Monterey Car Week, 2013

For me, the 2013 Monterey ‘Car Week’ commenced on Thursday morning, when I took up my post to watch the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance participants turn into Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel. There, they take a two hour lunch break, which gives a few thousand ‘folks like us’ a rare chance to get up close and personal with about 200 of the PB Concours entrants.

The Tour presents the chance to witness a broad spectrum of the world’s most elegant and exotic vehicles running on the road. I truly respect the courage of the participants who are willing to expose their prize autos to the rigors of an 88 mile road trip – a mere three days before show time. We were somewhat surprised to see our friend, Martin Allard, at the wheel of his green K3 approaching the corner and get directed into the lineup on Ocean Avenue!

Martin and his family are Carmel residents, and that morning he decided to take a little run down Hwy 1 to watch the Tour. His plan was to turn around at Bixby Bridge and return to Carmel in time to take his wife out for brunch. However, he suddenly found himself as a part of the lineup. Those directing traffic presumed that he was a part of the Tour, and summarily directed him to Ocean Avenue. While Martin and his Allard were not official entrants, it is our opinion that his extremely original K3 could qualify for PB’s Postwar Preservation class.

Two very nice Allards sold Mecum Auctions – an L Type that went for $44K, and an immaculate K2 for $95K. David Rossiter has done considerable work on his ’51 K2 in the ten years that he has owned it, and it gained a fair amount of well deserved attention at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. The upcoming Ironstone Concours d’Elegance is featuring David’s red K2 on the poster promoting the September 28 event in the California Gold Rush town of Murphys.

On Saturday morning a few Allard folks got together for an impromptu breakfast. They included David Rossiter, Alan & Celia Tiley, Colin & Chuck Warnes, Lindsey Parsons, Mark Moskowitz, Bernard Dervieux, and Martin Allard. Over the weekend we also had a chance to visit with Al & Ursula Reynolds, Bob Weiner, Ron Hale and Alan Patterson.

Alan’s J2X, which he has owned and raced for the past 60 years is currently in Pennsylvania. He shared his excitement about his two most recent acquisitions – one of the two Allard GT’s, and one of the two remaining three-wheeled Allard Clippers. He reports that they have just arrived at the dock in New Jersey, and he is looking forward to commencing their restorations.

2013 saw one Allard entrant at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion races. This was Steve Schuler’s green J2 – the third place overall, first-in-class finisher of the 1950 24 Hours of LeMans. Steve turned the Allard driving duties over to Graham Smith. Graham owns and races a J2 in Australia, and did much of the restoration on Steve’s J2 a few years ago. Graham started race 5B in 29^th place, and in 8 laps worked his way up to a 5^th place finish. Graham’s great drive in Sunday’s race also netted him the prestigious Rolex Award For Excellence in race group 5B.

RMMR’s closing celebration on Sunday includes the Rolex Awards of Excellence presentations (see above) to in

dividual drivers in each race category, and also the event’s ‘Spirit of Monterey’ honor to the driver who excelled in the spirit of the weekend.  This year’s ‘Spirit of Monterey’ award went to John Harden, who drove his 1963 Genie in Group 4A.  John’s first race was in 1953 when he competed in one of the Pebble Beach Road Races. At age 81, Harden has taken his racing helmet off for good, officially retiring after Saturday’s race, where he finished a very respectable eighth out of 33 cars running in his class. 

I first met John at Laguna Seca in 1984, when he was racing his Hilborn injected J2X, and I was a newly hatched Allard owner in search of information and moral support. John, as a part of Vintage Connections in Oklahoma City, has restored and serviced many an Allard over the years, and continues to be a valuable technical resource to Allard owners worldwide. We offer our congratulations to John for this well deserved honor.

Photo: Rolex, Stephan Cooper

The Monte Shelton CLASSIC NORTHWEST RALLY XXV

Kevin Blount and Bob Lucurell are both veterans of the Classic Northwest Rally. This four-day event (July 25 – 28, 2013), sponsored by Monte Shelton Jaguar, commences in Portland with registration and opening celebrations on Thursday evening. On Friday morning the 100 car field embarks on two days of rallying in and about the Cascade Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest.

Each year the time and distance rally visits a particular resort where the participants end Friday’s and Saturday’s rallying with social activities, special refreshments, tire-kicking and banquet dinners. They conclude the event on Sunday morning with the Awards Brunch. This was the maiden voyage for Kevin’s recently finished Allard J2X. Kevin’s report is as follows:

----------

This was my friend Paul Brewer’s and my 7th time running this rally, and our first time in the Allard.  Last year we won the vintage class (also known as the "seat of the pants" class) in my Mercedes and got 4th overall – beating many serious rallyists who were using calculators, stopwatches, etc. We were as surprised as anyone, and chalked it up to dumb luck rather than great skill. Time will tell.  

This year we didn't do nearly as well, finishing mid-pack for a number of different reasons, all of which of course illustrate the 'dumb luck' comment above.

