Mystery Car: P1 LKD 297

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Ian Rose recently contacted us to see if we had any news on his father's P1, registration LKD 297. Unfortunately our chassis database doesn't have a corresponding chassis number for the registration plate. If you know anything about this car, please leave a comment or click here to send us an email.

Ian writes..."It was involved in an accident in late 1958/early 1959 when a lorry ran into the back of it whilst waiting at traffic lights on the A.30 near Camberley in thick fog. It was probably written-off. I know my father never got it back again, though the damage was confined to the rear end."

Good Stories: Goldschmidt & Burrell

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We love it when other people write great Allard related stories. Even better when they are about the unsung heroes that made Allard great. These stories come courtesy of VeloceToday, which is a great web site that publishes a weekly newsletter with quality stories (unlike our web site!).

The first story looks into the life of Erwin Goldschmidt, who won the Watkins Glen Grand Prix in a J2. Erwin also owned a J2X and the first JR. Click here to read the story!

The second story is about engineer Frank Burrell who worked at Cadillac. Frank was largely responsible for developing the Cadillac V8 that gave Allard the heart that made it so competitive on the the international scene. This story was actually published in two parts. Click here to read part one and click here to read part two. Special thanks to Pete Vack and Eric Davison from Veloce Today.

The Allard Dragster is Complete!

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Congrats to the Allard Dragster Team who handed over the keys of the now restored Allard Dragster to the staff at the Beaulieu Motor Museum this past weekend at the Custom & Hot Rod Festival. We've been really impressed by the progress of the team over the past few years and its been a joy to see it all come together.

To the untrained observer, this was just another car restoration. However, the Dragster is owned by the Beaulieu Trust, a wonderful organization, but one that didn't have the resources to restore this historic car. Then a few enthusiast/volunteers (with no money) approached the Trust with a desire to restore the Dragster. Over the process of a few short years, they raised money, scrounged for parts, and spent countless hours working on "Ally."

We'd like to extend our appreciation to the Allard Dragster team of volunteers and donors for making this restoration a reality and for doing such a great job. However, we'd like to extend a special thank you to Brian Taylor who spearheaded the project and never lost the faith. Without Brian, the Dragster likely would have never have been restored.

What's next for Ally? She'll be seen around the UK and Europe at "cackle-fests" where you'll get to hear that glorious supercharged Chrysler Hemi roar to life. Perhaps she'll even make it to the USA? They still need to raise more money, so if you want to help, please click here to visit their site. You can also click here to read their latest newsletter.

An Interesting Palm Beach...

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The recent Bring A Trailer ad for Palm Beach 21Z-5155, created a lot of interesting comments about Palm Beach's. One in particular from Wayne Goldman caught our eye. Wayne bought a Palm Beach in the late sixties and threw the Ford Zodiac engine and gearbox away. In its place, he installed a 170 cubic inch Ford six with a three carb manifold, H & M cam, etc. and a 4 speed gear box. Wayne notes that the car, "went like a bat out of hell, but the 4:1 rear axle was too high for highway use so I narrowed a Ford axle which had the same bolt pattern as the original wire wheels and the car was great. I had a friend who was the top SCCA Corvette driver in New England and he could only beat me by 50 feet in a 1/4 drag race. The Ford 170 six was popular with midget racers and it would wind up to over 8,000 RPM…"

Sadly Wayne lost track  of the car and we haven't been able to decipher the chassis plate which was reattached to the dash. If you know anything about the car, please leave a comment or send us a note.

Incidentally, Wayne also has a bunch of interesting (and good) racing photos that he took back in the 50's. Click here to visit his site.

Allards in the movies

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Bernard Dervieux sent us the screen shot above from the 1953 movie, "Paris Model" starring Eva Gabor, Marilyn Maxwell, Paulette Goddard, and Tom Conway (Maharajah of Kim-Kepore) who we assume is driving the car. If you look closely, the car is a light colored J2X with two fuel fillers and disc wheels....we're guessing it's chassis 3144 that was also featured in "Written in the Wind." The car appears within the first twenty minutes of the movie for 2 to 3 minutes. Thanks Bernard!

Keels & Wheels, 2013

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The Keels and Wheels show was great and it's probably the most laid back show around so it is very enjoyable. After 6 years going to Keels & Wheels the "Bitch" finally won a "Best of Class" trophy in the Vintage Race Car Class. Bob Weiner took the Silver Trophy. Finally met Roger Allard who had a J2X MKII at the show. I really enjoyed meeting him and seeing the car for the first time. Everyone had a great time but I was getting sick the second day of the show which really sapped my strength and I had to have help standing to accept the trophy. Don't like getting old but it beats the alternate.

