2012 Monaco Historique Race Report

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From Massimo Bettati…

It was a sunny weekend for the 8th Gran Prix de Monaco Historique. Our Allard was one of 24 cars entered in the Series C, for pre 1953 sport and sports prototypes cars.

Our class had 3 Allards. Our Allard, J2X 3053 is British Racing Green RHD, reg ORL 320. Next up was the always competitive Patrick Watts (an ex pro driver) in the black J2 1965, reg MTA 635. Finally, the American, Alan Patterson (still racing at 80 years old!) with his red J2X #3072.

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The Allard of the Future

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The following is a imaginative look at what an Allard might be like today. This concept is brought to us by none other than famed Allard racer Bill Pollack (seen above winning the 1950 Pebble Beach Road Race). You can imagine the impact that racing these beasts has had on Mr. Pollack...where he still imagines them tearing up the tracks and turning the automotive world inside out. Thank you Bill!

I have often wondered what prompted Sydney Allard, to build a sports car. In the late 30s and 40s he was involved in a sport known as “Trials”. It was very popular in Great Britain. The trials consisted of 2 men, in a small car trying to negotiate deep mud. Often, the participants would find themselves heavily mired in an endless sea of the sticky stuff. Mostly, the cars were Austin 7’s or the like, with tiny engines, low power and little to say for themselves. The enthusiasts, would strip the fenders, lights, windshields etc. to lighten the cars as much as possible. I am sure, that Allard quickly noticed that those cars with the somewhat larger engines probably did better.

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Trophies...

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The latest from Bill Bauder...

"Well the Bitch did it again, we won our class as well as Best Sports Car, two trophies and ribbons. This time we made the Tour of about 75 miles without any trouble except maybe ruining Ginger's back when we hit a few bumps. Good thing she had on her safety belt. This was the inaugural event and was done by the people who started the Medowbrook show and headed up by Lolly Bezy who did a bang up job. We trailered over on Thursday and returned home on Monday and had a great time meeting old friends and making new friends. Every one liked the Allard, the Bitch that is, and she preformed flawlessly except when I forgot to turn on the fuel pump switch." ---Cheers, Bill

Congrats Bill and thanks for keeping the Allard flag flying!

The Last Checkered Flag, Carroll Shelby

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The car world lost an icon today. Carroll Shelby passed away today at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, TX at the age of 89. Carroll Shelby pretty much did anything that could be done in the automotive world...succesful Race Car Driver, Team Manager, Constructor, Consultant, and Philanthropist.

Allard enthusiasts should be aware that Carroll Shelby holds a special place in Allard history. He raced both a J2 (#2179) and J2X (#3146) from 1952 to 1954 with considerable success. Probably his most notable race took place at the 1954 Buenos Aires Kimberly Cup Race. Carroll and Dale Duncan man-handled a J2X to a hard fought tenth place. It was at this race where he caught the attention of Aston Marton's John Dwyer...and the rest is history.

Well not quite...Carroll Shelby's racing career was cut short by heart problems in 1960. Carroll was out of a job and his marriage was on the rocks. He moved out to California and opened a Goodyear Racing Tire Dealership. Carroll also had a stacked a Rolodex full of auto industry contacts from his racing years. In 1962, he started a partnership with AC Motors in the UK and Ford in the US to mate their new 221 Ford V8 with the engineless AC that he called the Cobra...and the rest is history.

It's widely documented that Shelby got the inspiration for the Cobra from his time spent racing Allards. He knew that a lightweight English chassis paired with a powerfull American V8 would be a formidable foe on the race track. One hopes that Sydney Allard looked at Shelby's racing success in the Cobra with admiration.

We could go on and on about Shelby's post-Cobra life, but there are enough books out there that cover that. Instead, we invite you click here or the photo above to read a story my dad, Charlie Warnes wrote for the January 1997 issue of Vintage Motorsport.

Thanks Carroll, you will be missed.

The Moss Files, Part 6

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In this instalment, Al writes to the AMC about his near success at the first Pebble Beach Road Race, which very likely would have resulted in an Allard victory if it weren't for a bit of bad luck! Mr. Moss also provides some constructive criticism while sharing a bit of growing frustration with the build quality of the cars. Click here or the image above to read the 2 page letter.

