Forgotten Classics: Allard JR and Palm Beach

Sydney Allard founded his specialist car firm right after World War II in London, and while he was not the first of his countrymen to use American engines (there had been the Railton and Atalanta in the 30s) he had early success with the flathead Ford V8 (sometimes with Ardun OHV heads) in hillclimbs and soon after its 1949 debut began to export his stark, cycle-fendered J2 road racer across the pond. The J2 below finished 3rd at Le Mans in 1950 (the roll bar is a later addition) and the resulting attention prompted Allard to send cars to America without engines, to be outfitted with the new Cadillac OHV and later, the Chrysler Hemi.

The J2 featured a De Dion back axle with inboard drum brakes (seen in photo below) and an odd split front axle with transverse leaf spring which acted like the swing axles on VWs, only on the wheels that were supposed to steer. Along with the close-to-firewall engine placement that caused Allard's first racing team to be called the Tail Waggers, this feature led to sometimes dramatic behavior on the road...

By 1952 Allard had introduced the J2X prototype at Le Mans, with the same suspenseful suspension layout, but with the engine moved forward tp approach 50-50 weight distribution  and reduce tail-wagging…the "X" was for "extended."  Owing to American sales, 90 J2s were produced, and 83 of the J2X. The J2 & J2X made up in personality what they lacked in predictability, and inspired replicas even before replicas were trending.  My friend John liked his Allard (below) so much that he made his own replica of it…without the split front axle.

Allard's efforts at more practical vehicles than the '53 J2X above had mixed success.  The P1, a Ford V8-powered saloon introduced in 1949, won the Monte Carlo Rally, driven by Sydney Allard and Guy Warburton, in its final year of production, 1952.  Despite the odd styling (front and rear seem to have been drafted by blokes unaware they were working on the same project), the P1 was, by Allard standards, a sales champ, with over 550 produced...

Allard followed the P1 with the P2 Monte Carlo to capitalize on the rally win, and possibly let the designer of the P1's odd but modern cabin extend the envelope body to the front, where design efforts appear ot have been interrupted by a long break for tea…or something stronger.  The public responded by purchasing a total of eleven (11) Monte Carlos between 1952 and '55... 

The company did a bit better job with the K3, a restyled and more civilized version of the J2X, which was also introduced in 1952.  57 of the 62 cars built were sold in the United States, powered by the 331 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi V8 as well as the trusty Cadillac...

The Palm Beach introduced alongside the K3 shared that car's full-width envelope body format, but with simplified details.  The 96-inch wheelbase chassis design did not share the J2's inboard rear brakes, but the odd swing-axle front remained.  Courting a more cost-conscious clientele, Allard equipped the Palm Beach with 1.5 liter English Ford fours, with the option of the 2.6 liter Ford Zephyr inline six.  Perhaps due to the uninspired styling, sales amounted to only about 75 cars...

Allard's racing efforts concentrated on the envelope-bodied JR by 1953, as the cycle fenders of the J2X had been regulated out of racing. Sydney Allard raced a JR at that year's Le Mans, and led the race for awhile before the rear suspension failed. Another JR at that year's 24 Hours was driven by Zora Artkus Duntov, father of the Corvette, who criticized the Allard's handling…it still retained that split-axle front suspension as well as the De Dion rear.  

Trunk space on the JR was completely occupied by the spare tire and fuel tank...

In 1955, Allard built a Palm Beach roadster powered by a 4 liter Dodge V8.  The resulting car, called the Allard Red Ram, was proposed by a US Allard dealer as a potential competitor for the then-new Thunderbird, but apparently the idea was not cost competitive, and the car remained a one-off...

In 1956, Allard, still searching for a car that would sell in big enough numbers to save the company, introduced the Palm Beach Mark II in roadster form.  Engines announced for the car included the 2.6 liter Ford Zephyr inline 6 as well as the 3.4 liter Jaguar XK.  Styling was completely revamped with a nicely contoured alloy body whose contours recalled the Austin Healey, and had more visual distinction than the previous Palm Beach.  Most important, the split front axle was replaced by a conventional independent layout with torsion bars, while coils suspended the rear.

Despite attrractive prices, only half a dozen of these roadsters were built, in both right hand drive (above) and left hand drive versions.  

By 1958 Allard was exhibiting a glassy and well-proportioned fastback GT Coupe version of their Palm Beach Mk. II at the Earls Court Motor show.  Price at the factory was listed by Motor Trend as $4,780, which compared favorably with fastbacks by AC and Aston Martin, and may prompt some musings about Allard's profit margin. The first car had right hand drive and a 3.4 liter Jaguar engine under the bonnet, and was Sidney Allard's personal car...

Only one other copy of the GT coupe would be built, this time with left hand drive, and a 5.4 liter Chrylser V8 engine, for an American customer.  This car still exists... Allard suspended car production after 1959, and began to provide superchargers and performance accessories for English Ford products. By the current era, at least two efforts to offer replicas of Allards had been attempted, but these centered on the iconic J2X.  Oddly, the most recent effort was mounted by a Canadian man named Allard with no relation to Sydney's family. That family, perhaps out of traditional British reserve, or a lack of interest in lawsuits over intellectual property, has embarked on a program of restoring old Allards and reintroducing the JR as a certified vintage racer...

Allard Sports Cars, reconstituted recently by SIdney Allard's family, has restored the Palm Beach Mark II roadster below as one of its first projects, and has decided to offer new versions ot the JR sports racer tailored to individual customer specifications, with engines sourced from Chrysler and GM. They seem to be betting the success of this enterprise on the nostalgia of wealthy car enthusiasts for a model that few remember.  Production of the original JR, unlike the J2 and J2X, amounted to only 7 examples, and the JR had less success on the track than the J2, as by the mid-Fifties it was competing with more advanced, and better-handling, competition from Jaguar, Ferrari and Maserati. An effort to revive the Connaught*, another arcane British make from the Fifties, appears to have been shipwrecked on the shoals of forgetting, and even the effort to revive the better-known Italian OSCA (with Subaru power)* resulted in just one car hitting the road. So one can ponder the Allard revival with a bit of skepticism while wishing the participants luck, and at the very least, an enjoyable run down the road...

*Footnote:   The story of the original Connaught appeared in these posts for July. 24, 2016, under the title "Celtic Rainmaker: Connaught Ended the Longest Drought in Grand Prix Racing."  The OSCA revival saga was told in "The Etceterini Files Part 16——OSCA Dromos and Jiotto Caspita: Subaru's Distant Cousins", posted October 28, 2018.

Photo Credits:  

Top:  wikimedia

2nd:  Dirk de Jager

3rd:  Denée Foti

4th:  the author
5th & 6th:  wikimedia

7th:  the author

8th:  wikimedia

9th:  allardsportscars.uk

9th:  autocar.co.uk

10th:  bonhams.com

11th:  allardsportscars.uk

12th & 14th: classiccarcatalogue.com

13th:  wikimedia

15th:  allardregister.org

Bottom:  allardsportscars.uk