The "Yellow Jacket" boats were the featured class for the boat part of the show. I had to go to their site and tell the Owners about the boat as I had designed several item for the Yellow Jacket boats back in the 1950s and had also done exploded drawings for every type boat they manufactured.

-Bill Bauder

Page Updates: M2 & M2X

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We've finally created pages for the M2 and M2X. Believe it or not, but we had to a fair amount of research to confirm which was which since the documentation we had was both poor and inconsistent. Special thanks to David Hooper for helping us sort through the details. Finally, we'd like to extend a special thank you to Don Milligan who supplied us with the M2X scanned photos (and kept after us to create the page). Don, now it's our turn to pester you to restore that M2X! Click the photo above to view the M2 page. Click the photo below to view the M2X page. Enjoy!

Allard For Sale: Palm Beach 21Z-5155

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21Z-5155 is back up for sale. The new owner picked up the car a few months ago and after putting all of the pieces back together again...was surprised to find that pretty much everything was there except for the engine and trans. The only other thing he didn't have was time. Too many projects mean this car is going back on the market. We issued the car a replacement chassis plate (many Allards have lost their original chassis plates over time). The car is being listed for $17,500, which is a bit steeper than the original price of $5,000 a few months ago. This situation is different now though, since the car is known to be mostly complete. We're not sure if it's $12,500 more complete, but interested parties can always make an offer. Click here to view the ad on www.Bringatrailer.com and contact the seller. The car is in Turlock, CA (same town, different owner).

19 Cadillac Engine Tuning Tips

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  1. The stock Cadillac ignition is NOT good enough for a tuned engine – or even hard use with a standard engine. You have to change to a high performance points/coil ignition, solid state ignition or use a magneto. Magnetos are period and pass muster for historic racing. This is the first thing you have to do.
  2.  One of the weak points in the Cadillac 331/365/390 series the fact that the outer ends of the fronts of the rocker shafts are not supported and tend to break under even moderately hard use. The solution is to fabricate stands for the ends of the rocker shafts, especially for the front. Better still; go to a larger diameter rocker shaft. We use 1950’s Chrysler shafts and after-market rocker arms. Even these shafts, fully supported, tend to fracture under racing conditions.
Read More

Allard K3 For Sale

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We came across this K3 project car the other day on www.Hemmings.com. We contacted the seller to find out more about the car, but he’s chosen to withhold the vehicles history for serious buyers only. He did confirm that the K3 is one of the first 10 K3’s built. It includes a 331 Cadillac engine and 3-speed LaSalle gearbox. The car is local to the NY/NJ area and it has been off the road for 30+ years. Interested buyers should contact the seller by phone at 631-924-8863 or email gjlymber@hotmail.com. Asking price is $45,000.

ED: After having some experience restoring a basket case K3, the car appears to be very complete (much more complete than ours!). Sure it needs a lot of work, but it’s all there, including the gauges.

Back in time...

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One of the things we love about running this web site is that it allows Allard owners from years past to connect with us. The other day, we recieved an email from Tom Coughlin who once owned this Palm Beach MkII, chassis 72/7104Z. He writes...

"It was probably 1968 when I was reading the Boston Globe classifieds and came across an ad for an Allard. Having attended races at Sebring, Opa-Locka, and Watkins Glen, etc., I was certainly familiar with the name Allard, but not the Palm Beach MKII. I really liked what I saw, and since it was a very rare thing for me to find a sports car that I had never seen before, I bought it. This was a left hand drive, black, Zephyr-powered driver. I have often read that they (Allards) had aluminum bodies, this one was steel. Although I was able to drive it home, the left rear shock mount had been knocked off of the rear axle making the ride downright poor. I never did get it properly sorted, so after eight years of ownership and very little use I decided to sell my wonderful Palm Beach MKII and have owned, driven and enjoyed Porsche 356’s ever since. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but here are the only two that I have. Man, I was lean and mean at age 27!"

Chassis 7104Z was the second (and last) Zephyr powered Palm Beach MkII, although its currently powered by a Chevy small block. It was one of two delivered to the US (out of six).

Thanks Tom!

For Sale: Allard K2 6015

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9-30-14 UPDATE: Otto has listed the car with RM and it will be offered at RM's Hershey, PA auction on October 10. The car is listed as Lot #263 with an estimate of $80-100k. Click here to learn more about the car.
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Click here or the photo above to view the extensive photo gallery

Otto Meijer has decided it’s time to part with his beloved K2. Otto acquired the car from Canada in 1985, which was in need of more than a little TLC. He restored the car over the next few years, to the condition you see it in today. The car is equipped with a Ford 302 V8 engine (1968) and a Ford 3-speed transmission (many Allards inherited “modern” engines when their original power plant expired). The wheels were converted (properly) from discs to 72-spoke wire wheels and are wrapped in 16 x 6.00 rubber. The hood was replaced without the special bubble and the car was repainted black.