Rallye Notes...

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Special thanks to the Allard Owner's Club for letting us repost this story...

Notes from a Nervous Navigator on
Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique 2012  -  29 Jan to 4 Feb

Car No:239:- 1950, Allard P1
Driver – David Loveys, Co-driver – Roger Loveys

In January 2011 David announced his intention to enter the rally to mark the achievement of Sidney Allard winning the Monte-Carlo 60 years ago. It was only when I was presented with the application form to check that I knew this was a serious project. I immediately started my research and discovered Richard Disbrow, a driver who had completed the rally in 2011. Richard proved to be brilliant. I met up with him and he always responded immediately to my email requests for information and did his best to alert us to the extreme nature of the event – “Its unbelievable, a flat out road race from start to finish. I don’t know how the French allow it on their roads”. I also arranged to drive to Nice to visit friends so that I could check out part of the route and familiarise myself with driving and navigating in France, something I had not done for over 20 years.

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Mecum Auction Preview - K3 3182

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On May 19, Allard K3 3182 will be sold at Mecum’s Spring Classic Auction in Indianapolis,  IN. This K3 was ordered on 9-9-52 and shipped on 5-25-53 to Noel Kirk Motors in Los Angeles. The car had “bright red” paint with black leather interior and disc wheels. It was shipped with Cadillac engine modifications. The car is currently painted burgundy with brown interior and was converted to wire wheels. Powered is delivered via a Cadillac 331 and automatic transmission. It should be noted that the left hand shift linkage (between driver & door) has been retained with the automatic transmission conversion. No estimate is provided. If you are interested in this car, please click here to visit Mecum’s web site.

Two Green K3’s on a Play Date

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To the casual observer these two ‘British racing green’ Allard K3’s might seem identical. However, in many respects, they are at opposite ends of the Allard K3 spectrum.

3192 left the Allard factory set up for Cadillac power, and was delivered to Noel Kirk Motors in Los Angeles in July 1953. The original owner put 23,000 miles on it before knee problems forced him to park it in 1962. It spent the next 17 years in hibernation until Dr. Martin Allard purchased it in 1979. The only work required to get it roadworthy was some minor tweaking to free up the stuck Lincoln Zephyr gearbox. The 59 year-old Caddie, along with entire drive train and suspension, are original and virtually untouched.

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The Moss Files, Part 3

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Today's installment features a letter from Mr. Davis confirming Moss Motors as a distributor. It's interesting to note that the J2 was not priced at a premium...in fact it was their most affordable car! This isn't a big surprise since the J2 is such a simple car in comparison to the K2, P, and M-types. As a bonus, page 2 is a brief announcement of Allard's 3rd place finish in Le Mans just a day earlier. Click here or the photo above to view the 2-page pdf.

The Moss Files, Part 2

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Here's a great letter from January 30, 1950. Mr. Davis is writing to Al about Roy Richter who's Bell Auto Parts have been given the rights to sell the J2...the only problem is that Bell Auto Parts is located within Moss Motors' exclusive sales territory. Additionally, Mr. Davis also outlines all of the exterior paint, interior leather, and cloth top colors. Click here or the photo below to view the pdf.

The Moss Files, Part 1

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Apart from being a shrewd businessman, Al Moss was also a historian. Whereas most Allard dealers tossed out their old papers, Al saved a treasure trove of air mail letters and telegram correspondence between himself and the Allard Motor Company. We are pleased to announce that Al has passed this documentation onto us so we can share them digitially with all Allard enthusiasts. Over time, we'll share the more interesting documents.

To get us started, here's a letter from the Guv'nor himself. This is the only letter from Sydney addressed to Al. All other correspondence was from either Mr. Davis (Export Manager) or the Service Department. Click here or the image below to view it as apdf. Enjoy!

The Other Moss...

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By Chuck Warnes

I’ve just finished reading Alan Moss’ delightful, light-hearted autobiography entitled “The Other Moss – My Life With Cars and Horses.”

