If you find a story below interesting, please click the "Like" button...Thank You!
I know we’re a tad late celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Ford Flathead (March 8, 1932), but I couldn’t pass up a chance to pay tribute to the engine that made Allards what they are. When most people think of Allards, they think of the “Cad-Allards” that were so dominant in the early 50’s. However, it was the Flathead that started the legend.
"Flying airplanes taught me a lot about motors and motor oils," writes Fred Warner of Detroit, Mich. "So when I bought this new Cadillac-Allard J2X - for both road race competition and ordinary day-to-day driving - I naturally chose Gulfpride H.D. for the finest all-around protection."
There's probably no better way to commemorate Sydney Allard's win in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally than by posting a firsthand account of their ordeal. The author is unknown, but it's assumed to be either Sydney or Tom Lush. We've also included photos of the rally that we doubt you've ever seen. Enjoy!
----------------
The crew for this Rally consisted of Sydney Allard, Guy Warburton and Tom Lush, and the crew arrangements were that Sydney and Guy should share the driving and Tom to be responsible for navigating and time keeping. The same crew had done the Rally previously and this arrangement had proved satisfactory.
We selected Glasgow as our starting point; the alternative starting places in Europe meant too long a time away from the office desk, and when the starting list was published we found we were the last but one to leave, there being 72 people; in front of us. Mrs. Allard and her sisters, who wore also driving in an Allard, were 15 numbers ahead of us and this order was of course kept until their unfortunate retirement some 300 miles from Monte Carlo.
Over the next few days, we'll be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Sydney Allard, Guy Warburton, and Tom Lush winning the Monte Carlo Rally in an Allard P1. The event started on Tuesday January 22, ending on Sunday the 27th. For those of you unfamilar with the classic Monte Carlo Rally, the event was a long distance road rally which emphasized navigation and timing on open roads as opposed to the special stage rally format we have today. In 1952, competitors started the rally on Tuesday January 22 from select cities all over Europe. Start cities included Glasgow, Oslo, Stockholm, Munich, Palermo, Lisbon, and Monte Carlo. The Allard team chose to start from Glasgow because they felt it would provide the most favorable weather conditions en route to Monte Carlo. In 1952, the weather would play an important factor, with the Alps blanketed in thick snow the route would be treacherous. 328 teams started the rally...only 167 finished.
In over 100 years, only 5 Britons have won the "Monte" and only one driver has won in a car bearing his own name. The driver and car were both named Allard.
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.
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?
From the October 1957 issue of Sports Cars Illustrated magazine.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Back in January of 1951, MotorSport magazine (UK) published the letter below, written by noted Allard racer, Erwin Goldschmidt. As you can imagine, the letter proved to be quite controversial. We'll post some of the replies in the coming days.
Click hereto read a great story on the first Palm Beach (by forgottenfiberglass.com) , which had a fiberglass (sorry, glassfibre) body made in the USA. I can imagine that Sydney Allard was very interested in fiberglass for car bodies. Hand made aluminum bodies (many with wood frames) must have caused numerous headaches in regards to quality, cost, and lead time. Sadly the project went nowhere, but Sydney continued to experiment with fiberglass up through the 60's.
Additionally, click here to read about the Palm Beach story in our archives.
This car, chassis 5000 still exists, but we've lost track of it. If you know anything about this cars whereabouts, please click here to let us know!
The Wick brothers were longtime friends of Sydney Aallard and enjoyed much success in his cars. Over the years, Maurice (left) and Cyril (right) had owned several Allards including a pre-war special, a J1, two M's, and the J2 pictured above. Sadly, Maurice passed in 1981, but Cyril still leads a very active life. As you can see, the Wick brothers were very succesful in motorsports.
According to Wikipedia, the first "Shooting Brakes" were developed "in the early 19th century, a brake was a large carriage-frame with no body, used for breaking in young horses, to restrict (or "brake") their movement, and train them as work horses. By the late 19th century the term extended to an open-bodied wagonette designed to carry a number of people. A "shooting brake" carried a driver and gamekeeper facing forward and up to six sportsmen on longitudinal benches with their dogs, guns and game carried alongside in slat-sided racks.
The term was subsequently applied to custom built luxury estate cars altered for use by hunters and other sportsmen such as golfers, riders, and polo players requiring easy access to larger storage areas than offered by the typical automobile boot."
