECT REPAIR LAW – The more authentic and expensive the material are, no matter- how long or carefully the job is done, the fit will be poor.

PARTS HUNTING LAW (OR FLEA MARKET LAW) – After searching for a part for months and finally buying it at a Flea Market for much more than it is worth, the identical part will be found at the next vendor's booth at half the price, in better condition.

Review: Weekend Heroes II

-Colin Warnes

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My wife rolled her eyes as she explained that she almost strained her back picking up a package from the porch. A smile spread across my face as I knew what she had brought inside. A good friend of the Allard Register loaned us the latest publication from Tony Adriaensens, “Weekend Heroes II” (WHII). You may be familiar with the original, “Weekend Heroes” book that covered California sports car racing from 1952 through 1957 with 700 pages. At the time, the book featured a jaw-dropping collection of never before seen photographs. The follow up, WHII raises the bar; it’s a set of three massive books totaling almost 1,600 pages and weighing over 30 pounds. The books continue to focus on California sports car racing, covering 1950 through 1957 along with mini-biographies of several key personalities from the era.

So why the focus on California road racing when sports car racing was just as interesting in the rest of America and in Europe? To Tony Adriaensens, California racing featured a unique environment that featured almost year-round racing and attracted a variety of socio-economic classes that did not (to my knowledge) discriminate based on religion. In other regions, hot rod specials were often frowned upon by the sporty-car types, but in California they were an integral part of the scene with many future famous drivers making a name for themselves. It also didn’t hurt that most of the automotive print media was based in LA. It’s this culture that helped make California the epicenter of sports car racing with its great cars, interesting personalities, media exposure, and year-round racing.

Bob Lytle…

Bob Lytle…

WHII is poignant as it features a number of photos from the late Bob Lytle. Bob was a good friend and long-time historian for the Allard Register before his passing in 2008. If you are a fan of vintage racing, you likely saw him racing his iconic black J2X #65. Before the Allard Register, Bob was a sports car racing enthusiast and very good amateur photographer with a knack at being in the right place at the right time at many notable races back in the 50’s. It was a delight reading Bob’s bio and seeing his many photos scattered throughout the books.

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The volumes are organized by year and feature race reports from period publications like Road & Track, Motor Trend, the SCCA magazine, Motor Sports World, Auto Speed and Sport, etc. For Allard enthusiasts, volumes one (1950-53) and two (1954-56) will be of most interest. These two books cover the years that Allards were most active in racing – by 1957 they were tired and largely uncompetitive. The Allard photos are numerous and their captions offer a lot of useful information to amateur historians like me. Honestly all three volumes are fascinating if you appreciate MG’s, Jaguars, Ferrari’s, OSCA’s, Kurtis’s (Kurtii?), specials, and even Singer’s.

My gripes with the books are few, and rather petty. As noted earlier, each book is huge, which makes them difficult to read casually. When reading one of the WHII tome’s, one must settle down in a comfortable seat and be prepared to stay for a while – the books are engrossing, but also very heavy. One other gripe is that the text is fairly small and fine, which could make reading difficult for some. It would be nice (albeit sacrilegious) if a write-protected E-reader version for an Ipad or computer were offered that allowed the reader to zoom in to better read the text and enjoy the amazing detail of the photos.

One might also balk at WHII’s cost of €510 ($560-ish) to Americans and €474 Europeans; however these books should be considered an investment. The quality is top notch and the box they come in must also be saved as it is also part of the WHII experience. The publishing run is limited and they will sell out…and I doubt your local library will pick up a set for you to check out. If you want to read the, you either need to buy them now, or have a good friend that is willing to loan them to you. If you do buy the books and for some reason tire of letting your imagination go back in time to the golden age of motor racing, you can always get your money back on Ebay. If you’d like to buy the set, go to https://corsaresearch.com/weekendheroes2-0/.

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So, who is Tony Adriaensens? I don’t really know. I’ve never met him in person, but we’ve corresponded several times. Tony was born in Belgium…still lives there too, which makes his passion for California sports car racing even more unique. From what I know, Tony is equal parts detective, archeologist, historian, and artist. As a detective and archeologist, I’m constantly surprised at the vintage photos he digs up. When researching photos, he’ll regularly send me scans of Allard photos that he’s unearthed…photos nobody has ever seen in public. How does he find them? Who knows…he must have friends in the global intelligence community. As a historian, he seeks out the period publications & race reports, and the people (the racers, spectators, AND their children) who were there firsthand. He also works with others from a newer generation like Joel Driskill who helped with a lot of the research on WHII. Finally, Tony is an artist – or craftsman – or magician; he can transform faded and distorted slides into stunning large-scale images with amazing color & detail. He then presents them in a manner that both honors the original photographer while also transporting the viewer back in time. I’m glad there are people in the world like Tony who like to share their supreme talent and obscure interests with the general public (hopefully he’s making a decent living out of it!).

The Mystery Allard

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A few years ago I found this photo of a strange looking Allard on eBay. It was definitely a J2X-based Allard, but I had never seen or heard anything about it before. J2X’s have front cycle fenders, whereas the fenders on this J2X were merged into the body by someone who knew how to work aluminum. The caption stated that the photo was from the races at March AFB (Riverside) in 1953. I saved the photo, wondering if this could be my barn find.

Several months later I bought my dad Art Evans’ book, “Pebble Beach Road Races,” which republished all of the programs and race results from that venue. I borrowed the book and was surprised to find a large photo of what appeared to be the same car, with a few cosmetic modifications in the 1955 program. A quick scan of the entry list identified George Naruo as the entrant and John Barneson as the driver. Checking the previous years’ programs revealed that Barneson was listed as the owner and entrant in 1953 along with finishing 2nd in 1954.

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I looked up John Barneson on the racing history web site, www.racingsportscar.com and it showed that he raced an Allard from 1953 to 1955. Further searches on Google showed that Barneson was the original owner and driver of the Hagemann Chrysler Special (currently owned by Allard J2 owner Steve Schuler). (Jack) Hagemann was a racecar fabricator from the Bay Area who had built a number of successful sprint cars and hot rods, including the Chrysler Special in 1955. Could Jack have been involved with the Barneson J2X?

Using a few internet search tricks, I tracked down Jack Hagemann’s phone number– and nervously cold called his number. An elderly man answered the phone and cautiously listened as I explained why I was calling. Fortunately it was Jack, and thankfully he decided that I wasn’t a crackpot. We spoke for ten minutes or so, but unfortunately Jack didn’t recall too many details about the car. However he did remember the following:

Yes, he modified the body for ‘Barney’, but he couldn’t recall why. Nor did he remember what color it was painted. George Naruo was an engine builder from the Bay Area – one of the best – who built a very hot Cadillac engine for Barney’s J2X. He also recalled that Barney’s mechanic was a guy named Roy. That was it; Unfortunately Jack Hagemann passed away a few months later.

I subsequently learned that Barney had died in 2006, and was survived by his wife Martha. After another awkward phone introduction, Martha decided to help me out. She said that she had a few photos from Barney’s racing days, and she would be happy to loan them to me. She also confirmed that Barney and his mechanic, Roy Verbeck had remained friends, and she gave me Roy’s last known phone number. She also volunteered to talk with Barney’s nephew Tom to see if he could assist me.

