ALLARD'S CONTINUATION JR
Allard Motor Company, a name created in the 1930s from a love of racing, coachbuilding and pre-war ‘hot-rodding,’ is making its comeback for the first time in 60 years and introducing the Allard Sports Cars JR continuation series. This has been a collective family project to bring back the Allard name and continue the founding father’s (Sydney Allard) legacy. Hand built in the UK by Sydney’s son Alan and grandson Lloyd, alongside his other grandson Gavin who is archivist of the Allard Owners Club, the JR continuation model has been built using original drawings and parts, design bucks and traditional materials to the original 1953 JR Le Mans racing specification.
Alan Allard said: ' Watching my father build these cars in period is a memory that will always stay with me. The skills he passed on to me are now with my son Lloyd, who has engineered and built the continuation you see today. Over 84 years on since the first Allard car was built, car number eight [after seven original JRs in teh 1950s] continues my father’s legacy and if he saw what we were doing today as a family, I know he’d be proud – and desperate to see how it performs on track.'
Since racing is such a large part of the company’s legacy and passion, the family decided to create the JR continuation series to be competitive and offer customers the option of HTP papers and accreditation. Fitting the JR with a re- engineered version of the original-specification Cadillac 331ci (5428cc) overhead valve V8 (300bhp@4500rpm), Allard Sports Cars is also offering three- and four-speed gearboxes, and a differential final drive with selection of quick change transfer gears, as well as providing the option to vary the ratio to suit specific events, race circuits and road rallies.
The dramatic and aerodynamic aluminium drop-head body has been built using the 1953 body buck created by the JR’s original designer, Dudley Hume. The family has also kept the original divided front axle suspension and twin tubular chassis to retain the JR’s low weight of just 2200lbs (dry). Chassis number 3408 was offered for sale as a track- only car at RM Sotheby’s London sale on 31st October with an estimate of £180,000-£240,000. Further cars can be put through an IVA inspection for road use, and the price is estimated to start at £295,000. See www.allardsportscars.co.uk