Allard Concours: Restoration Class

Palm Beack MkII 7103XK

This was the 1958 Earls Court show car and wound up with Bob Forsythe, the USA agent, who had designed the car and intended for it to use the Dodge Red Ram hemi and retailed in a deal with Chrysler, but Allards couldn’t produce enough cars. 7103 was built with a Jaguar engine and gearbox, being driven that way for many years. Forsythe then removed the Jag with the intention of installing a Red Ram, but passed away before the work could started. Restoration turned out to be a far greater challenge than anticipated. With the chassis and coachwork finally finished, the car will be soon be shipped to the UK for completion by Lloyd Allard.

Palm Beach MkII 7106XK

My Allard had rested in a Maryland garage since 1986, a victim of a de-toothed flywheel. Original to Allard’s Ray May, it had been campaigned in multiple British hillclimb events. The chassis has been protected by Ziebart (purposefully not removed) , the seats by clear vinyl. This, the penultimate Allard factory creation, boasts a heater, an XK 140 competition powerplant and a torsion bar front suspension. The bottom end, clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, brake system and all suspension bushings have been refurbished. All else on this 12,555 original mile Allard including paint and minor dents has been preserved.

J2X Le Mans 3149

J2X-LM-3149 was acquired in 2013; the car had been unused for the past 60+ years. It was delivered to Noel Kirk Motors who sold it to George Sawyer. George and his driver Thorton High raced the car a few times before it passed onto new owner Francis Hodges who raced it at Pebble Beach in 1954. The car was then sold to Dan Parker (Parker Pen) who drove it cross-country to Wisconsin with his wife. Parker raced it a few times and then it passed on to Jerry Dunbar, and then to the Brownell family in 1958. The restoration of 3149 is probably 80% complete, but it feels like 10%.

1st in Class

K1 458

K1-458 was supplied 29th June 1948. One of only 3 known with J2 style grille. Bought 2007 and over 13 years stripped to bare chassis, new ash frame, body tub and doors repanelled. Chassis, suspension and steering rebuilt and upgraded with phase 2 front brakes. The restoration is nearly complete - interior, soft-top and windscreen to finish. The car is powered by a Cadillac 331 with Isky cam, Venolia pistons, CR 8.5:1, 390 style ported heads, lightened flywheel, harmonic vibration damper, electronic ignition, Holley 600cfm 4 bbl carb. The 275 HP engine is expected to accelerate the car to 60 mph in 8 seconds.

3rd in Class

K3 3171

My Allard K3 #3171 was a special order by General Motors for the use of their Chief Engineer Ed Cole. It was shipped February 1953. I bought the car in 1996 knowing I didn’t have time to restore it due to other restoration projects. Little did I know it would be 20+ years before I would get really serious about the restoration. To date all mechanical work is done, body work and paint is complete and all new glass is cut. I am still a year away from completion and will be 80 years old for the first test drive.

2nd in Class

P 1634

I have owned this car since 1973, when I bought it as a wreck. Twenty-four years later we finally got it all put back together and its first real outing was to the Allard owners club concourse in 1996, which was held at Brian Sharp's house at Broadway. It won best car. Since then it has done well over 50,000 miles as an everyday driver, rally car including the 2012 Monte Carlo Classic Rally. We got there and back. Since then after two Beamish reliability runs I have had to take it off the road because after 25years of continuous all the year round use the 'A' posts had obviously rotted out hence entry into restoration.