I bought L-852 in 1981 from my ex-wife’s uncle, Joe Fleming. According to the old registration book which I still have, Joe owned the Allard from at least 1960. But as this was a continuation book, it could have been earlier. At the time it didn’t seem that important to ask.

In 1966, an engine problem took the car off the road and Joe never got around to having it repaired so it never moved again. Until, that is, I was able to persuade Joe to let me buy the car from him. This was circa 1978, but it was another 3 years before he reluctantly let me trailer the car away. With the promise that I would get the car roadworthy so that he could have one more ride in it, I took it back to my farm in North Wales. Sadly some 12 months later Joe passed away without seeing the car again and I didn’t have the heart to continue the Allard rebuild. So, I decided to put the car into storage with a view to doing a full restoration at a later date.

Much later, circa 1988, with free time on my hands my thoughts turned to the Allard. I had purchased a cottage in the Snowdonia National Park in Wales, which came with a large stone outbuilding suitable for my passion of restoring classic cars. The Allard was rescued from storage and work began to strip the car down to the bare chassis. It became apparent that the car had suffered damage to the near side front of the chassis and the wing support arm, but it had not affected the integrity of the chassis so the repaired area was left as was. Later this damage would be instrumental in forming part of the car’s early history and provenance.