When Otto acquired the car, there were signs of a previous fire in the bulkhead area, which claimed the number plate. Otto, along with the Allard Register have searched extensively to find the original chassis number, but unfortunately the original chassis number remains unknown. The Register has assigned it a temporary chassis number of K2-6015. It’s believed the original paint color was red, but that can’t be confirmed. One tip that may help, the windshield side curtain has a yellow Hawaii registration sticker from 1962.

To learn more about this K2, please click here to read a piece we published about the car and its unique history.

Mystery Car, L-315

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We received the letter below from an Allard owner that would like some help in tracking down the history of his car...
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I hope that your readers can help me identify the full history of my Allard L-Type, chassis 71L-315 but I was not very successful.

My Allard has a "custom made" 2-seater body on the long 112 inch wheelbase chassis. Hood, front and rear wheel arches are made of steel. The front panels, doors and tail are made of aluminum. First I assumed the rear bodywork is a fiberglass shell, but as I scraped some color from inside the bodywork, bare metal occurred and yes, it has a wooden sub-frame. As far as I know the original paintwork was black and the car was delivered in January 1948 to the official Allard dealer in Belfast/UK. In spring 1989 the car was offered on the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale/AZ, but was not sold. In summer 1989 the car was sold to Switzerland. From this time on the history is known.

I hope some Allard enthusiasts in the US will know the missing link of the history. Thanks very much for your support!

Kind regards,
Markus
Switzerland

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Our records indicate that the car was originally delivered with a full body and painted black with brown interior. It was delivered to Hamilton's in Belfast on January 5, 1948. If you know anything about this car, please click here to contact us.

Allard Patches

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Over the years we've collected a few Allard patches...old and new. If you know the history of the more "vintage" patches, please click here to let us know. Enjoy!

Vintage embroidered patch. 3 5/8" wide x 1 3/4" tall

Vintage Allard Owners Club patch, likely for a dress jacket. 3 3/4" wide x 4  5/16" tall

Vintage screen printed patch. 3 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" tall

Embroidered Allard Owners Club patch. 3" round

Vintage embroidered Allard Owners of America patch. 4 1/16" round

Emroidered Allard Register patch, early 1990's. 2 1/2" wide x 3" tall. We have around 12 of these patches remaining, $5/each.

Embroidered Allard patch, early 90's. 4 1/2" wide x 2 1/4" tall

Vinitage embroidered Allard patch on red felt. 3 1/2" wide x 1 5/8" tall

Small embroidered Allard patch, by Bob Lucurell. 2 9/16" wide x 1 1/4" tall

Large embroidered Allard patch by Bob Lucurell, 9 3/8" wide x 4 1/2" tall

Sydney's Specials: JGP 473

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Around the same time that Sydney started work on the Steyr race car, he also started a new sports special that was registered as JGP 473. Although the Steyr took priority, JGP 473 was finished in June of 1947. Tom Lush writes about the special in his book, saying...

"Based on the J frame, with the same wheelbase and track, it was made much lighter by omiting much of the chassis-boxing and cross-bracing, and was lowered considerably by the use of flattened springs. The two-seater body consisted of an aluminum shell mounted over a light tubular framework, and as first constructed without doors, these being added later when regulations governing sports car racing made them compulsory.

Following Sydney's usual weight-savnig formula, the car was fitted with two lightweight seats and remained untrimmed and while in his possesion. The engine* which had been removed from HLF 601 when Leslie took it over had been stripped and rebuilt ready for installation in the new car as Sydney reckoned teh extra power obtained, even for a short time, amply compensated for the work involved in replacing the head gaskets."

The car was very succesful breaking the sports car record at Prescott in 1948. Later, the car passed on to Leslie who continued to race the car with good results. At some point, the front end of the car must must have been damaged badly, because for For Sale photos of the car (via Chiltern Cars) show it with a completely different nose. The car was also fitted with a more liveable Mercury engine. We're not exactly sure what happened to the car, but it's thought to have been destroyed in a fire.

*The engine featured a crude set of cast-iron overhead valve heads from America that predated the Ardun head conversion. These heads were prone to blowing head gaskets on a weely basis. Does anyone know where these heads may have come from?

Back in time...

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Our good friend Kerry Horan sent in the clipping above from the July 1967 issue of Road & Track. By digging through our chassis database, we believe the P1 is chassis 1720. Basically it's the only RHD P1 with black paint and a maroon interior that ever made it to America...that we know of at least. The JR is chassis #3407 that resides in the Mallya Collection. Our records indicate that the car shipped to the US in September 1962 after leaving the car of long time Allard enthusiast Rupert de Larrinaga.