A Love Story, Part 5 of 5

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The cowl was painted first then the nose, tail and other parts. After cleaning the aluminum with an aircraft cleaner, the aluminum was primed with PPG epoxy primer followed by a sanding primer. I used an enamel for the finish coat so I could polish out any defects. At this point I discovered my spray gun was totally worn out and causing problems in the paint. I could not stop, and hoped that the defects could be polished out. Some could not. I installed the nose section first so I could install the lights – then the tail, fenders and doors.

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A Love Story, Part 4 of 5

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 I had been working on the car for about 12 hours when I quit for the this June day, went to the house, had supper and went to bed. About midnight I woke up with chills and a fever of 104. Early the next morning I headed for the emergency room where they admitted me to the hospital with pneumonia. A week later I came home but was too weak to work on the car. This set me back a whole month. At this point I was not sure that I could complete the restoration by the October deadline. (A word of caution for those of you who spray paint: even though I used a proper mask and filters I think the cause of my pneumonia was due to paint fumes. My recommendation – get a respirator with an outside air supply). During this month I did do some machine work and fabricated new door latches from brass, then had them chrome plated.
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A Love Story, Part 3 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.

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A Love Story, Part 2 of 5

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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.

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Allard M Type Restoration Completed

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 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.

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A Love Story - Part 1 of 5

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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.

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Allard J2 in AACA Museum Exhibit

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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.

 

Yvonne Turner (1930 - 2009)

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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.

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For Sale: Allard J2/P-Series Replica

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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

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"Written on the Wind" & J2X 3144

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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.

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Frank Burrell and the Allards

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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.

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Allard - Limited Edition Ultra

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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.

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The Steyr Revisited

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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.

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