| Automobiles of Arizona Friday, January 16, 2009 |
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| 1950 Allard J2 Roadster | ||||||||
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255 cu. in. Mercury V8 engine with Ardun OHV heads, three-speed manual transmission, front suspension by coil springs and tubular shocks with split Ford I-beam front axle on trailing arms, rear suspension has deDion tube with coil springs and tubular shocks, four-wheel drum brakes. Wheelbase: 100" Sydney Allard was an ingenious and competitive specials builder in the U.K. who became very successful building trials cars before World War II. The family’s Ford dealership provided the home for his efforts and most of the components upon which they were based. Following the War, England was desperate to rebuild its domestic economy, decimated by years of aerial attacks and war focused production. Exports were essential and the government decreed that scarce resources would be allocated only to those enterprises which produced hard currency revenue. Faced with limits on the supply of parts and material to return to racing, Sydney Allard did what any self-respecting racer would; he adapted his V8 powered prewar trials car to circuit racing and looked for customers in the world’s hard currency capital, the United States. The medium for this enterprise was called the J2. It was as spartan as a spartan race car could be, and was built along the rugged lines of Allard’s prewar trials cars. Powered by the reliable and readily available Ford flathead, the J2 was easily modified and maintained, as there was certainly no shortage of speed equipment geared to the L-Head V8 and any mechanic worth his salt was quite familiar with the powerplant. The J2 utilized Allard’s preferred split beam swinging arm front suspension with coil springs and employed a deDion-style live axle with inboard drum brakes. The brakes themselves came from the Jaguar XK 120, but worked much more effectively on the 700-pound lighter Allard. Stuffed full of American V8, the Allard J2s were rip-snorting, loud, thumping creatures that inspired drivers and spectators with their looming presence and thunderous performance. There was nothing subtle about a J2 on the track; finesse had no place in the J2’s performance equation. It was a deafening, brutal balance between torque and control. The typical Allard body was very much in the spirit of the times – a simple two-seater with cycle fenders. The car was festooned with blisters, fairings, vents and louvers with small cowlings in front of each occupant’s seat where they crouched behind a pair of Brooklands aeroscreens. According to the Allard Registry, the J2 presented here left the London docks on November 6th, 1950, bound for Australia and equipped with a Ford Mercury engine with Ardun OHV heads. This engine, 5339/27, remains with the car to this day, likewise equipped with the original hemispherical heads famously engineered by Zora Arkus-Duntov. Duntov, who later gained additional fame for his involvement with the Corvette, founded Ardun with his brother before heading overseas to work with Sydney Allard in England. At any rate, this car remained in Australia, raced extensively by Reggie Hunt, winning the Grand Prix of Australia in 1953 and 1954 and likewise coming in first at Templestow, Victoria in October 1954. It was then owned by one Mr. Jackson, then Bob Pass of the United States and finally by Jimmie Dobbs, who in turn sold the car to its present owner, in whose collection it has been properly maintained and cared for by specialists. As presented, the car remains a very well-maintained original example that retains its original Ardun hemi-head Mercury motor and shows less than 37,000 reportedly original miles. In contrast to many other such cars, this J2 has never received any major modifications in its lifetime and remains truly unmolested to this day. It is finished in British Racing Green with a dark tan leather interior. One of only 90 examples built before the J2 was revised and renamed the J2X, it is of course well-suited for the finest road rallies and vintage racing events. |
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