This Allard Shooting Brake was likely supplied as a chassis only to an independant body builder. If you know anything about this car, please contact us!
By Chris Lowth
That original 1953 Redex Reliability Trial remains as a watershed in endurance rallies in Australia, up to that time it was the second longest trial ever staged in the world (the previous longest had been from New York to Paris in 1908). It was an expedition into the unknown.
It was organized by Dunlop executive Harry James, who in 1904 had organized Australia's first motor race meeting, a four event "demonstration" at Aspendale racecourse in Victoria. James, who was generally regarded as the father of Australian motor sport, was also a great-uncle to arguably the biggest name to ever grace an Australian racetrack Peter Brock.
Before the Daytona 500, Nascar hosted their Speed Week event in Spring on the sprawling sands of Daytona Beach. It's not known how many Allard's raced there, but in 1953 NASCAR had a sports car class. Robert "Bob" Hunt took his K2 there to compete and did quite well finishing second to probably the fastest sports at that time, a Jaguard XK-120C. Bob completed the standing mile with an average speed of 84.09 mph (the C-type was a hair quicker at 84.92!) and flying mile at 114.58 mph. The flying mile speed demonstrated superior aerdynamics [and gearing] of the C-type, which finished with an amazing average speed of 134.07 mph...besting Mr. Hunt by almost 30 mph (or 4 seconds)! Either way, the times and speeds posted by Mr. Hunt and his K2 were very impressive...although we must wonder what a Allard J2X-LM or JR could have done... Click here or the image above to view the full size image.
This scan came from the March 13, 1953 issue of Motor World magazine.
One of our generous members sent us this amazing clock the other day for our archives. The free-standing clock is made from cast pewter and measures 8" wide X 5 1/4" tall and weighs several pounds. Little is known about the clocks except that they were made here in the US several years ago, with a limited run of 100...this is clock #14. The clock movement is nothing special, it's just a AA normal battery powered unit like you'd find in most wall clocks nowadays. If you know any more about these clocks, please let us know!
Over the next few weeks, we'll be presenting a number of charts representing various Allard statistics based on the database we received from the late Tom Lush. We hope you find them interesting...or at least not too boring!
While going through our archives, I found this amazing piece of history. The photo above is a small excerpt from a full page spread in a magazine that we believe to be Life Magazine (unfortunately all we have are these pages). The story was likely published the week after the infamouos 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix in late September. In addition to the photo above, the story features a large, disturbing photo of the post-crash scene. To my knowledge, these photos have never been seen outside of this article. Click here or any of the photos to view the large (7MB) image. If you have any more info on this magazine, please let us know.
As you know, this accident had a dramatic effect on sports car racing in America. It highlighted how vulnerable spectators actually were and that their safety was critical. The aftermath of this unfortunate accident led to the creation of dedicated road courses and airport tracks that kept spectators at a safer distance.
Note: The story and photos have been posted without permission and will be removed upon request.
From Lindsey Parsons...
Those photos and article on the Wacker accident were indeed from page 34 and 35 of the Oct. 6, 1952 edition of LIFE magazine. If you look carefully at the picture, you will notice that Wacker's left door had been opened by the contact. At the time I was a spectator standing with friends about a quarter mile up the course on Old Corning Hill Road when the race leaders passed at full chat. Wacker's "Eight Ball" was surrounded by a bevy of Cunninghams but they all were definitely at full throttle climbing the hill. I am absolutely certain that Fred Wacker was totally unaware of the tragedy his "flick of the fender" caused back on Franklin Street. Although he appeared to be concentrating on his driving he was reaching out with his left hand on the left door trying to secure it closed when he passed us. When the cars passed from our view, he was still struggling with the door but was keeping up his position in the very rapid procession. Although I was intently watching Wacker specifically as he was a contending leader in a car I was about to order, I didn't notice any damage to the left side of the the car except for the door being unsecured. We were on the south side of the hill road so we had a a good view although a very short one of the left side of the Allard when it passed. I did wonder about that later but figured that I was so interested in Wacker's efforts to secure the door, I simply didn't notice what damage was done to the left rear fender. It couldn't have been much however as it clearly was not effecting the car's performance as it would have been if it was contacting the tire. As I recall, it was some time before we actually heard the reason the race so abruptly ended. One of the nearby flagmen heard it on the race radio he had with him.
