Description
1950 - Allard J2 FIA
Chassis no. 99J1557
French collector's registration
View details:
Like Enzo Ferrari or Caroll Shelby, Sydney Allard started out as a racing driver, before moving into the construction of sports and racing cars. While Ferrari was Italian and Shelby American, Allard was a pure Briton, born in London. He set up the Allard Motor Company in the aftermath of the Second World War, and while he built road-legal sports cars, his real aim was, again like Ferrari and Shelby, to design racing cars to run and win... Like Shelby, he chose not to build engines, preferring to rely on the power offered by a variety of mainly American V8s.
The first car to go into production was the J1, built in 1946/ 1947, quickly followed by the far more elegant and sophisticated J2. The racing versions of the J2, with motorcycle-style front fenders, were stripped of all luxury and superfluity, in the interests of maximum lightness. The aluminum-bodied J2 roadster weighed in at just over 900kg, even with a mostly cast-iron American V8 engine.
Available in both road and lightweight racing versions, the J2 enjoyed racing success on both sides of the Atlantic. It took third place overall in the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours (driven by Tom Cole and Allard himself) at an average speed of 141. 20 km/ h, powered by a Cadillac V8 engine - arguably Allard's most remarkable result in racing history. At the end of 1951, the J2, of which 90 were built, was replaced by the J2X (X for Extended, i. e. enhanced).
Under the hood of the Allard J2 and J2X, which could be purchased without an engine, were various American V8s, including Ford side-valve V8s, Cadillac overhead-valve (OHV) V8s and early versions of Chrysler's hemispherical combustion chamber V8s, already known as Hemi. The Allard J2 and J2X were so popular that today, a well-prepared example can be invited to almost any historic race.
Unlike the majority of Allards, the car offered for sale, chassis #99J1557, spent most of its life in England, and is characterized by its right-hand drive - an asset in racing! It can be traced back to the early 1980s, when it was restored and began scouring the English racing scene. In 2016, its Ford side-valve V8 was replaced by a Mercury V8 fitted with Allard cylinder heads, and tuned by Royal Customs to 170 bhp... With a transmission completely revised and optimized by WG Racing, who have been monitoring it since its arrival in France, and a PTH valid until 2033, this sublime, high-performance Allard, duly registered in France, is ready to take the start of the Le Mans Classic, the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and the Goodwood Revival, all events where it has already raced...