My conversation with Roy was very entertaining. He had several colorful stories about Barney and the Allard – blurred together with a few stories about the Hagemann Chrysler Special. Barney was apparently a big, boisterous man who was quite a party animal during race weekends – to the extent that Roy had to go out and qualify Barney’s Porsche 356 Carrera GT for a race at Santa Barbara one year. Fortunately Barney had sobered up enough to start the race – and finished fourth.

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Another story revolved around the 1955 Pebble Beach Race. Apparently the main race was on a Saturday and it was very wet. Barney was doing some practice laps and spun the car on the main straight, just missing the judging tower. Unfortunately he did hit one of the judge’s cars parked on the side of the track. The result of the collision can been seen in the photo below. Barney was OK, but his right front axle was toast, forcing the team to pack up and head back to their hotel.

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However, later that day, a man knocked on Roy’s door and handed him a paper bag containing the right front axle from his own J2X that was out due to engine problems. Roy promptly got to work and replaced the damaged parts while Jack Hagemann “straightened the fenders as good as new”. According to Roy, Barney took the car out the next day and won his race. Unfortunately Barney is listed as a DNF for the main race due to a crash. And none of the primary races list him as a finisher. However there were a few shorter support races, so it’s possible that he won one of those. Roy confirmed that Barney never raced the car after Pebble in ’55, and he believes that Barney sold the car in ’57.

Barney is on the right, with his ever present cigar

Barney is on the right, with his ever present cigar

From there, the search for the mystery J2X went cold. I did however get a chance to talk with Barney’s nephew, Tom who was 8 or 9 around the time Barney raced the Allard. He described Barney as the black sheep of family who lived life to the fullest. He flew transport planes in WWII, joining RAF in Canada before joining the US Army Air Corps after Pearl Harbor. He was a smooth and quick racer, and taught Tom how to downshift in his 356 Carrera. Tom didn’t have too many specific memories about the Allard, but he fondly remembered going for rides in it around the block. He also recalls his mother helping Barney buy a Chrysler Hemi after he blew the Cadillac.

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I later ran across the January 1984 issue of Car Collector magazine, which featured a red J2X that had the same hood and oil cooler scoops as Barney’s J2X, but without the ‘pontoon’ fenders. Was this the same car? I learned that the car was owned by the Blackhawk Collection at the time the magazine was published, but unfortunately they no longer had any information on it.

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Around this time, Bob Lytle, historian for the Allard Register had lost his battle with cancer. My dad and I inherited the Allard Register archives and with it, a database on all the Allards produced. This included a binder from Sydney Allard’s right-hand man, Tom Lush that contained the early histories of all the J2’s, J2X’s, and K3’s ever produced. One night as I was digging through these archives, I struck gold when I found a J2X (3208) that had been ordered by Kjell Qvale’s British Motor Car Distributors in San Francisco and sold to John Barneson. I then went to the database that revealed 3208 was currently a part of the Clive Cussler collection. My dreams of finding the Hagemann J2X lying in a barn had been dashed.

I spoke with Clive a few years ago to see what he knew about the car. When Clive bought the car, he was told that it had been owned by an American serviceman who had taken it to Japan for several years. He was pleasantly surprised when I informed of the racing history for 3208 in the early fifties. The next part of the mystery involves finding out what happened to the pontoon fenders and the car from 1955 to the late 70’s…perhaps Dirk Pitt can find out in his next adventure?

PS: I later found some color film that showed 3208 in action – it was painted red with a blue stripe sweeping up the middle of the car from the grill.

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PPS: I was hoping to someday publish this article in a car magazine devoted to bad writing, but after the recent passing of Clive Cussler, I felt it was a good time to share the story of his J2X. His J2X was also the cover car for his 2016 book, “Built to Thrill”. As Allard enthusiasts, we can also agree that Clive Cussler’s best Dirk Pitt adventure was the book, “Shock Wave” which featured Dirk’s J2X. Thanks for the adventures Clive!

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-Colin Warnes

Greenwich Concours d'Elegance Announces 2020 Featured Classes

The 25th annual Greenwich Concours d’Elegance is set for May 29-31, 2020 in Greenwich, Conn. Eight featured classes will highlight the 25th Anniversary edition of the renowned Concours d'Elegance, including Shelby vs. GM, and 100 Years of Duesenberg. This year's featured classes also include:
 *   70 Years of Allard
 *   Right Coast Rods
 *   Lancia
 *   Vintage Off-road
 *   25 Years of Greenwich Concours - a display of vehicles from the first event
 *   'Four or More Cylinders' (motorcycle class)
The concours will take place at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, overlooking the Greenwich, Conn., harbor on Long Island Sound. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at www.greenwichconcours.com.

This year's event will continue its tradition of featuring two back-to-back concours, but will introduce a new Concours de Sport on Saturday that celebrates race cars and sports cars - with an emphasis on speed and performance. On Sunday, the traditional Concours d'Elegance will spotlight both domestic and international vehicles, emphasizing the best of design and craftsmanship.

The Greenwich Concours has traditionally displayed American cars on Saturday, and import cars on Sunday. However, since both Allards and Cobras are Anglo-American hybrids, these marques will be displayed both days. The pairing of the Allard marque with Cobra reflects the influence that Allard had on Carroll Shelby, since Allards were his principal ‘mount’ during the 1952 and 1953 race seasons before he turned professional.

The Concours organizers hope to have a representative showing of both marques. Accordingly, they will choose two dozen cars from each make. Entry forms are available at www.greenwichconcours.com/entrants/2020. The cars that will be chosen are those that best represent the Allard marque.  

Venue for the weekend will include an exclusive Allard dinner on Thursday evening May 28, the Greenwich Grand Tour on Friday May 29 ($200 per entry, limited to 40 entrants), a Friday evening Bonhams Auction cocktail party, and a Saturday evening cocktail party and dinner for all Greenwich Concours entrants.
"The Concours de Sport is an exciting addition to an already first-rate show," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty and chairman of the Greenwich Concours. "Fans can expect a fantastic best-of-the-best field for the traditional Sunday Concours d'Elegance but Saturday will bring a whole different vibe, centered around fun, fast cars."

Founded in 1996 by the late Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom, the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance has long been recognized as a premier, must-see event. Last year, USA Today ranked the show one of the year's Top Five Car Events in America. This year, as in years past, the concours is proud to support Americares and the Hometown Foundation.

Registration closes March 31, 2020. We hope to see you there!

Notes from Dudley Hume…

While digging through our archives, we found these notes from Dudley Hume, likely sent to Tom Turner back in the 90’s. There’s some very interesting insights, we hope you enjoy!

I was not directly concerned with body parts unless Reg Canham, Sydney's Production Manager, wanted a second opinion on a part he wanted the body builders to use, and they weren't being cooperative (as usual). Sometimes I would do a local layout to check that use of the part was feasible. I got a bit more involved in this aspect after I had redesigned the front of the Palm Beach, but mainly it was a matter of what our purchasing people (Eddie McDowell, Sydney's brother-in-law) could obtain at the right price.  Concerning fenders, wings or mudguards for the K1, M1 and also the L and P1, these were intended to be the same within the normal variations of hand-made parts. Although there were two sources manufacturing our body parts, Hiltons and an outside supplier, Messrs. Ball and Friend. I remember hearing discussions on the fit of the outside supplier's wings on several occasions. I have to admit that I thought the K2 wing was the same as the K1, but they are quite different. In addition to the air intake slot, their wing is several inches longer and fits differently to the body.

