A few walk arounds of old #65

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Seeing that video the other day of that poor guy attempting to drive Bob Lylte's J2X inspired me to dig through my Monterey archives. I put together the footage you see here of Bob getting ready to practice at Monterey in 2006...and of Bob's car just before it was auctioned at RM. Seeing this footage was bittersweet and brought back a lot of fond memories. In the next week I'll post a gallery that shows off the guts of J2X 3162...I doubt you've ever seen a J2X like it. Cheers!

J2X MkII in Shanghai

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Roger Allard's Chinese demonstrator has been getting a lot of attention lately. This past weekend, his distributor, Keith Lomason, President of Jimmer's Classic Collectibles was invited to brink the MkII to the Shanghai F1 circuit to play with the Shanghai Super Sports Car Club. The attendees were primarily Lambos, Ferraris, Beemers, Porsches, Benzs, etc...with one orphan - the Allard.

Each car got 10 timed laps per segment. The J2X MkII was approximately 15 seconds behind the Lambos etc. Keith is is not an experienced driver on the track, plus he has a slight weight disadvantage. Not bad for a rookie on skinny tires! Hopefully we can get some in car footage next time...

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It's a small world...

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Sometimes you get lucky. The other day I won an Ebay auction for an Allard brochure that I didn't have yet. Along with the brochure were a few other brochures and some old letters. The package arrived today and as I sorted through the items I noticed that both letters were dated from 1948. Upon further inspection; one of the letters was from J.B. Ferguson of Fergus Motors in NYC to Allan Cappy of Britain Motor Co. in Rochester, NY. Mr. Ferguson writes about receiving a used K1 that was imported in 1947 and was modified with a Grancor "Hot Rod" engine with over 150 hp. Grancor was of course Andy Granatelli's (STP) shop that also imported a few Allards. What's interesting is that the K1 in question must be chassis 108, that was recently sold on Ebay. Click here or the photo above to view the pdf.

R&T Misc. Ramblings: Allard J2 Cornering

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An excerpt from the August 1951 issue of Road & Track...which was an excerpt from  the Jan-Feb 1951 issue of Sports Car magazine...

"In a recent regional news letter, the cornering powers of our 'J.2' are compared with another make and the fact that the 'J.2' holds the road like a leech up to certain speeds when it slides without warning, is mentioned.

Mr. Allard asks me to say that this is well known, but the speed at which this sliding occurs is greatly above the speed at which the other make mentioned starts to break away. At the speed where this breakaway occurs on other makes, the 'J.2' is rock steady and, if it is desired to corner at the maximum speed possible with our car, this must be done in the usual Grand Prix manner, in a four-wheel drift. The required angle of drift being maintained by conjuctive manipulation of steering and throttle.

When this technique is mastered we doubt if there is a faster sports car through corners extant than the 'J.2' Allard"

-H.J. Biggs, Technical Assistant, Allard Motor Co.

P.S. The photo above is from the March '80 issue of the Old Motor with Jim Tiller showing us how to corner his J2 at Goodwood in '69.

For Sale: K1 #108 now on Ebay

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After being auctioned last week for a reported $18,500 + buyers premium, Allard K1-108 has now been listed on Ebay. I spoke with an Allard owner who attended the auction and he said the car gathered a lot of interest. He says the car is in pretty good condition, all things considered. He also confirmed that the wood is in pretty good condition. The car is missing the waterfall grill (can be made in the UK) and the windshieldd. The bidding on ebay is currently just over $20,000, so that means our seller has made back his oringinal investment. Click here to go to Ebay...let us know if you buy it!

P.S.: for those of you who don't already know; this is the 2nd K1 built, the 8th production Allard, and the first Allard exported to the States. Here's what a properly restored K1 looks like...

An Interesting Barn Find...

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Updated 6-5-12

We've known about this car for a while now after helping the 'finder' with the history. We were sworn to secrecy while a fair offer was made by the 'finder', but the estate has now elected to go the auction route to sell this and a few other "barn finds."

What you see above is a very significant Allard...it is a K, chassis #108. Why is this significant? It represents the first of almost three hundred Allard's imported to the United States. The car was shipped to the US on March 31, 1947 - likey to NYC. It was originally painted white with red leather interior and powered by engine #7079928. As you can see, a healthy looking Cadillac now resides in the engine bay. The car looks to be complete, but it's a total basket case. The wood body is likely rotted so if you plan on tackling this project, you'll need to know what you're doing...or have deep pockets. The car is missing the windshield, radiator, and grill.

The car has been in the Russo family since 1948. The car is believed to have a race history, but we haven't been able to confirm any entries or results.

If you are interested in the car, you better contact the auctioneer Mr. Steve Dance of Dance Auctioneers  at 410-823-3993. The car will be sold on this June 13 at the Timoniun fairgrounds in Timonium, MD (just North of Baltimore). You can also click here to visit the auction web site. The preview starts at 10:00am and the car will be sold at 7:00 pm.

If you attend please take lots of photos of the car for us!