E. Alan Moss (he refuses to divulge what the “E” stands for) opened a foreign car repair shop Los Angeles in the late 1940’s, and also tried his hand at a couple of import car dealerships. One such venture was his role as the West Coast distributor for Allard in the early 1950’s. The Allard Register #39 (Summer 2004) issue is largely devoted to abstracts of insightful, and often frank correspondence between Moss and Allard in The Moss Files.

Over the next few years Moss Motors segued into after-market parts sales when he published his first MG parts catalogue in 1962.  Moss Motors had become an industry leader in that field by 1977, when Al sold out to a friend and went into a semi-retirement. Many of us have had occasion to use Moss Motors’ services for our Allard and British car projects.

In this book Alan also shares his sports car racing experiences from the early 50’s, along with his role in helping to organize and officiate sports car competitions in the early days of the sport on the West Coast.

He has since moved to Sedona AZ, which has served as his base for vintage racing his 1948 MGTC that he has owned since new, along with a stint of rebuilding and racing a Morgan trike.

Alan’s closing line in this book, “Remember, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” is a fitting summary to a life well lived.

If you’d like buy a copy of the book you can send Al a check for check for $22. Postage is included and he would be happy to sign each one if so desired. Al’s address is below:

Alan Moss
1015 Soldier Pass
Sedona, AZ 86336
racermoss@esedona.net

Allard Replacement Steel Wheels

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Special thanks to Andy Picariello of the AOC for digging up an affordable replacement for Allard steel wheels. The “Gennie” style 2-piece steel wheels measure 16” x 4.5” wide and feature a 5 x 5.5” bolt circle with 2.25” back spacing (2.75" to the back of the rim). I did some digging and found that the wheels are made by Wheel Vintiques, which as it turns out are made right here in Fresno, CA! I stopped by their shop the other day and talked with Hector Moreno. Hector informed me that they sell direct and he will sell us primered wheels for $120/ea + shipping. To order, contact Hector at 559-251-6957 or email at hector@wheelvintiques.com and use part number 14-64255234. Wheel Vintiques will ship anywhere in the world.

        Please note the inside diameter will need to be increased to 3-13/16" (approximately 3/8") and studs must be added to mount the original Allard hub caps. We are working on a plan to supply wheels with these modifications, but nothing has been finalized yet. In the meantime, your local machine shop should be able to make these changes for you. Thanks to David Hooper for the drawing below. Click here or the image below to download the pdf

        The hub portion of the wheels are made from 7 gage steel (.175"), which is thicker than the original Allard wheels (low cost racing wheels?). They can also be balanced, whereas the original wheels could not.

        PS: We are also looking into making custom Allard hub caps that can be mounted to these Gennie wheels with no studs. In the meantime, you can order their #2005 ’40 Standard Baby Moon hub cap if you don’t want to add mounting studs for traditional Allard hub caps.

Racing Videos...

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A special thanks goes out to Cliff Reuter of www.Etceterini.com for aquiring the video collection of the late Suzy Dietrich and digitizing it for us all to enjoy. In this video you'll see a bunch of Allards...bonus points to anyone that will do the research and tell us who is driving what Allard. In this video, we get to see:
-1952 SCCA Giants Despair
-1952 Grand Island
-1953 Chanute AFB

Enjoy!

80 Years of the Flathead

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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.
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Visit the Allards @ Techno-Classica Essen

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Once again, the Allard Continental Group will be hosting a stand at the Techno-Classica show in Essen, Germany this March 21-25. The Group's booth will be located in Hall 3, Stand 105. This year they will be celebrating the 60 year jubilee of the overall victory of the Rally Monte Carlo 1952 By Sydney Allard, Guy Warburton and Tom Lush. They will have Darrel Allard's P1 and a Palm Beach MKI (modified in the spirit of the Red Ram*) on display. Additionally, they will be hosting their annual Continental-Allard-Owners Meeting (9th meeting) on Saturday March 24. They will meet at the stand at 12:15 and then proceed to lunch at 12:30 in hall 3, Bistro of Schloss Hugenpoet. If you would like to attend, please click here to contact Hans-Albert Oppenborn. We will post a follow up story and photos...

We hope you can make it!