Allards at The Hilton Head Motoring Festival
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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
Terrell Underwood, L, Club Crescent Award
Jere Krieg, M1
Frank Rubino, M1, Concours Palmetto Award and Club Crescent Award
Jim Stec, P1
Peter Bowman, K2, Club Crescent Award
John Barrett, J2X, Concours Palmetto Award
Brad Marsland, K3, Concours Best in Class
Jed Rapoport, K2
Mark Moskowitz, K3
Pete Zimmerman, K2, Club Crescent Award
Jim Keck, K2
Jim Netterstrom, J2X, Club Top Allard
Louis Fantacone, Palm Beach