Cadillac 331 Rebuild (UK – 1985)

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[Jim Degnan has owned and raced his Cad-powered Allard K2 for the past 25+ years. He recently forwarded this article from the June 1985 Allard Owners Club newsletter. Roger includes a postscript at the end of this intriguing article.]

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By Roger Murray-Evans

It’s never an easy task rebuilding old engines, especially when they’ve been obsolete for 30 years with the added complication of being of American origin. However in my humble opinion, an Allard should have a Cadillac engine, and as Jackie’s K-Type developed incontinence this winter, in its extremely loose flathead, and I had a similarly afflicted Caddy 331 lying around it seemed madness not to join the twain together, especially as the total rebuild of either engine would cost pretty much the same. That’s my excuse anyway!

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2012 Monaco Historique Race Report

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From Massimo Bettati…

It was a sunny weekend for the 8th Gran Prix de Monaco Historique. Our Allard was one of 24 cars entered in the Series C, for pre 1953 sport and sports prototypes cars.

Our class had 3 Allards. Our Allard, J2X 3053 is British Racing Green RHD, reg ORL 320. Next up was the always competitive Patrick Watts (an ex pro driver) in the black J2 1965, reg MTA 635. Finally, the American, Alan Patterson (still racing at 80 years old!) with his red J2X #3072.

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The Allard of the Future

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The following is a imaginative look at what an Allard might be like today. This concept is brought to us by none other than famed Allard racer Bill Pollack (seen above winning the 1950 Pebble Beach Road Race). You can imagine the impact that racing these beasts has had on Mr. Pollack...where he still imagines them tearing up the tracks and turning the automotive world inside out. Thank you Bill!

I have often wondered what prompted Sydney Allard, to build a sports car. In the late 30s and 40s he was involved in a sport known as “Trials”. It was very popular in Great Britain. The trials consisted of 2 men, in a small car trying to negotiate deep mud. Often, the participants would find themselves heavily mired in an endless sea of the sticky stuff. Mostly, the cars were Austin 7’s or the like, with tiny engines, low power and little to say for themselves. The enthusiasts, would strip the fenders, lights, windshields etc. to lighten the cars as much as possible. I am sure, that Allard quickly noticed that those cars with the somewhat larger engines probably did better.

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Trophies...

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The latest from Bill Bauder...

"Well the Bitch did it again, we won our class as well as Best Sports Car, two trophies and ribbons. This time we made the Tour of about 75 miles without any trouble except maybe ruining Ginger's back when we hit a few bumps. Good thing she had on her safety belt. This was the inaugural event and was done by the people who started the Medowbrook show and headed up by Lolly Bezy who did a bang up job. We trailered over on Thursday and returned home on Monday and had a great time meeting old friends and making new friends. Every one liked the Allard, the Bitch that is, and she preformed flawlessly except when I forgot to turn on the fuel pump switch." ---Cheers, Bill

Congrats Bill and thanks for keeping the Allard flag flying!

The Last Checkered Flag, Carroll Shelby

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The car world lost an icon today. Carroll Shelby passed away today at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, TX at the age of 89. Carroll Shelby pretty much did anything that could be done in the automotive world...succesful Race Car Driver, Team Manager, Constructor, Consultant, and Philanthropist.

Allard enthusiasts should be aware that Carroll Shelby holds a special place in Allard history. He raced both a J2 (#2179) and J2X (#3146) from 1952 to 1954 with considerable success. Probably his most notable race took place at the 1954 Buenos Aires Kimberly Cup Race. Carroll and Dale Duncan man-handled a J2X to a hard fought tenth place. It was at this race where he caught the attention of Aston Marton's John Dwyer...and the rest is history.

Well not quite...Carroll Shelby's racing career was cut short by heart problems in 1960. Carroll was out of a job and his marriage was on the rocks. He moved out to California and opened a Goodyear Racing Tire Dealership. Carroll also had a stacked a Rolodex full of auto industry contacts from his racing years. In 1962, he started a partnership with AC Motors in the UK and Ford in the US to mate their new 221 Ford V8 with the engineless AC that he called the Cobra...and the rest is history.

It's widely documented that Shelby got the inspiration for the Cobra from his time spent racing Allards. He knew that a lightweight English chassis paired with a powerfull American V8 would be a formidable foe on the race track. One hopes that Sydney Allard looked at Shelby's racing success in the Cobra with admiration.

We could go on and on about Shelby's post-Cobra life, but there are enough books out there that cover that. Instead, we invite you click here or the photo above to read a story my dad, Charlie Warnes wrote for the January 1997 issue of Vintage Motorsport.

Thanks Carroll, you will be missed.

The Moss Files, Part 6

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In this instalment, Al writes to the AMC about his near success at the first Pebble Beach Road Race, which very likely would have resulted in an Allard victory if it weren't for a bit of bad luck! Mr. Moss also provides some constructive criticism while sharing a bit of growing frustration with the build quality of the cars. Click here or the image above to read the 2 page letter.