For Sale: 1951 J2-2123

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Chassis 2123 was special ordered by Delvan Lee on 7th. June, 1951 through for Wood Motors, Detroit, MI. Wood Motors only imported one Allard, which was done as a special favor to Mr. Delvan Lee. Del had raced Allards previously at Sebring and Giants Despair so he knew what he wanted. He ordered the car specifically to be similar to Sydney’s 1950 Le Mans mount, including silver wire wheels, left hand spare mount, Lucas lamps with stone guards, and a special metallic blue paint job with bright red interior.

Delvan raced the car on the ice at Lake Orion and then Bridgehampton and Thomson speedway in 1952. In 1953 & 1954 the car was raced at Watkins Glen. In 1953, the car won the Giants Despair Hill Climb.

In 1954 Fred Lavell acquired the Allard and took it to the Bonneville, Utah speed events. He drove the car to a speed of 127 mph. After the 1954 event, the J2 body was removed and a Sorrell streamliner fiberglass body with a stock DeSoto V8 and TorqueFlight transmission were installed. It ran this setup in 1955 and 1956, attaining a top speed of 150.75 mph on gas. 2123 was featured in its Bonneville Sorrell configuration in the December 1957 issue of Motor Life magazine.

The car led an uneventful life after Bonneville until the current owner acquired the car over 25 years ago. The aluminum Allard body was not installed and a Chevrolet small block mated to a Moss 4-speed provided the drive. 2123 was restored by Tivvy Shenton who installed a 390 in3 Caddy engine, three Stromberg 97 carbs, a Muncie transmission, and Harden safety hubs. The car retains the Halibrand quick-change rear that was installed before the Bonneville runs. After restoration, 2123 was vintage raced at Pocono and Watkins Glen.

The seller is the 5th owner of 2123 and notes that the history of the car is fully documented. Included is a 3-ring binder history supplied by Barry Burrell, son of Frank who was the Cadillac engineer who went to Le Mans with Sydney Allard in 1953. The car is also pictured in Joel Finn’s book titled, “Bridgehampton” on page 99. 

The J2 is located in Naples, Florida and is being offered for $275,000 OBO. Interested parties should email us at allardregister@outlook.com.

Car Week, 2012

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Allards have been conspicuous by their absence at Laguna Seca for the past two years. So it was great to again see two veteran Allards from the Monterey Historic days running in the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (RMMR). Steve Schuler brought his beautiful and famous J2 1578 – the 3rd place finisher of the 1950 Le Mans. He was joined in the Group 5B (1947-1955 Sports Racing and GT Cars) by Jim Degnan’s friend, Jon Le Carner at the wheel of Jim’s red 1952 K2 3035. Both cars attracted a good amount of attention from vintage racing fans throughout the weekend.
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Allards @ Le Mans Classic

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Special thanks to Patrice Cosseau for writing to tell us how the Le Mans Classic went this year…

The Le Mans Classic was very wet this year, which put a small damper on the party. The car (J2 1557), without rain tires - did not like the rainy weather so much, neither did I! In the first race we had two spins : first in Dunlop curve and second at Playstation in the sand. Sunday was sunnier and the car was much easier to drive we were much more comfortable. Patric was joined by Michel Lorielle and Francois Cointreau.

Race 1: 44, Raining
Race 2: 59, Many competitors spun, two laps only behind safety car
Race 3: 32, Sunshine!
Overall: 42 with 97 laps completed

A very good progression indeed ! The car perfectly work in all the races and practices. Very easy to drift on the dry. With more time we could have got a better ranking.

Thanks Patrice and keep racing!

PS: Bob Francis from Canada also competed in J2 1971. Bob and team mate John Thompson finished 40th overall, also with 97 laps completed.

Silverstone Classic 2009, A Driver's Perspective

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(Click here or the photo above to view the Silverstone Classic Photo Gallery)

I have trouble keeping my core (freeze) plugs in and sure enough, hammering down the M1 at 7.45am last Thursday, en route to Silverstone racing circuit, that familiar "Turkish Bath" moment struck again, and I pulled up onto the hard shoulder. Two bits of luck, I had my good friend and co-driver for the weekend behind in his Honda Civic, and I still had my core-plug bodgers repair kit in my tool box. Co-driver went off to look for water while I started mixing the epoxy metal. I wont bore you with the details, but I spent the rest of the week-end running with the radiator cap undone because the bodge had to stay bodged.

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