Merry Christmas from the Allard Register

Since you've all been good boys and girls this year, we're giving you an early Christmas present...four actually. Click each of the drawings below to download a pdf of the corresponding file. We hope you enjoy!

J2 Chassis

J2 Assembly

J2X Frame Weldment

K3 Chassis & Body

Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing the J2 & J2X drawings and to Dudley Hume for the K3 drawing!

From the Chevrolet Files...

The report above is a vehicle test report from Zora Arkus Duntov regarding the Cadillac-Allard #952. Test car!? Allard!? Chevrolet!? It's no secret that the major car companies bought their competitors cars to test and dissect, but we think it's pretty cool that Chevrolet had an Allard as a test car. A few points of reference...this report was dated August 19, 1953 and the first Corvettes started rolling off the production line on June 30th of the same year. The first Corvette could hardly be called a true sports car, it was basically an underpowered sedan chassis wrapped in a sleek body. With the lack of comparable production sports cars from the competition, it makes sense that the bow tie would would want learn what made an Allard tick so they could make the Corvette better.

So what car did Chevrolet acquire? We know they had access to Fred Warner's J2X, but that was an outright race car. After checking the database, we found that Chevrolet purchased K3 3171 from Vauxhall Motors USA (Vauxhaul Motors was acquired by GM in 1925). It makes sense that they would use the K3 as a test mule...convertable body, V8 engine, sporting suspension. Although we don't learn much about the car from the report, we do learn that with a fairly stock automatic transmission, the car could hit 0-60 in 8 seconds flat...not bad! It also sounds like they have some plans to tune the car to see what else it could do.

Our records also indicate that Fred Warner ended up with the car and that it was raced. In case your curious, the car was light gray with a red interior and black top - and yes, the car still exists.

-Click here or the image above to download the pdf. Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing this document!

Old Magazine Covers, Part 14

The 4th issue of Vintage Motorsport from 1990 is probably the 'Holy Grail' of magazines for Allard enthusiasts. Pretty much the entire issue is devoted the Allard Motor Company. Why would a magazine do you such a thing? Well, Allard was the featured marque at the 1990 Monterey Historics...and by (no) coincidence Allard enthusiast Syd Silverman (our benefactor) also happened to own Vintage Motorsport at the time. If you can find a copy of this one...buy it.

Correspondence from years past...

Few people realize the significant roll the Allard Motor Company had in General Motors. Sure many Allards shipped to the US were fitted with Cadillac engines, but they were also fitted with Chrysler, Lincoln, GMC, and of course Ford power. In 1952, Ed Cole was Chief Engineer at Chevrolet where he was tasked with developing the legendary small block V8. He was also friends with US General "Butch" Griswold, who was in command of the Third Air Force in the UK. Butch was a regular at the Allard plant and was good friends with Godfry Imhof. At that that time it was next to impossible to get anything imported into the UK, let alone a hot rodded American V8. That's where the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," comes into play. Imhof wanted to upgrade his J2 and read about Fred Warner's J2X (pictured above) that had been equipped with a hot Cadillac engine that was serving as a Chevrolet test mule. So Imhof talked to Butch, and Butch talked to Cole. In the end, we don't know if Imhof ever got his engine, but if you read the letters below; you'll get to learn more about the "Warner" engine.

Click here to read the "Warner" letters (Acrobat pdf)

Special thanks to Barry Burrell for sharing these letters. Barry's dad Frank, was General Foreman of the Cadillac Experimental Garage. Frank also handled Fred Wackers Allard and was invited by Curtis LeMay to support the Allard team at the 1953 Le Mans.

Video: Allard Stand @ Classic Motor Show 2013

Below are a few videos of the 2013 Classic Motor Show in Birmingham. Special thanks to Graham Clark for shooting and posting these videos!

The Pole Position

By Bill Pollack

Every time the number fourteen Allard raced it always started on the pole as the fastest qualifier. I don't think I really appreciated just how important that really was until years later. Thinking about it I'm not sure how I really accomplished that. It didn't seem to matter where we raced, the car was just scary fast compared to other cars in the field.

Being on the poll was always a little frightening because you have the entire field behind you, thousands and thousands of horsepower all screaming to go and if for some reason I stalled or some other stupid thing, it would be a terrible mess.

I know that when I was in front and the starter would give us the signal to start your engines there was always that awful moment when you thought God I hope the battery isn't dead. After the engine roared to life I've probably put the car in 1st gear at least 5 or 6 times just to make sure I was really in 1^st gear. Sometimes I would actually let the clutch out just a little bit to make doubly sure that I was in number 1 slot. Of course, that was only the beginning.