Concerning the sale of unfinished vehicles, the following might be of interest. Untrimmed vehicles simply had no seats, hood, carpet or side panels and sometimes the wooden fascia surrounding the instrument panel was also missing. Unfinished vehicles sometimes had the rear section of the body missing so that the customer's coach builder would either put on one of their own design or fit the Allard one later. See note on tax situations. These vehicles were sometimes not wired up, and the trim was usually missing; either it would be carried out locally or to fit Allard parts later. Skeleton chassis meant that no body at all except the bulkhead, fire wall, and sometimes no engine or gearbox.

All these offerings were intended to save the customer excessive tax. At that time, we had a tax happy socialist government who instituted a 25% tax on cars costing less than a thousand pounds, but this was doubled if the cost was over one thousand. Of course, the main objective was to persuade manufacturers to export as many cars as possible to earn dollars. This tax made our cars expensive in complete form on the home market, so to overcome this we sold unfinished vehicles to the customers initially for tax purposes, and then we sold the remainder of the necessary parts either to the customer or to his coach builder at a later date as required. They didn't always take our trim or parts, of course, especially if the coach builder was offering to do the job at a lower price.

Your query concerning the lack of a stop light caused me a chuckle. At that time, there were very few legal requirements in the U.K. for private cars, and stop lights were not one of these. However, the electrical manufacturers did provide the necessary parts for stop lights and most vehicle manufacturers did fit them. Allard did, of course, but if the car was to be finished off by a local coach builder, they wouldn't necessarily fit a stop light. Obviously, coach builders all over the country were engaged in these "finishing jobs", but quite a number were sent to Abbots of Farnham Surrey. They also did work for Aston Martin, Ford, and Vauxhall (special estate cars) and convertibles on Rolls and Bentley.

Of course, this business of buying the vehicle piecemeal was strictly speaking illegal, but when the regulations were drawn up, they didn't allow for this sort of "ingenuity" on the part of small manufacturers and customers who were eager for "different cars" to the run of the mill, mass produced items.

Concerning Ford parts used on Allards, firstly, all standard "Allards" including some J models were fitted with the 3.6 liter 21 stud Ford Pilot engines, which were the only large Ford engines available at the time until the 2.2 liter Zephyr engine became available in 1950 and for which we designed the Palm Beach.

During WWII, Allards (Adlards, the Ford main dealer) were concerned with carrying out complete servicing of Bren carriers (a small tracked vehicle for carrying up to six soldiers and with a Bren gun mounted up front). These vehicles were fitted with a Canadian Ford Mercury 24 stud 3.9-liter V8 engine. When the war ended, quite a number of these units were "in stock" at Adlards, mostly new but some reconditioned. Sydney needed a more powerful unit for the 12 and so the Mercury units were brought into service, bored out to 4.2liter and then up to the maximum possible 4.4 liter.

I can't tell you anything about the financial arrangements over the engines between Allard and the government.

The aluminum cylinder heads and twin carburetor manifolds were of our own manufacture, similar to Edelbrock, for both 21 and 24 stud engines and were made by Birmingham Aluminum Company. We had a lot of trouble with the porosity of the castings, and we designed a test machine to test every head before full machining.

So far as the use of other Ford parts were concerned, when Sydney started making cars after the war, he purchased the Ford Pilot front axle beam, stub axles, hubs, ball joints, and track rods; but the beams were cut in half and bosses welded on for the rubber bushings to form the divided axle suspension. Because of the additional leverage loading caused by the divided axle geometry, the Pilot front spring could not be used so a special one for Allards was produced by Jonus Woodhead of Leeds in Yorkshire.

Apart from the 3.6-liter Pilot engine, he took the standard Ford clutch, the three-speed gearbox, the Pilot torque tube and drive shaft cut down to suit the Allard. The engine was mounted much further back than in the Pilot. Pilot rear axles were cut down to reduce the track for the early Land K models. The radius arms which stabilized the torque tube and axle assembly were also cut down to suit (This was the oval tube material used for front shock absorber (or damper) anchorages on the chassis). All this cut down work was carried out by a real nut of a character with a small blacksmith's shop in Balham, back street about 3 miles away from Park Hill. He was a Polish fellow named Scatula (we called him Scat.) His English was difficult to understand, but he could take on any heavy metal job and was remarkably quick. I don't know what Allards would have done without him in the early days.

Before I joined the company, nothing was actually designed; it was mocked up full size and fixtures made from the finished shape or pattern. Very little was put on paper for record purposes, and when I joined, I found there was no service information available and no one appeared to be interested except Reg Canham. In no time at all, anybody with a service problem or query, mostly dealers and garages, were put onto me. I soon realized I would have to rectify the situation or be overtaken by it. I suspect Reg Canham was relying on this.

So having overcome one or two of the most pressing production problems by producing drawings to guide the workshops, I set to and produced about 20 service illustrations of the most prevalent service problems in about two weeks, including weekends and issued copies of all of them to the Ford main dealers and garages who were handling Allards. The constant phone calls died out and I was able to concentrate on the much more interesting business of engineering the troublesome items to eliminate the queries for good. Having overcome the service problems "more or less", I then set out to get everything down on paper (many parts had never been drawn out) and to reduce costs by improving methods of manufacture and improve reliability. Some of the bracketry was inclined to fracture after awhile. Particularly fan brackets and wing supports. Probably more on M's and P's.

Initially I only had two lads working for me, but this went up fairly soon and eventually I had eight people in the drawing office. Usually two or three of these were apprentices as part of their training. One who was really worth his salt was Dave Hooper, who joined me in the office just after I designed the P2 and K3 chassis and was just commencing the design of the Palm Beach Mark 1 chassis. I first met Dave when we were making jigs for the P2 chassis. Jim Saunders, the shop foreman, a delightful fellow with a deep country burr, who was related by marriage to Sydney, recommended Dave to me as a lad who would be of some real help in the office. He was right. Dave was outstanding.

Of course, everything I designed was drawn out first as it should be before it was made, and from the P2 onward we tested the chassis regularly. We took them to the MIRA Proving Ground in Warwickshire and tried to break them on the corrugations and pav'e. The P2 stood up without failure and this was regarded as okay since it weighed 100 pounds less than theP1 chassis and was torsionally five times as stiff. We did have one problem, though. The chassis was being driven on the "rough country" track one day when a stone severed a brake pipe on the rear inboard brakes. To get us back to Clapham, we pinched the pipe closed and I drove on front brakes only with Zora Duntov in a J2X "riding shotgun" to give me a bit of braking distance. Every now and again I would lock up the front wheels and the resulting squeal caused Zora to look round quickly in apprehension. Naturally we repositioned the pipes to ensure that that didn't happen again.

Zora Duntov often came with us to the MIRA Proving Ground to check on J2 and J2X performance with either the 5.4-liter Cadillac or the Ardun conversion on the Mercury. He also did work on the mechanical and wind losses.

