When I was a wee lad, my father announced to the family that he was
proceeding in a search for a Model T Ford for a family project. Me, I
dreamed of Triumphs and Jaguars and Ferrarris and was a firm fan of the
bowtie crowd. My passion for the sports car included checking out 15 year
old sports car tomes out of our local library. The idea of a Ford in the
family filled my heart with dread.
I know that I had seen reference to Allards before in those ancient, dusty
volumes (I am sure that I was the only onhe who checked out these products
of McCahill, et al. in the community) but had ignored them with the thought:
"They can't be much, I have never heard of them!" Even the coincidence of
name did not attract me to further investigation.
But one evening, while awaiting for my dad to come home from a late stint at
work, I had some extra time. I opened a book by Tom McCahill to ALLARD and
the first paragraph read: "There are more ALLARDs in the US capable of
exceeding 150 mph than all other so called "fast hacks" combined." He went
on to say: "Sydney Allard did more damage to the small displacement high
revolution sports car industry then Mssrs Hirohito, Mussollini and Hitler."
The rest of the article was in a similiar vein.
I was hooked. When my dad got home that evening, I raced up to him with the
book and with preadolsecent ardor proclaimed my find. My father looked at
the book, skimmed the chapter and said: "Well they must have built more of
them than I had thought."
This prompted our looking at the classified ads in the Seattle papers, and
within a few months first one, then another Allard were advertised for sale.
Road & Track furnished the location of two in Rockport Texas (our first two
aquisitions). During the late 60s and early 70s we ended up purchasing a
total of 6 of the cars. The middle 80s brought in one more. We can safely
say that my family has the largest collection of Allards in the world.
I now also have the largest collection of Allards in art. I have the
largest collection of Allard models and toys that we know of.
I could have and do collect other cars. I have two MGs and a Triumph. But
nobody else is as successful as I have been in their efforts to become a
curator of Allard memorabillia. It would be impossible for a person my age
to achieve a similiar stature in MGs, Jaguars, Ferraris, Corvettes, Triumphs
etc. The process of accumulation would be much easier, but there is also so
much more available. Allards were almost a forgotten marque a few years
ago, and I like to think that I have had something to do with it's
ressurection to recognition now.
But there are no master works on Allards. There are thousands of lbc fans
out there and I try to utilize your resources to assist me in my cataloging
efforts. Before my posting on Allards in Movies, most of you did not know
that Allards had EVER been in a movie. Before I talked about collecting
Allard toys and models most of you (and many Allard collectors for that
matter) did not know of their existence either.
Please put up with these occasional posts. It is fun for me and hopefully
entertaining for you. It might prompt you the next time you walk through a
swap meet (or auto jumble) to pick up that odd looking 12 inch long wind up
toy and say "Gee, this looks like an Allard, I know a guy who will be quite
"chuffed" to get his hands on this!"
There was one other person in the Allard fraternity who was doing this type
of thing. He died last year. I am the only person in the new generation
doing this type of yeoman's work.
PS My dad never did buy that Model T!!!!!
John Allard
>1946 Allard L-1 Touring Car
>1954 Allard Palm Beach Mk I
>1968 MGB Roadster o/d ww rough (and for sale!)
>1969 MGB GT (under reconstructive surgery)
>1980 Triumph TR 7 (future project)
>1986 Mazda RX 7 (with all these British Cars, I have to have SOMETHING I
can trust!
1983 Chevrolet Conversion Van by Trailwagons Inc.
BSA 441cc Victor
BSA 600cc Gold Star (500 with factory kit)
Email at: Jallard@gonzo.wolfe.net
JohnALLARD@AOL.COM
Snail mail to: 1602 South 5th Ave.
Yakima WA, 98902-5926
Voice Mail: 509/457-5901
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