Allard For Sale...Price Reduced

This ad for the Steyr was published in the December 1951 issue of MotorSport magazine. It's amazing to think what a year can make...just a year ago the car was offered for 1,000GBP. I bet Sydney never thought this creation would be worth a few hundred thousand dollars/pounds some 60 years later.

Allard For Sale...

Classified ad from the April, 1950 issue of Motor Sport magazine. One wonders if Sydney wanted to capitalize on his 1949 Hill Climb Championship or if he wanted to help finance his next project?

Who builds a better sports car? 1950

In response to Erwin Goldschmidts letter and the feedback received, Motor Sport magazine Editor Bill Boddy put together a detailed analysis of US racing results from 1950 to determine the best sports car. Allard (Cadillac) vs. Allard (Ford) vs. Jaguar vs. Ferrari vs. Frazer-Nash. The article is very interesting and informative. However we must take issue with Mr. Boddy. After reviewing the handi-capped results, one could state that the Ferrari and Jaguar are better sports cars. BUT, if you add the Allard Cadillac & Ford results together, Allard is by far the best chassis in both the scratch and handicapped analysis. Click here or the photo above to view the full story.

Counterpoints, Part 2

In March of '51, the replies to Mr. Goldschmidts letter got a little more interesting. Click on the photo below to view the readable version. A few observations are at the end...

• The second letter by Mr. Holms: The race at Santa Ana was Roy Richters first and only sports car race...not a bad effort for a rookie. And the Pebble Beach race where the XK120's won the race...the J2 (owned by Al Moss) had its hood open at the start of the race while the fan belt was replaced. After being lapped, Michael Graham drove the J2 into 3rd place and would have won if there was another lap.
• The last letter by Mr. Clark: Richter's J2 was not supercharged. More importantly, Mr. Clark makes a few disparaging and unfounded remarks about Sydney's design. Yes, the J2 could be considered a fluke, but how many cars before and since have used power plants from other suppliers? And how many 'lesser minds' (like Jaguar) have used the de Dion suspension after Sydney reintroduced it to the world?

In the next post, we'll share an editorial by Mr. Boddy that attempts to objectively compare the racing success of the Allard vs the other builders such as Jaguar, Frazer-Nash, and Ferrari.

Counterpoints, Part 1

One can assume that Goldschmidt's letter resulted in more than a few Letters to the Editor at MotorSport. Here are two of the presumably many letters that they chose to publish in their February issue.

Old Magazine Covers, Part 2

As with most issues of "Motorsport" magazine, the cover photo had nothing to do with the content of the magazine. This issue is from January, 1951 with Tom Cole catching some air on his way to a victory at Bridgehampton in 1950. As usual, copies of this magazine can be found for sale at www.ebay.com.