So far as the use of Ford parts were concerned, the policy was to use them wherever possible for wear and tear items such as kingpins, bushings, etc., ball joints, wheel bearings, engine, clutch, transmission, rear axle, but otherwise we used our own or proprietary items to give an overall impression of individuality and not of a Ford special.

From the very first post-war cars (L Tourers), the brake system was Lockheed throughout to suit Allard, (modified Humber super snipe). We did not use the Pilot system which was a curious mix of fluid front and mechanical rear, and drums were smaller. As you know, the Allard always used the proprietary MarIes steering box rather than the Pilot box. I personally have been of the opinion since those days that the MarIes box was not man enough for large Allards; we should have used the Burman re-circulating ball box, as Jaguar did. Having driven that Safari at Monterey, I am quite convinced. The Ford Transit box would be quite suitable, but it would mean refabricating the chassis mounting.

The steering wheel was a Bluemel proprietary item used on most British sports cars at that time. Instruments were always Smith, Lucas or Jaeger. Wiring looms were designed and made for us by Lucas (except when we couldn't afford to pay them and we made our own). From about 1948 onward, front suspension axle beams were Allard forgings; also stub axles and steering arms, but of course machined to suit the Ford kingpin's bearings, etc. As all the large Allards, L, K, M, P and 12 had the common 4 ft 8 ½ inch front track, the basic assembly was the same except for the caster angle set in the beams. When the progressive changeover to coil springs came, the same beams simply had the spring pans welded on.

When I introduced the X suspension, we went away from the Ford radius rods to our own forward-facing tubular items with proprietary rubber bushings, but still used the Ford patterned fork to the axle beam.

For the Palm Beach Mark I with a track of 4 ft. 4 in., we simply had a shorter forging of the axle beams made and shorter tubular radius arms. These items were also used on the JR, but for the Mark II Palm Beach, I designed a McPherson system. The American marketing people insisted on it - wise fellows. This system had no Ford parts in it. They were all unique. Due to the low wing line, it was not possible to use the Ford McPherson strut.

Of course, springs were always designed to suit the weight of a particular model and the dampers were calibrated to suit. These were usually either Woodhead Monroe or Armstrong.

Ford parts for our vehicles came directly from Ford to gain the price advantage allowed for original equipment. Also we had to take the complete assemblies, i.e. complete front axle, complete engine, gearbox assembly, complete rear axle/torque tube/radius rod assembly. We then had to strip down to modify to our specs and return the brake assemblies, etc., for credit. (Scatula did this work.)

I mentioned earlier I was not directly concerned with body fitting unless Reg Canham wanted the body builders to use a different item for whatever reason, and they were resisting the idea (they usually did). Reg would either ask for my opinion or ask me to do a local layout to ensure that the idea was feasible. We always used standard proprietary units, usually from the Wilmont Breeden catalogue. This was necessary to get the much lower first equipment price. Unfortunately, if we owed them a lot of money and they were baulking, we would have to purchase from a local distributor at a much higher price. The quarter window units used on the MI and the PI were a proprietary item but I don't think they were Wilmont Breeden. I believe they came from a windscreen specialist whose name I cannot remember but it may come to me.

The matter of the numbers of components ordered had to depend, as you may have gathered, on the state of our coffers and how much we owed to other suppliers. Obviously, there was usually a price advantage in purchasing a large number, if we could afford it. I don't think we ever purchased as many as 50 quarter windows at one time. It was more likely to be 20.

Concerning the taillight/number plate housing assembly, there was no legal requirement to use any particular type, providing the number plate letters were of the standard size. But this type of assembly was regarded as up market.

I cannot offer any suggestions about your rear lights that showed mostly white to the rear, as this was one of the few legal requirements that was enforced, i.e. only a red light must show to the rear. The Department of Transport resisted the fitting of white reversing lights for a long time until manufacturers produced a fool-proof automatic switch system within the transmission.

Your comment concerning Ford parts from your local antique Ford supply house is explained by the fact that Ford U.S. did at that time, before and after WWII, determine all design and engineering in U.K. and it was based on earlier U. S. practice. The 22 h. p. Ford four door saloon from 1932 to 1939 was basically the same vehicle made after the war, with a larger engine and revised radiator grill and called the Pilot.

Allard, of course, took only large car Ford parts available at that time, but you will appreciate they were mostly of pre-war design and mostly first produced in 1932. During that period, Ford did not change designs or specifications very often. People who purchased cars in the U.K. at that time tended to be very conservative in their outlook and Ford played along. None of your Johnny Come Lately upstart redesigning things; whatever next, to improve the ride! what have horses got to do with it? At the time, that was a serious attitude, and, I'm afraid, for some years afterwards.

---

The use of sheet steel rather than aluminum for the inside panels on all models was partly because aluminum was on a very strict quota. But also, it was very expensive compared with the low-grade steel sheet used for "flat" panels. Another problem with the aluminum panels used under wings, etc., and attached to steel in conditions of moisture and poor ventilation, is corrosion.

Concerning suppliers large and small, we were always in difficulties with this business of "economic" quantities. Our best average production rate was 15 cars per week and was not usually sustained for more than 3-4 weeks at a time. Sydney did not concern himself with day to day financial problems with suppliers. We had a lady company secretary, Mrs. Weeks, who was feared and respected by everybody and she did the day to day book balancing. Whenever an item or supplies got "critical", she would inform Eddie McDowell, who would then purchase elsewhere or at a reduced rate. I have often thought that if it had not been for Mrs. Weeks on the financial side and Reg Canham on the production side, the company would not have lasted a couple of years. Sydney knew what he was doing putting them in charge.

Reg Canham was General and Production Manager of Allard Cars and was also a Director from the beginning. He was hard working, keen, lively and very critical of people who weren't. He was always prepared to listen to suggestions from others, but he was very unpopular with a number of people on the Allard head office because he considered that they were overstaffed. Reg was concerned about this and frequently said so. This caused a lot of resentment, of course, and some people were always trying to put him down by describing him as a salesman. Well, he was before the war, but an awful lot of successful businessmen start off as salesmen. That sort of talk can do nothing to minimize Reg Canham's influence on the company. I strongly consider that Reg deserves a special mention as above.

Reverting to hardware, I am surprised that you were not able to find correct door handles but I think you are right about bonnet handles being all the same except the JR. I have to admit that I cannot remember the interior handles but I do remember that the outer handles for the P1 were large and different to the ones used on the M1. The aluminum stone guards on the rear fenders were used to protect the lower front faces of the rear wings from stones thrown up by the front tires. They were made in our shops and were not originally fitted as standard on earlier models until the customers complained of stone damage to the paint work. The paint was a lot softer in those days. Two patterns would fit all fenders (the same parts would fit J2, J2X, another pattern would fit L, M, K1's, and K2's).

Upholstery and trim - I'm afraid this was made in the shops as the cars came along. There were never any drawings, and only the trimmers kept patterns which they had made themselves. But these were approved by Sydney and Reg Canham.

Monterey, 2019

Four Allards made up a part of the thirty-car race group 1B for 1947-1955 Sports Racing and GT Cars. The Allards were up against a strong group of California Specials, Jaguars, Mercedes, MG’s, Triumphs, Porsches, and a few flyweight H-Mod specials.

