Something New...Something Blue...

While perusing the SCCA "Sports Car" newsletters that were kindly shared by Andy Picariello of the AOC, I came across this interesting story about the Dam Rally. Apparently Sydney decided to debut his fiberglass Palm Beach prototype with the entrants at one of the check points. Apparently the car caused at least a few entrants to be delayed. Click here or the photo above to read the story.

An Interesting Palm Beach...

The recent Bring A Trailer ad for Palm Beach 21Z-5155, created a lot of interesting comments about Palm Beach's. One in particular from Wayne Goldman caught our eye. Wayne bought a Palm Beach in the late sixties and threw the Ford Zodiac engine and gearbox away. In its place, he installed a 170 cubic inch Ford six with a three carb manifold, H & M cam, etc. and a 4 speed gear box. Wayne notes that the car, "went like a bat out of hell, but the 4:1 rear axle was too high for highway use so I narrowed a Ford axle which had the same bolt pattern as the original wire wheels and the car was great. I had a friend who was the top SCCA Corvette driver in New England and he could only beat me by 50 feet in a 1/4 drag race. The Ford 170 six was popular with midget racers and it would wind up to over 8,000 RPM…"

Sadly Wayne lost track  of the car and we haven't been able to decipher the chassis plate which was reattached to the dash. If you know anything about the car, please leave a comment or send us a note.

Incidentally, Wayne also has a bunch of interesting (and good) racing photos that he took back in the 50's. Click here to visit his site.

Allard For Sale: Palm Beach 21Z-5155

21Z-5155 is back up for sale. The new owner picked up the car a few months ago and after putting all of the pieces back together again...was surprised to find that pretty much everything was there except for the engine and trans. The only other thing he didn't have was time. Too many projects mean this car is going back on the market. We issued the car a replacement chassis plate (many Allards have lost their original chassis plates over time). The car is being listed for $17,500, which is a bit steeper than the original price of $5,000 a few months ago. This situation is different now though, since the car is known to be mostly complete. We're not sure if it's $12,500 more complete, but interested parties can always make an offer. Click here to view the ad on www.Bringatrailer.com and contact the seller. The car is in Turlock, CA (same town, different owner).

Back in time...

One of the things we love about running this web site is that it allows Allard owners from years past to connect with us. The other day, we recieved an email from Tom Coughlin who once owned this Palm Beach MkII, chassis 72/7104Z. He writes...

"It was probably 1968 when I was reading the Boston Globe classifieds and came across an ad for an Allard. Having attended races at Sebring, Opa-Locka, and Watkins Glen, etc., I was certainly familiar with the name Allard, but not the Palm Beach MKII. I really liked what I saw, and since it was a very rare thing for me to find a sports car that I had never seen before, I bought it. This was a left hand drive, black, Zephyr-powered driver. I have often read that they (Allards) had aluminum bodies, this one was steel. Although I was able to drive it home, the left rear shock mount had been knocked off of the rear axle making the ride downright poor. I never did get it properly sorted, so after eight years of ownership and very little use I decided to sell my wonderful Palm Beach MKII and have owned, driven and enjoyed Porsche 356’s ever since. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but here are the only two that I have. Man, I was lean and mean at age 27!"

Chassis 7104Z was the second (and last) Zephyr powered Palm Beach MkII, although its currently powered by a Chevy small block. It was one of two delivered to the US (out of six).

Thanks Tom!

Allard Register #61

 Click here or the photo above to download issue #61 of the Allard Register. We hope you enjoy it!

For Sale: Palm Beach Basket Case

The car above is an Allard Palm Beach, chassis 21Z-5155 – the ‘Z’ meaning that it was powered by a 6-cylinder Ford Zephyr engine. This car was the second to last Allard exported to the United States, shipping out on April 16, 1955 to the Allard Motor Company offices in New York. The car was originally painted red with blue interior. The current owner purchased the car in 1981, but none of the previous ownership history is known.

The car is essentially a basket case, but it includes all of the major bits: chassis, suspension, body, and doors...plus a bunch of other bits and pieces. Other than that, the car is a blank slate. The purist could return it to its stock configuration, or one could drop in the drive train from a Nissan Z car, install disc brakes, strip the paint down to the bare aluminum and have quite the sleeper hot rod. Warning: stock Palm Beach chassis are not strong enough to handle the weight and power of a V8.

The car is located in Turlock, CA and is being offered for $5,000 OBO. Interested parties should contact the seller at mrjba2@surewest.net.

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.

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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

The first Palm Beach.

Click hereto read a great story on the first Palm Beach (by forgottenfiberglass.com) , which had a fiberglass (sorry, glassfibre) body made in the USA. I can imagine that Sydney Allard was very interested in fiberglass for car bodies. Hand made aluminum bodies (many with wood frames) must have caused numerous headaches in regards to quality, cost, and lead time. Sadly the project went nowhere, but Sydney continued to experiment with fiberglass up through the 60's.

Additionally, click here to read about the Palm Beach story in our archives.

This car, chassis 5000 still exists, but we've lost track of it. If you know anything about this cars whereabouts, please click here to let us know!

Old Magazine Covers, Part 8

This issue of "Car Collector and Car Classics" magazine was published in January of 1984 and features two stories on Allards. The first story is about the J2X, using photos of the cover car. The second story is about the Palm Beach MkI, but unfortunately all of their photos are of a K3! To the untrained eye, it's an easy mistake to make, but an error like that shouldn't have made it past the Editors desk.

MYSTERY CAR: If you, or you know who owns this J2X, please click here to email us! 

Bonhams Auction Preview - Palm Beach 21D-5151 Red Ram

Bonhams Collectors' Motor Cars and Automobilia Auction, April 11, 2011
Hendon, RAF Museum, Lot 309

This unique Allard, Chassis 21D-5151 is the only Palm Beach originally fitted with the 4.0-litre Dodge 'Red Ram' V8 engine. It was sold new to Bernardo Wolfenson of Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 2, 1954, who apparently toured Europe with it prior to taking it to Argentine, before returning to the UK in the 1960s. The car comes with a copy of the original Allard order (ordered March 16, 1954) confirming its first owner and 'Home delivery' as it was despatched on the Dover-Boulogne ferry. This car was the prototype for what could have potentially been an exciting relationship between Allard and the Dodge motor company. Dodge was hoping to add a car to their lineup that could compete with the Chevrolet Corvette.

Click to read more ...