Another Missing Family P1...

We're not sure what it is about P1's, but they seem to have found a real soft spot in the heart of their previous owners. Of all the requests we get to track down missing cars, the vast majority of them are for P1's. It's not hard to see why...distinctive styling, big V8, sporty suspension (for a late 40's sedan), and suicide doors...very cool. Please see David's request below and click here if you can help us!

Hello fellow Allard lovers.

Firstly, thank you for your web-site that has motivated me to track down the Allard my father brought to Australia in 1956. It was a black P1 that was sold originally to the steel works manger in Swansea (Wales). Photo of it here in Australia attached.

My father sold it due to parts being difficult to access. He told me that he heard that the car was later used for racing in Victoria (Australia). Any help with tracking down this car (I am an avid car restorer) would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards, David Richards.

Phillip Island 2014

An update from our man in Australia...
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We had a fun week of racing at Phillip Island, Graham in his J2, and I was running my 1960 Corvette.

Graham was doing really well all week in the Allard, but broke a rear stub-axle in the final heat race before the main event, and was not able to repair it at the track.  He and his pit crew (pictured below) worked together vigorously, but he ultimately decided to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the races.

I had better luck with the Corvette, finishing the main event race, but possibly I did not have as much fun as Graham did.

We are going for a drive down the Great Ocean Road tomorrow in my J2, one of Graham's friends J2's, and Graham in an older Ferrari, life is good.

Talk with you later, .........................Steve

SOLD - Allard J2-1698

Details: Delivered January 26, 1951, Chassis # J2 1698, Engine #  8M931, Red with red interior, Shipped to Gardiner’s Motor Service, Sydney. Factory records show this car was shipped with the above-mentioned engine number (most exported Allards were shipped without an engine).

Sold immediately to Jack Murray.

This car was raced with a Cadillac motor which, it is understood, was installed by Murray in Sydney. The Cadillac motor was subsequently given the number N57110P.

This car’s first Bathurst race was the October 1951 meeting (not the ’51 Easter meeting as has been reported elsewhere). Raced by Murray, who tended to confine his racing to the northern states, through to 1955, including to fourth place in the 1952 Australian Grand Prix held at Bathurst, and in the 1954 Australian Grand Prix at Southport Qld, where it did not finish.

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ALLARD & The 1953 Redex Reliability Trial

 

By Chris Lowth

That original 1953 Redex Reliability Trial remains as a watershed in endurance rallies in Australia, up to that time it was the second longest trial ever staged in the world (the previous longest had been from New York to Paris in 1908). It was an expedition into the unknown.

It was organized by Dunlop executive Harry James, who in 1904 had organized Australia's first motor race meeting, a four event "demonstration" at Aspendale racecourse in Victoria. James, who was generally regarded as the father of Australian motor sport, was also a great-uncle to arguably the biggest name to ever grace an Australian racetrack Peter Brock.

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