Sunday’s morning race was action packed. As the green flag waived, John Bowe rocketed past the third and second place cars and was challenging Rob Manson’s GMC Tatum Special for the lead by the first corner! After a few laps of trying to get past the Tatum, Bowe dropped back a few places with fading brakes. John Mote in his Buick K2 held his own starting and finishing 11th. Jon LeCarner had a good race in his K2 moving from 21st to 16th. Bernard Dervieux put on a show in J2-1513 (one of the first J2’s built) demonstrating the finer points of Sydney’s divided axle front suspension finishing 26th.

Sunday’s afternoon race was another thriller. While two of the race’s nine laps were run under a full-course yellow, drivers and fans were treated to a tight contest among the five leaders – the Allard J2X against four California specials; the Parkinson Jaguar Special, a Chevy-powered Austin Healey, a Kurtis Dodge, and the Streets Manning Special.

John Bowe of Melbourne Australia was first to take the checkered flag at the wheel of Joe Calleja’s Allard J2X-3146. This is the very same ex-Carroll Shelby Allard that has been a familiar sight at Laguna Seca for the past 20+ years at the hands of Peter Booth and Augie Grassis. Joe has been working diligently to bring this Allard into FIA specs, with plans to race it in Europe and Australia in 2020. Driver John Bowe has some previous racing history in Australia having won the infamous Bathurst 1000 twice; needless to say, Shelby’s old J2X was in good hands. The J2X had a close race with the Parkinson Jaguar, but in the end the John Bowe made it to the checkered flag first - another Allard victory!

John LeCarner finished in 15th spot with his Cad-powered K2, and Bernard Dervieux’s J2 crossed the finish line in 23rd place. John Mote ran strong until lap 5, when his oil pressure gauge suggested that he prudently ‘call it a day’. All three cars will be undergoing refurbishment over the next year and we hope to see them back on track in 2020.

The Allards were pitted among a wide array of cars of similar vintage. Foremost in this group were a number of California-engineered built by names like Hagemann, Tatum, Baldwin, and Kurtis – cars that were not only fast, but quite able to hold their own on road courses against the sophisticated cars from post-war Europe. One could argue that many of the California Specials owe their existence to the production hot rods built by Allard.

The cars of Group 1B have adopted the moniker, Del Monte Trophy Race Group – cars that either raced in the Pebble Beach Road Races in the early ‘50’s, or would have been eligible to have raced there.

The entrance to this paddock area is fittingly decorated with rows of snow fencing and hay bales which were deemed to serve as protection for spectators back in the day, along with several historic black and white race photos from the early ‘50’s. This provided an ideal setting for a gathering after Friday afternoon’s practice, with all 38 cars from Group 1B on display. A more casual affair was held Sunday afternoon where the Del Monte Trophy was awarded to Tim Barnes (over 2L) and his 1951 Jaguar XK120 and to Kaiden Marouf (under 2L) and his 1951 supercharged MG TD.

Monterey’s ‘Car Week’ formally starts with Thursday’s Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, when more than a hundred rare and elegant competitors in Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance embark on a 70-mile tour on public roads around the Monterey area. This provides a unique opportunity for the general public to witness these show cars mix with Highway 1 traffic down to Big Sur, before returning to gather for along Carmel’s Ocean Avenue for lunch.

We again welcomed the opportunity to join Martin Allard in his biscuit-colored Allard K3 as we enjoyed the show cars along Highway 1. A part of this included a special surprise to see Ted Springstead at the wheel of his green Allard K3. Ted was one of the thirty Concours entrants to participate in the ten-day, 1500-mile Pebble Beach Motoring Classic run from Kirkland Washington to Pebble Beach. Aside from a minor fender-bender along the way, it was a great and memorable trip.

Three Allards were ‘on the block’ at two of the six (yes – 6!) auctions underway during Monterey’s Car Week. The Carroll Shelby J2 from his 1952 racing season was for sale at Mecum’s, and two Allards were consigned to Goodings. One was the red, Chrysler-powered J2X LeMans veteran of the Pebble Beach and Golden Gate races in the early ‘50’s, and the other was a very nice black K2. Neither the J2 nor the J2X LM made their reserve, while K2 was sold for a very reasonable $84,000.

We’re looking forward to 2020 which will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pebble Beach Road Races. We hope to see you there!

Sunday morning race for Group 1B

Group 1B Sunday afternoon race

The Last Checkered Flag: Dudley Hume

Dudley Hume, seated in the P2 prototype chassis

Dudley Hume, seated in the P2 prototype chassis

We were saddened to hear of the recent passing of our Club President, Dudley Hume. Below is a remembrance of Dudley by his daughter Sally Dornberger and Allard aficionado Mike Knapman. Also included is an appreciation by David Hooper who worked with Dudley in the Allard Drafting office. In the coming weeks we’ll post some insights from Dudley that we think you’ll find interesting. He will be missed.


June 17, 1922 to May 31, 2019

Dudley Rowland Hume was born on June 17th, 1922 in Richmond, Surrey, to Charles Edward Homer Hume, an “engineer’s draughtsman” (an architect) and Jessie Frances Hume, nee Stagg. Jessie’s father was a captain on the White Star Line and later a Harbour Master of the Port of London.

Dudley grew up in Twickenham and trained as a draughtsman at Twickenham Technical College. He studied hard at night school and became an apprentice with a company making electrical equipment, initially as electrical engineer but changing mid-course to a jig and tool draughtsman. During WW2 this was a protected profession but he joined the Home Guard as a motorcycle dispatch rider.

In 1942 he met Eileen Pope at Richmond ice rink and they married on July 6th, 1946 at Heston Church, Middlesex.

In the post-war period Dudley joined AEC as a jig and tool draughtsman later transferring to the chassis design office. When he saw an advertisement for a chassis designer at Aston Martin he successfully applied for it, deciding in the process to abandon thoughts of further study and instead to fulfil his childhood ambition of becoming a car designer and build his first car. During his life Dudley was to design and build several cars, including the Allard JR, the Barracuda and a Triumph powered two-seater special.

During his time at Aston Martin he had done some drawing jobs for Reg Canham, General Manager at the Allard Motor Co.. When David Brown, shortly after buying Aston Martin also bought Lagonda, prospects for the Aston Martin employees were not bright – new brooms, etc. – so Dudley decided to move on. His contact with Reg Canham proved fruitful and in 1949 Dudley moved to Allard as Chief Draughtsman. As it happens crossing paths with Ted Cutting who had been at Allard since 1946, and went to Aston Martin where he was involved in the development of the DBR racing cars (their careers might well have coincided later when both worked at Ford).

Allard tubular frame chassis as designed by Dudley

Allard tubular frame chassis as designed by Dudley

Whilst cars were Dudley’s main passion (his first car was a 1930’s Trojan) his hobbies were model airplanes which he used to fly in Richmond Park and later steam railways, full size and 16mm model scale. Family holidays, in Devon, Cornwall or Wales, always involved a ride on a steam railway and he had model trains running around inside and outside several of his homes.

In the late 1950’s Dudley and Eileen chose a different path and embarked on pub landlord training with Courage breweries. Their first pub was the Red Lion Inn at Turners Hill in Sussex. Eventually Dudley left the pub business and took a job at the Ford Motor Company in Essex, the family moving to West Kingsdown in Kent.