I took the J2X to a local speedometer shop to have the speedo and odo calibrated to be spot on, but I realized about 1/2 way through the first day that they were off by about 8%. As a result we were consistently early, earning us many unwanted penalty points. Also, the rally master caught us with a "trap" that earned us a significant penalty. We should have known better too, since they caught us with the exact same trap about 3 years ago.

The Allard was more difficult to TSD rally than my other cars for a number of reasons.  First off, it's LOUD. We had a set of voice-activated headphones so we could communicate. Except that Paul's mic went out right at the start line, so we spent the next two days yelling at each other.           

Secondly, having the odometer in front of the navigator really threw us off. Many navigators love to have it there, but over the years Paul and I have developed the routine where watching the odometer is the driver’s job. So its location over in front of Paul really messed us up.

Lastly, I found it tougher to keep a constant speed with the speedometer out of my line of sight – especially so with 400 HP and a 3.25 rear end. As a result, a few extra rpm translates to quite a bit of speed. Even a one or two MPH error can add significant points. Anyway, so much for my litany of excuses...

The Allard ran brilliantly, and was great fun. It was a crowd favorite and I got lots of favorable comments from folks (as an aside, the week earlier I showed the car at the Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance placing 3rd in class. On the Concours tour the day before, I was at the back of the pack and a bicyclist who was watching the cars go by said "I don't know what it is, but that's by far the coolest car that's come by!").  What I've found is that everyone loves the Allard.  Hot Rodders love it.  Muscle car guys love it.  The European sporty car crowd loves it. Ok, maybe one or two snooty CCCA Packard or Rolls Royce folks turned up their noses, but that seems to be the exception.  

One checkpoint worker said he listened to us for about 5 minutes as we roared through the switchbacks up the hill, and that it was a symphony.  We also got a fair number of comments about how uncomfortable we looked.  Neither Paul nor I are small guys, and in some of the photos it appears that we are almost comically stuffed in, and overflowing out of the car. We were happy to play the martyr so we didn't dispute the comments. However the car is more comfortable than it looks. While we were tired at the end of a full day of driving, we weren't completely used up either.

In two weeks my girlfriend and I are taking the J2X to central Oregon for the Oregon Festival of Cars. We'll put up to 1000 miles on it over about 3 days of very quick driving chasing Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Porsche GT3 RS's, Audi R8's etc.  I'm really looking forward to a weekend of spirited Allard driving on great roads – weather permitting of course. With the Allard having no weather protection what-so-ever, I'll probably take a car with a top and windshield wipers if it looks like stormy weather.

So, in conclusion, the J2X is fantastic and I plan on keeping it and using it for a long time. While it's not the ideal TSD rally car for me, and I won't be taking it on the Monte Shelton Rally every year, I love driving the car and everyone loved having it there -- so much so that the Allard won "people's choice", the vote of all the rally participants for their favorite car on the rally!

Special thanks to Joe Cantrell for sharing his great photos!

Mt. Equinox Hill Climb Videos

Mike (Son-K2) and Jim (Dad-J2), just posted some videos from their run up Mt. Equinox in Manchester, VT last weekend. For those of you unaware, Mt Equinox is one of the longest hill climb races around at 5.2 miles in length with over 3,100 feet of climbing. More news to come on how they performed, stay tuned...

Keels & Wheels, 2013

12345...8

The Keels and Wheels show was great and it's probably the most laid back show around so it is very enjoyable. After 6 years going to Keels & Wheels the "Bitch" finally won a "Best of Class" trophy in the Vintage Race Car Class. Bob Weiner took the Silver Trophy. Finally met Roger Allard who had a J2X MKII at the show. I really enjoyed meeting him and seeing the car for the first time. Everyone had a great time but I was getting sick the second day of the show which really sapped my strength and I had to have help standing to accept the trophy. Don't like getting old but it beats the alternate.

The "Yellow Jacket" boats were the featured class for the boat part of the show. I had to go to their site and tell the Owners about the boat as I had designed several item for the Yellow Jacket boats back in the 1950s and had also done exploded drawings for every type boat they manufactured.

-Bill Bauder

Glenmoor Gathering - 2012

Allard was the featured marque for this year’s Gathering, with 19 Allards on display, and seven running in Saturday’s Glenmoor Passport Country Tour. Allards present included five J2’s, three J2X’s, three K1’s, three K2’s, a JR, an L-Type, a special coupe bodied M-Type, a Palm Beach Mk I and a Palm Beach Mk II.

The Gathering was spread over three days at the Glenmoor Country Club at Canton, Ohio, and included a mouth watering assortment of over 200 cars. Friday saw the first of the Allards arrive, which were displayed on the lawn in front of the clubhouse with Bruce McCaw’s J2 – winner at Watkins Glen at the hand of Erwin Goldschmidt – taking pride of the place. Also on display were Andy Picariello’s J2 and K2, Tom Kayuha’s K1, the K2 and PB Mk I of Axel & Hanko Rosenblad, Mike Fisher’s K1, Bill Wilmer’s J2X, Bill Boone’s J2X, Paul Schoonmaker’s J2X, Terrell Underwood’s L-Type, Tom Shelton’s J2 and Emil Loeffler’s J2.

