A Love Story, Part 4 of 5
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THE SECOND RESTORATION
The Texas World Speedway at Bryan, Texas was chosen as the site for the 2004 ‘Gathering of the Clan’ reunion for Allard owners. In 1969 I had opened the then-named Texas International Speedway with my Allard, the only one there. So I felt it imperative that I attend this Gathering. The car was not in shape for show, so in December 2003 I started a clean up that grew into another frame-off restoration. The completion date had to be no later than October 31, 2004.
THE FIRST RESTORATION
It was quite evident early on that this car needed a total restoration. The years of hard racing had taken its toll. At only 9 years old it was completely worn out.
#3059 was shipped without engine or transmission to a dealer in Wisconsin in 1952. The original color was British Racing Green with cream colored leather upholstery. The dealer installed a full-race Chrysler Hemi and a 1937 Cad-LaSalle transmission. The car was raced in this configuration until the late 50’s when SCCA changed the rules to prohibit cycle fenders. Thus ‘The Bitch’ was retired. The engine was removed and placed in a dirt track car where it expired by exploding. When we bought the car, the owner had replaced the Chrysler with a junkyard Cadillac. After a careful inspection I found the engine had three cracked main bearing webs, so decided to scrap it and a search for a replacement.
Click here or on the photo above to view 3 photo galleries of this beautiful M Types transformation
My M type is chassis no. 716. I bought it November 2005.
35 years ago I had another M type, chassis no. 823 reg. no. JC 9688 which won many concours awards. I sold it to finance a business venture and often regretted it even though the business venture was successful. My old carhas beenregularly rallied by its present owners, John and Kate Manley-Tucker including the Alpine and the Paris-Peking.
Mecum High Performance Auctions is offeringJ2179 at their Mecum at Monterey Auction on August 15. The car is listed as Lot S109.Shelby enthusiasts will know this car as one of two Allards that Carroll Shelby raced in the the early 50's. The auction catalog describes the car as follows...
Mecum High Performance Auctions is offering this K3 3166 at their Mecum at Monterey Auction on August 15. The car is listed as Lot S153. Allard enthusiasts will know this car as Jann Kinzinger's old K3, affectionately known as "Beowulf". The auction catalog describes the car as follows...
Click to watch this rare footage of Tom Carstens J2 #14...One of the most successful sports racing cars of the early fifties as raced by Bill Pollack. Enjoy!
By Bill Bauder
All true car enthusiasts have had a love affair with a car at some time in their life. When I say “love,” I don’t mean the kind of love you have for your mother or children – but the kind of love that’s foot-stomping passionate, obsessive, secretive and suicidal. The ‘I can’t live without’ kind of love. Well this story is about my love affair for one automobile, how it was obtained, why it was so named and how it was restored. Hope you enjoy it.
Andy Picariello has shipped his award winning Allard J2 off to the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) museum in Hershey, PA for the next several months. Andy's J2 is a part of an exhibit titled, "Sports Car in America," which details Americans love of the sports car following WWII. The exhibit covers an extensive cross section of sports car including: MG TC, Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing", Ford GT40 MkV, Volvo P1800, Lotus 7, Jaguar XK120, and Datsum 240Z. The 25 car exhibit will continue through October 11. For more information, please visit the AACA web site at www.aacamuseum.org.
Click here to download a pdf of the flier above.
Click here to see a slide show of Eight Inspiring Garages...the fourth garage will be of particular interest to Allard owners.
We recently learned of the January 13 passing of Yvonne Turner in Grafton, WI shortly after her 79th birthday. Among her many accomplishments, Yvonne – together with her husband, Dr. Tom Turner – played a key role in promoting the Allard marque during the 1980’s and 90’s.
We first met them at the 1989 Monterey Historics, and we were immediately impressed with their charm and enthusiasm, both for the Allard marque, and life in general. Little did we know that, in addition to Tom racing his flathead Ford J2 “8-Ball” (used with Fred Wacker’s personal blessings), Tom and Yvonne were laying the groundwork for Allard being the featured marque for the 1990 Monterey Historic Auto Races.
Here are three videos of the 1953 as filmed by Frank Burrell. Frank Burrell was an engine engineer with Cadillac and he was invited to the race by the Allard team and SAC General Curtis LeMay. Special thanks to Frank's son Barry for sharing this video. Enjoy!
Click here or the photo above to view photos of this unique J2 replica
This unique J2 replica is a hand made conversion from an existing P-series Allard. This is the second conversion of this type created by the owner. The body is mainly fiberglass, the mold having been taken from J.2059 about 15 years ago. The bonnet and doors are hand crafted aluminum
Click here or any of the photos to view the "Written on the Wind" car gallery.
Several folks may remember the classic 1956 Hollywood movie “Written on the Wind” – starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Malone, and Robert Stack. The basic plot centers on an alcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack) who marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle’s nymphomaniac sister.
Click here or the photo above to view a Gallery of photos from Barry Burrell
-Barry Burrell
My earliest memory of an Allard was sitting in the cockpit of Fred Warner’s J2X (chassis #2192, now owned by David Mundy) as we loaded it onto the trailer to go to some race in 1954. The sound and vibrations of the open exhaust left a lasting impression in me. My father, Frank Burrell, often spoke about the incredible acceleration of the Allards with the Hydramatic transmissions. Zero to sixty in 4 ½ seconds in the early 50’s was quite impressive.
As you may have heard, George Meyers (standing next his son John) died on April 21, 2009. He had suffered from Parkinson’s for a few years but he had a melanoma on his face that “got away” and went into the sinus and brain.
Brooklands Books has just reissued the “Allard Gold Portfolio” under the new title, “Allard – Limited Edition Ultra”. The book is a compilation of Allard related magazine articles, road tests, and advertisements published over the past 60 years. This new edition contains most of the original content from the original “Gold Portfolio”, in addition to about a dozen recently published articles. The book is available online at Amazon.com for around $30.
Click here or the photo above to view the Steyr Gallery
We have welcomed the opportunity to share several excellent articles about Sydney Allard’s Steyr-powered racer over the years. The first was Kerry Horan’s 2002 article (AR 33 The STEYR-ALLARD Runs Again! – Shelsley Walsh 2001) where he detailed how he painstakingly restored the car to its 1949 hillclimb configuration. This was in preparation for some demonstration runs at Shelsley Walsh, where Sydney Allard drove the car at Shelsley Walsh’s 50th Anniversary in 1951.
We're pleased to report that much of the basic web site is operational now.
Car Pages: The majority of the car pages have been posted from the old site, and we hope to upgrade them soon with more detailed write ups, additional photos, and pdf brochures.
Archives: Probably the most significant upgrade to the site is the addition of 80 past issues of the 1st generation of the Allard Register dating back to 1971. These back issues contain a wealth of interesting information and stories. Additionaly, we have all of the back issues of the 2nd generation Allard Register dating from 1988 to the present.
We Need Your Help! As stated previously, this web site is much more interactive and easier to update. You can post a comment on any article (coming soon!) and we can quickly and easily update the site. If you would like to add something, let us know by clicking here.
Enjoy!