After retiring from Ford in 1986, Dudley and Eileen moved to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight for a short time before returning to the mainland. In 1990 Dudley was the Honorary President of the Allard Register and they were invited to the United States to be present at the classic car meet in Monterey, California.

After a spell as “ex-pats” in Spain Dudley and Eileen moved to Bourne in Lincolnshire. When Eileen died in 2007 – they had been married over 60 years – after a few years Dudley decided to move down south, to more ‘familiar territory’ at Teston, Kent.

The Allard JR as designed by Dudley

The Allard JR as designed by Dudley

Dudley worked for the Allard Motor Company from 1949 to 1954, the last two years as a consultant. During his time there he stiffened up the chassis of the P1 saloon, designed the J2X, the tubular chassis, the Palm Beach, the P2 and notably the JR. Always willing to pass on his experience he wrote many technical articles for the Allard Owners Club newsletter and 65 years on was collaborating with the Allard family about the construction of their continuation JR. His legacy will surely live on.

-Sally Dornberger and Mike Knapman


AN APPRECIATION OF DUDLEY HUME

Dudley Joined the Company in1949 as Chief Draughtsman, being based at the drawing office which was next to the Allard main works in Park Hill, Clapham. At the time he joined, the M type was near to being replaced by the Pl saloon and the J2 was already in build; Dudley was hard pressed to implement these changes from leaf sprung front suspension to coil spring plus introduction of telescopic shock absorbers. Dudley’s knowledge of vehicle suspension design enabled him to draw up coil spring specification to cover the dimensions, spring rates and frequencies.

At this time the works had updated its equipment with a British Oxygen profile cutter, a bending machine and a Dunlop wheel balancer all of which helped increase production of chassis components, along with an increase in quality. The profile cutter enabled Dudley to help introduce patterns from full size dimensioned drawings to balance the workloads.

The supplier of the pressed steel side members, which had been used on all Allard chassis, required new tools at an increase in cost the Company could not fund. This resulted in Dudley’s twin tubular design being produced in house. This new design was used on all P2, K3, Palm Beach MK 1&2 and JR models.

For the 1953 Le Mans Dudley convinced Sydney that the only way he could produce a new design was to forgo his Allard works commitments and work from home – this Dudley did and left the Company when the JR design was complete. Dudley had always wanted to design an Allard from scratch – this he achieved.

-David Hooper


Special thanks to the Allard Owners Club for alerting us of Dudley’s passing and for sharing these remembrances.

2019 Monterey Auction Preview

By Colin Warnes

The Monterey Car Week is almost upon us. Last time I checked, there was something like 54 auctions planned for the weekend. I also just read an article online about the 20 most expensive cars expected to sell at Monterey this year, none were estimated at less than $3,000,000. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear that none of them were Allards. That being said, there are three Allard’s slated to cross the blocks this year; here’s a brief look at each.

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Mecum: Allard J2 #2179, Lot F121

This J2 was exported on October 17, 1951 to Custom Automotive in Dallas, Texas and was sold to Charles Brown of Louisiana. It was ordered with Cadillac engine modifications and was painted black with a red interior. 2179 was the last J2 to leave the Allard factory.

Mr. Brown wanted his car to go racing so he asked an up and coming young driver by the name of Carroll Shelby to drive for him. From what I could find, Shelby is known to have raced it at least twice …running at the Pottsboro hill climb and the SCCA National at Turner AFB. By late 1952, the J2 was struggling to remain competitive, so Shelby moved on to drive Roy Cherryholms J2X-3146 (which will be racing that same weekend). [Ed: As an Allard enthusiast, you are required to know that Carroll Shelby’s legendary Cobra was inspired by his time racing Allards]

From the Mecum catalog…

“Charles Brown sold the car to Wilfred Gray from Indianapolis. During the mid-‘50s, he raced the car in SCCA events at such venues as Elkhart Lake and the remarkable Mount Equinox. What makes Mount Equinox so spectacular is its 3,000-foot elevation change in a span of just 5 miles; it is perhaps the steepest hill climb in North America. The next owner, Dan Saunders, raced the Allard at Wilmot Hills in southern Wisconsin, Wilmot Hills doubling as a ski hill in the winter and serving as a race track while the snow was gone.

In 1972, Chris Leydon acquired J2179. It was about this time that the older race cars, long viewed as uncompetitive, started to be considered part of automotive history. This warranted recommissioning. In the case of J2179, this included period colors of a red exterior and black interior, a full windscreen and wire wheels.

The winning Sir Stirling Moss and J2179 were featured together in a program titled, “The Great Classic Cars.” From there, the car continued to be enjoyed and treasured over the years. The next big event was the 1997 Monterey Historic races, the significance of that event being that Carroll Shelby was the honoree on which the weekend’s festivities were centered. The idea of Shelby being reunited with the car that launched his career is remarkable for any enthusiast of historic racers. In 2005, J2179 was part of the “Gotta Have It” television program. Its most recent event was the 2015 Allard Reunion at Elkhart Lake.

J2179 has been restored to its original color scheme of black with red leather upholstery and is equipped with its believed-original Cadillac V-8 along with the proper transmission. The Cadillac engine is fitted with triple Stromberg 48 carburetors on a vintage Weiand intake manifold, a Crane Competition camshaft and the custom exhaust originally built and installed by a young fabricator who would go on take his own place among the giants of racing, Mickey Thompson. The period-correct wheels and tires are in place along with the numerous other details expected of a racer of this importance.”

J2-2179 is slated to be sold Friday afternoon and should be the ideal addition to any Shelby enthusiasts collection. The car is estimated to sell for $800,000 to $1,200,000. To learn more, visit Mecum’s web site: https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0819-380994/1952-allard-j2-roadster/

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Gooding & Company: Allard J2X Le Mans #3066; Lot 171

This J2X-LM was exported on December 2, 1952 to Captain Leslie who was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. The car was soon resold to Bob Peterson of Piedmont, California. The car was raced extensively by Carl & Fred Block in California from 1953 through 1955.

3066 was ordered with Chrysler Hemi engine modifications, metallic blue paint, and a red interior. The J2X Le Mans was created in a rush in order to comply with the new 1952 Le Mans regulations that required fully enclosed fenders. In all, our records indicate fourteen J2X Le Mans were built.

From the Gooding catalog, “Around 1953, Bob Peterson of Piedmont, California, purchased the Allard and with drivers Carl and Fred Block, campaigned it extensively in SCCA races across their home state, competing at fabled venues and against the premier sports car racers of the day, including Phil Hill, Johnny von Neumann, and Pete Lovely. At the 1954 race at Golden Gate Park, Carl Block hit a row of hay bales, damaging the Allard’s front bodywork. It has been suggested that renowned car customizer Jack Hagemann, whose shop was near Carl Block’s car dealership, likely sculpted the restyled aluminum front end it wears today, and painted the car red.

