Attention Allard fans! A super rare 1948 Allard L-Type has just surfaced. Only a handful are known to exist today and this one has been hidden away for decades. A restoration was started 30 years ago, but never completed. Find it here on eBay with bidding starting at $19k.
The body was stripped to metal during the restoration attempt, so there is surface rust, but who cares! After a complete restoration you and three friends will be able to feel the wind in your hair as you cruise along mountain roads in the Colorado Grand! Joking aside, this is a very significant example of an Allard touring car which deserves to be saved.
Sydney Allard chose Ford power from the beginning when he combined a V8 with a lightweight Bugatti body to build one of his first trials cars. This engine is claimed to have last run five years ago and it will probably be the most straight forward part of the whole project. Allard built these cars in low numbers, but luckily most of the mechanicals came from Ford, so sourcing replacements should be no problem today.
Things are rough inside too. The dash is a mess and we are not sure what is going on with the shift stick. The top is blew away long ago and it looks like plenty of other bits are missing too. At least the seats are still in place…
I had one of those in 1958, It was a lot of fun to drive but was fitted with a divided front beam axle to create an independent suspension which was very suseptable to gyroscopic-procession, would shake the steering like “a wet dog”,take the skin off your fingers . finally ran out of gear oil and trashed the trans . The.engines were used in army tanks/gren-gun carriers etc in WW2 and are indistructable
Here’s another quick story about some old barn/ shed finds…looking for a trout stream one day in the boonies of southern York County in southeastern Pennsylvania I became frustrating lost on muddy dirt roads off of route 271 that had no signage or direction. I came to a 5 way intersection and spotted an old abandoned gas station and saw this old man standing inside an open side door! I pulled in and ran over to him hoping to get directions and low and behold this place was a time capsule inside. The old greasy floor and work benches with the tools still in place and 1940’s girly calendars on the walls! Immediately in front of me was a 37 Ford Pheaton. When this old guy saw my astonishment,he ask me if I’d like to see more old cars! Well… A 1910, a1929, a 1915 touring, 1940 2-door coupe a1935 a1937 Ford all stored in Trailers in the rear of his property! too many engines and others I can’t recall. That was 1998 as I recall and the sad part of this whole thing was I did not have a camera with me and when I finally got out of there, I could’nt remember how to get back there again. I often wonder what happened to him and his collection? It was really impressive .