Friday’s events included an interesting seminar on the trials and tribulations of the Studebaker Car Company, plus the start of the silent auction. A heavy rain shower caused a rush to fit tonneau covers. However it soon cleared and for the rest of the two days the weather was perfect.

The Glenmoor Passport Country Tour commenced at 8 AM on Saturday morning. A total of 40 cars took part in this truly unforgettable 90-mile tour through the rolling hills of northeast Ohio, over two lane country roads shared with Amish horse-drawn buggies. The seven Allards participating were Tom Kayuha and Mike Fisher in their K1’s, Axel & Hanko Rosenblad and Peter Bowman in their K2’s, Tom Sheldon driving his J2, Paul Schoonmaker in his J2X and Terrell Underwood piloting his L-Type. The first stop was at Carl Maxwell’s Sinclair Service Station in Berlin, with lunch being taken at the recently restored Canal Tavern in the quaint historic village of Zoar. The Tour included a special slalom section where drivers had to dodge Amish Buggy "debris."

Sunday was Concours day. Being the featured marque, the Allards were not a part of the main Concours. However all 19 Allards were subject to their owner’s voting for the best ‘road car’ and ‘competition car’. Judging was to be completed by 10:30 am, and before the awards were made the Allard exhibitors attended lunch on the patio. During that morning, Palm Beach Mk II owner Robert Hartson gave a demonstration of how to ride a ‘penny farthing bike’ – very impressive when ridden in a relatively small area!

Allard winners were:

-The J2X of Annabelle & Bill Wilmer – Best Racing Allard

-The M-Type couple of Dawn & Mike Fisher – Best Street Allard

The Gathering produced a fine field of Allards – thanks to all the hard work of Andy Picariello and Tom Kayuha.

Many thanks,
David Hooper

UPDATE from David (Oct 21): I would like to apologise to Bill Magavern for omitting to include not only him, but his K type from my report. His K type has cycle wings along with a representation of the original Allard grille, which can best be described as a work of art.

------------

Click here to view David Hooper's Concours Gallery

Click here to view Peter Bowman's Tour Gallery

Click here to view Peter Bowman's Concours Gallery

Car Week, 2012

Allards have been conspicuous by their absence at Laguna Seca for the past two years. So it was great to again see two veteran Allards from the Monterey Historic days running in the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (RMMR). Steve Schuler brought his beautiful and famous J2 1578 – the 3rd place finisher of the 1950 Le Mans. He was joined in the Group 5B (1947-1955 Sports Racing and GT Cars) by Jim Degnan’s friend, Jon Le Carner at the wheel of Jim’s red 1952 K2 3035. Both cars attracted a good amount of attention from vintage racing fans throughout the weekend.

Click to read more ...

Public Service Announcement

This is an Allard J2:

This is an Allard J2 on drugs:

This is Jim and Sheila Tiller's J2-1784, affectionately known as "The Old Fella". This car is fast, seriously fast. It nearly hit 200 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats and it regularly dominates the Brighton Speed Trials. Jim's run at Brighton this past weekend started off great with a practice run of 10.44s (@133 mph), but his first official timed run was hurt by mechanical issues.

Photo: www.ukpix.com

Allards @ Le Mans Classic

Special thanks to Patrice Cosseau for writing to tell us how the Le Mans Classic went this year…

12345...10

The Le Mans Classic was very wet this year, which put a small damper on the party. The car (J2 1557), without rain tires - did not like the rainy weather so much, neither did I! In the first race we had two spins : first in Dunlop curve and second at Playstation in the sand. Sunday was sunnier and the car was much easier to drive we were much more comfortable. Patric was joined by Michel Lorielle and Francois Cointreau.

Race 1: 44, Raining
Race 2: 59, Many competitors spun, two laps only behind safety car
Race 3: 32, Sunshine!
Overall: 42 with 97 laps completed

A very good progression indeed ! The car perfectly work in all the races and practices. Very easy to drift on the dry. With more time we could have got a better ranking.

Thanks Patrice and keep racing!

PS: Bob Francis from Canada also competed in J2 1971. Bob and team mate John Thompson finished 40^th overall, also with 97 laps completed.

Allard Dragster Debuts @ Dragstalgia

We are pleased to announce that the Allard Dragster…Europe’s first dragster is back! Brian Taylor and the loyal team from the Allard Chrysler Action Group have completed the restoration and debuted “Ally” at Dragstalgia @ Santa Pod on July 14. The crowd went crazy when the dragster was fired up for its’ first “cacklelfest”, where a bunch of historic  dragsters are lined up and fired up and revved one by one. Click here or the photo below to view the gallery.

Photos by: Mark skinner, Jon Spoard, Ingrid Chesworth, Jamie Mcconnell, Elizabeth Rowland, Dave Rudd

Bill Pollack Presides as Grand Marshal at Sonoma

 

More than 340 historic cars ran in 15 racing groups at the 3^rd annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival at Infineon Raceway on the first weekend of June. This year’s theme was “Moments in Time: a Celebration of the History of Motorsports”. Bill Pollack, winner of the 1952 Golden Gate Park Road Races driving a Cadillac-Allard J2, was honored as Grand Marshal.

Click to read more ...