Golden Gate Road Races Track action scene Car Number 71 an Allard J2X Le Mans Carl Block driver (helmet seated)_cropA.jpg

In 1958, Bob Peterson sold the car to John Tilton for $2,500, and it has since remained in the Tilton family’s care for more than 60 years. In the mid-1970s, the Tilton children retrieved the J2X Le Mans from long-term storage and persuaded their father to restore it, an operation completed by Vic Russum of Racing Dynamics West in Los Angeles, with paint and bodywork by the acclaimed Eddie Paul.

After its restoration, the car appeared at the 1977 and 1978 Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca and was invited to the 1977 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®. The Allard J2X Le Mans was recently recommissioned by the Tilton family and stands ready to continue its proud legacy as a formidable competitor from the golden age of sports car racing.”

I’ve spent a lot of time inspecting 3066 while restoring our J2X Le Mans. Overall, the car is largely original, which is unique among Allards, especially those that raced. It features what could be the original Hemi engine, including a Ford 3-speed which we assume must have Zephyr gears. Some may balk at the modified body, but it’s a unique and integral part of the car’s history.

It looks like 3066 is slated to be sold on Saturday afternoon. The car is estimated to sell for $450,000 to $600,000 and has a reserve. To learn more, visit the Gooding & Company web site: https://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1953-allard-j2x-le-mans/

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Gooding & Company: Allard K2 #3127, Lot 132

This car was exported to Noel Kirk Motors in LA on October 7, 1952. It was fitted with Cadillac engine mounts and painted Beige with Brown interior. From the catalog, “Presenting in black paint with a red interior, this K2 was owned by William Avery of Pennsylvania, who hardly drove the car but commissioned a light restoration in 2012. He assigned Lamborghini of Orlando to repaint the bodywork and refurbish the interior, renew the electricals, and install a roll bar. In 2012, the Allard was purchased by the consignor, a private East Coast collector, who has used the car sparingly. Never raced and always meticulously maintained, this Allard comes with the promise of a great motoring experience.”

3127 will be sold Saturday without reserve; the price is estimated at $100,000 to $130,000. To learn more, visit the Gooding & Company web site: https://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1952-allard-k2-roadster/



Weekend Heroes 2

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Tony Adriaensens is at it again...With the original Weekend Heroes sold out many years ago and the continuous demand he decided to make a revised and upgraded edition titled 'Weekend Heroes 2.' He started this new book on the 1950s California sports car racing scene almost 8 years ago and the result is a stunning 3-volume set of over 1500 pages, covering about 90% of the races and events between April 1950 (Sandberg hill-climb) and December 1957, the last race at Paramount Ranch. Both southern and northern California races are covered.

He intends to go printing in November 2019 with a pre-sale at €399 (around $450) instead of the retail price of €449 (around $500) exclusive shipping. Don't miss this one! Stay tuned for more info.

Orders are taken via PayPal using corsa@pandora.be - don't forget to enter name and address. DHL shipping for this 22lb beast is $56 to the USA and €25 to Europe.


We've had the pleasure of reading the original "Weekend Heroes" and it is amazing. The photography, history, quality, and heft...the price may seem expensive, but trust me, it's worth every penny. We’ve also helped identify various Allard photos for the second installment…all of which have never been seen before. If you are a fan of 50’s sports car racing…this book cannot be missed. CW

For Sale: Sydney's GT - SOLD!

Chassis 7102 was the first of two GT’s built. The swept tail coupe was built for the 1957 Earl’s Court Motor Show and then would serve as Sydney’s transport afterwards. The car gathered much attention at the show, including Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother. The car shared the Palm Beach MkII chassis, but was later converted to a DeDion rear suspension to improve the handling after Paul Frere had an exciting demonstration drive at Goodwood with Tom Lush. The car features a Jaguar drivetrain with a XK140 motor, 4-speed transmission, and Salisbury differential. The Allard family retained the car after his death, where it passed through a few owners in the UK, including a stint in the now closed Stondon Motor Museum. In 2012 the car was exported to the USA by the late owner.

7102 comes mostly original except for the installation of a roll bar, racing seat and internal fire suppression system; all of which can be removed.  The car sustained damage to the front right suspension under carriage when a wheel came off at speed at 2016 Monterey Motorsport Reunion.

A Family Effort...

By Lisa Stec & Anna Brownell

My husband Jim and I consider ourselves to be ‘normal people’ who associate past years with family events such as births, marriages, deaths and historical events. For example, my husband and I got married shortly after moving to Madison WI to start our new jobs. We put an addition to our house shortly after our son was born, and I gave birth to our daughter six hours after the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in 1997.

My parents and uncle Paul, on the other hand, have measured time by the cars they owned, raced, traded with each other, or wrecked. For example, my mom bought groceries home in an Allard J2X Le Mans when she lived in Ohio where my sister was born. My parents bought the ‘68 Mustang after my brother was born so we could have a family car. My dad subsequently sold the J2X LM to my confirmed bachelor uncle Paul for ‘pocket change’.

Uncle Paul truly enjoyed his unencumbered family status which allowed him to buy and KEEP a wide array of vehicles that piqued his interest. They included a Corvette that was his daily driver for several years, a miniscule Berkeley roadster that his friends helped him carry down to the ‘drive-in’ movie theater he had set up in his basement, and the Zephyr Land Yacht tractor. He was truly intrigued by the Allard Company and the cars they manufactured and raced. He owned three Allards during my lifetime – Fred Wacker’s second J2 ‘8-Ball’, the J2X LeMans that he bought from my parents, and my personal favorite – a green 1950 P1 saloon.

The P1’s original owner was Sir Paul Pechell, who sold it to John Desmond Cropper in 1959. Colin Frank Bridle owned it from 1962 until 1966, before selling it to Erwin Zimmerman who shipped it from South Hampton to his home in New York. Uncle Paul purchased it from Mr. Zimmerman a year later and drove it about 900 miles back to his home in Milwaukee. He drove the car quite a bit those first few years, and even raced it a few times. In the spring of 1969 he drove the P1 down to Florida for the 12 Hours of Sebring, and took it for other lengthy trips in 1970.

However, the most important trips were Uncle Paul taking my sister, brother and me to the local frozen custard shop on a regular basis. My sister and I would sit in the back seat where our feet would not touch the floor. We peeked out the back windows and proudly waved to the neighbors, with Uncle Paul hanging his right elbow out the window, always grinning as we went for dessert.

Time marched on as my brother, sister and I went to school, got jobs and started buying our own cars. The P1’s brakes stopped working, so Uncle Paul parked it in his garage. No one started the car for a number of years, and it eventually languished on for 30+ years. Paul took some teasing about owning three non-functioning Allards, but he remained ambivalent about that. As the proud owner of three Allards – he admitted to being more of an aficionado than a mechanic.

Over the years Uncle Paul accumulated many car enthusiast friends. One local collector in particular, Ron Schneider, convinced and helped him get the J2 ‘8-Ball’ running. He enjoyed driving it for a while, and even had it on display at an Elkhart Lake event. However, his failing health made working the pedals difficult. Then he traded his J2X LeMans to Chuck and Colin Warnes for a beautiful, hemi-powered K3 that had enough power to make an experienced driver squeal with delight. At this point he had two of his three Allard running. But as he got older, he was more interested in riding in the comfort of a coupe than a roadster.