My adrenal glands had probably been asleep for weeks or months since my last race and it was a rude awakening when the clutch came out and the car burst forward in a blinding explosion of speed. For some reason my vision immediately narrowed down to the front wheels and the road directly in front of me with little or no indication of what might be in my periphery. I don't think I was really aware of who was chasing me until at least the 2nd or 3rd corner had been negotiated without any serious mishap. Finally, I probably took a deep breath or let one out that I had been holding since the start of the race, and took a look to see who was back there. It was no surprise when it was usually Phil Hill.

I've never really had a chance to talk to other drivers about what it's like to sit in front and lead a race from pole to pole or from start to finish. The pressure which is enormous at the beginning of the race gradually diminishes as you complete each lap without serious actions bordering on dumb. There were moments when only you and no one else realizes that you had probably made a very small error and you simply told yourself don't even think about doing that again. It might have been experimenting with a slightly different line on a corner or changing the breakpoint for slow down by 5 or 10 feet. You quickly learn that the once you're in front this is not a good time or a place to experiment with how to go faster. After all, you're in front, what more do you want, all you have to do is stay there and everything should work out to your satisfaction.

People often commented to me about how difficult it must have been to drive the Allard, which they assumed was a bad handling car. The people who made those comments had never driven that car so I always took them with a grain of salt. But it wasn't until I drove several other Allards and then the black number 14 that I realize how much minute care and preparation went into that particular car. It was a number of adjustments and modifications that were made that resulted in the handling characteristics of that car being far superior to any other Allard I ever drove. Tom Carstens, in fact, had won a championship in midgets so he was well equipped to set up a car. Tom Carstens and Dave Fogg, his partner, were a team that was hard if not impossible to beat.

These days for a couple of hundred thousand dollars you can buy something from Italy, Germany or Great Britain that will go fast and is fun, but I will put up the Allard up against them. The Allard in terms of fun would be at the top.

For Sale: Cadillac Engine Parts

West Coast Allard friend and Kurtis racer Joe Harding is clearing out his stock of 50’s era Cadillac engine parts. If you are interest in anything, contact him at Bubbree@aol.com. The parts are located in the LA area. 

Heads:	Price:
Pair of 1461727-8 with valves	$         500
Pair of 1454022-3 with valves	$         500
Pair of 1456439-40 bare head	$         300
1454253-4 bare head	$         300
Pair 1459736-7 with valves	$         500
1454022-3 bare head	$         300
Some of the heads are 390's, they have rocker shafts with them and will bolt straight to 331 blocks for a lot more power. The rocker shafts go with the 390 heads.
Blocks:
1456291 with heads 1454022 standard bore	$      2,500
1456291 with heads 1456439	$      2,000
1456291 short block +030 bore (has pilot bushing in crank for manual box)	$         600
1460704 short block standard bore	$         700
Core parts:
Water pumps (5)	$         100
Generators (7)	$         150
Valve covers (12)	$           20
Push rods (42)	$           20
Flex plates (5)	$           20
Breather tubes (4)	$           10
Starters (4) - 331's & 390's	$         150
Fuel pumps (4)	$           50
331 adapter bell housing to manual transmission (2)	$         750
390 adapter bell housing to manual transmission (2)	$         750
Intake manifolds with carbs 1949 – 1956 from $100 to $2,000 for a complete original tri-power set up.

New Link - Classic Automobilist

We just added a new technical link to the site for a company out of the UK called Complete Automobilist. They carry a number of unique parts such as Lucas components, Brooklands wind screens, fuel fillers, wire covers, trim parts, etc. Check them out at http://www.completeautomobilist.com/

Found Fotos - L-852

One of the best parts of hosting this site is getting random emails from people who were going through old family photos and they came across some relatives Allard. In this case, a gentleman asked is we knew who owned an Allard with registration #KLO 128. After checking the database, we confirmed the car was chassis L 852, but unfortunately we had no ownership history. According to our new freind, the car was originally owned by Mrs. Hilda Charlotte Mary Lee. Apparently Mrs. Lee had a thing for speed. According to a newspaper clipping, she once had an accident on the M1 in a Mercedes 300 SL with "lift-up seagull-type doors" which at the time was the fastest ever crash on this motorway being in excess of 100mph. These photos are from a trip Mrs. Lee, a family freind of our sender took with his uncle to the south of France. Enjoy!

2013 Santa Fe Concorso

Sante Fe was a good show even if we did not score, but we did get a "Sponsors Award" and a yellow ribbon. I had a reaction to a Shingles Vaccine shot and had to go to a doctor in Santa Fe for a shot in the behind and missed the 50 mile tour; however I let my two son-in-laws drive the Bitch. They had a great time and made the whole trip without any problems. Needless to say they were greatly impressed with the Bitch and her acceleration.

The "History Channel" interviewed me and will  make a film about the Bitch, and Allard in general, that will air some time next year. I will report the time if I can find out the exact date. I finally got around to painting the sign, "The Bitch", on the drivers side of the car. Made quite a stir and a good impression. We were surprised at the number of women that photographed the sign.

Hope everything is going well for you and yours---Bill Bauder