My husband and I offered to help him with the P1, as it was my sentimental favorite and I wanted to repeat those trips to get frozen custard with him. My daughter and I took out the gas tank and Rob relined it, and my husband and son freed up the wheels so it would move around. The P1 was then moved to Ron’s shop, but unfortunately Uncle Paul passed away before we could continue to work with him on the project.

There were many cars and possessions that needed to find a good home after Paul passed away in 2015. My brother was to be the steward of the J2 ‘8-Ball’, and the K3 was sold at the Bonham auction in Monterey. Meanwhile, the P1 ice cream shuttle was still sitting with brakes that didn’t work and the gas tank in the trunk.

My husband and I discussed taking on the project. It was potentially within our budget and experience, and we were on the cusp of being ‘empty nesters’ with need of something to do. So, we took on the project with the invaluable experience of my father, and assistance from my mom, brother, our kids and friends. How hard could it be?

Uncle Paul had said it just needed the brakes looked at and the leaky gas tank repaired. Well, not exactly. The engine had green mush in it, some of the wooden floor boards were rotted and the engine had a cracked block and the shift linkage was a vague mystery.

So – we replaced the engine with a re-built Ford flathead, and replaced the column shift with a Ford three-speed floor-shift transmission. Brake work included a new master cylinder and wheel cylinders, along with a new parking brake. Once the gas tank was re-installed, the tie rod ends were replaced, the wheel bearings were packed, and a new exhaust system was installed. Just short of two years later the P1 drove out of our garage under its own power!

Test runs were soon made to get dessert around Madison. But the trip I was really looking forward to was to take the P1 back to Milwaukee, and take my parents to Leon’s, the best frozen custard shop in town, and meet up with Ron Schneider for a trip down memory lane.

For me, this car represents a happy childhood memory that I was able to relive with my husband and family, as well as special friends. So now I have started making my family history in terms of the cars we own.

Allards at The Hilton Head Motoring Festival

Words by Jed Rapoport / Photos by David Carte

November 2-4, 2018 marked a gathering of Allard Owners in the USA. The occasion was the Hilton Head Motoring Festival and Concours on the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina. The event was doing a feature display of Allards all weekend and A.O.C. member Jere Krieg coordinated with Club members to facilitate participation as a group.

The weekend officially kicked-off with a dinner, arranged by Jere, Friday evening at a local restaurant for all A.O.C. members and their guests who wished to attend. Approximately 30 members, spouses and guests attended what turned out to be a wonderful chance to eat, drink and talk cars.

Saturday was the club day of the Motoring festival. Over 20 different automobile clubs would have cars on display. Clubs were expected to arrive during set time slots to keep traffic moving efficiently. More than a half dozen of the Allards departed the trailer parking lot together and made for a rare sight as they paraded in the early morning chill the couple miles to the show field.

In total, an impressive array of 13 Allards, representing most of the US sold models and then some from model M to Palm Beach, where lined-up under beautiful blue skies representing the A.O.C. Jim Netterstrom’s 1954 J2X was awarded as the best Allard on display. Several other Allards received special awards including the K2 of Pete Zimmerman of Virginia who drove his car five hours each way to participate in the weekend. His demonstration of commitment to driving his Allard is worthy of accolades. Other cars given honors were the 1948 Model L of Terrell Underwood, the ’48 Model M1 of Frank Rubino and the ’51 K2 of Peter Bowman.

The planets aligned on Saturday for the rare convergence of having four K2’s present at one event, which were dutifully posed for a photograph.

Sunday was Concours day and Allard was a separate class at this year’s event. 12 cars participated with 7 of them being judged. The K3 of Brad & Kathy Marsland of Ontario, Canada won the class.  Other award winners included the ’48 M1 of Frank Rubino and the ’52 J2X of John & Susan Barrett.

Unfortunately, the lovely blue skies and warm temperatures that greeted all participants Sunday morning transitioned to chilly rain by later in the afternoon. Just before the precipitation began, as if on cue, the bulk of the Allards, most with no tops, rolled out together in a rush to reach the safety of their trailers before the sky’s opened up in earnest.  Several of us got a bit damp on the drive back but managed to load cars before the downpours really started.

Allard owners are very widely dispersed making gatherings difficult to organize. Cars and owners traveled from at least six states and Canada to attend Hilton Head. All in all, the consensus was it was a delightful weekend of Allard camaraderie with many new acquaintances made. There is some preliminary discussion of a gathering next fall in Rhode Island. Stay tuned for that and more.

THE CARS, DRIVERS & AWARDS

  1.   Terrell Underwood, L, Club Crescent Award

  2. Jere Krieg, M1

  3. Frank Rubino, M1, Concours Palmetto Award and Club Crescent Award

  4. Jim Stec, P1

  5. Peter Bowman, K2, Club Crescent Award

  6. John Barrett, J2X, Concours Palmetto Award

  7. Brad Marsland, K3, Concours Best in Class

  8. Jed Rapoport, K2

  9. Mark Moskowitz, K3

  10. Pete Zimmerman, K2, Club Crescent Award

  11. Jim Keck, K2

  12. Jim Netterstrom, J2X, Club Top Allard

  13. Louis Fantacone, Palm Beach

Monterey Car Week – 2018

Four Allards participated in this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca raceway. The Allards again paddocked as part of the Del Monte Trophy Racing Group (www.dmtrg.com), a gathering of late 40’s and early 50’s sports racers.

We were glad to see Bernard Dervieux return to Laguna Seca with his silver Cad-powered J2, along with John Mote’s ‘Smurf Blue’ Buick-powered K2. Jon LeCarner and Doug Klink are continuing to carry on the Jim Degnan/George Myers tradition with their red K2’s pitted next to each other.

This year the paddock area was graced by a fifth Allard that has recently come out of storage – the Tilton family ’53 J2X LeMans. #3066 is a veteran of the Pebble Beach and several other West Coast races of 1954 and 1955, and has been owned by the family since 1958. The car suffered body damage during a disagreement with some hay bales during the 1954 Golden Gate Races, and was fitted with a restyled front cowl to get it back on the track in 1955. There is strong speculation that Jack Hagemann, an esteemed northern California aluminum racecar builder of the day, performed this modification.

The four racing Allards ran among an eclectic group of their contemporaries in Group 2A on Saturday. Doug Klink and John Mote started in 11th and 13th spots in the 37car grid, and Jon LeCarner and Bernard Dervieux were in 17th and 26th. Mote moved up to finish 10th in the course of the ten lap race, and Dervieux took the checker flag in 20th place. Klink’s K2 was sidelined early in the race when a small, but significant, throttle linkage component broke at a most inopportune time. LeCarner had a second car running in Group 3A, so he had to bring his Allard in early to get his Devin SS to Pre-grid for the next event.

‘Car Week’ now includes six auctions. One Allard crossed the block this year – a red, Olds-powered J2X at the RM Sotheby auction. It was an older restoration, highly modified for rallying and racing. The car sold for $250,000.

We again enjoyed visiting with our old friend Lindsey Parsons. You may recall that Lindsey gained some well-deserved Allard fame by making several cross country trips with his J2X from his home in New Jersey to the West Coast over the past 20 years. He recently sold his immaculately restored J2X, but continues to keep his enthusiasm for Allards. We are looking forward to getting together again next year!

Words by Chuck Warnes, Photos by Colin Warnes