Original British car maker Allard Sports Cars to build original Allard JR and bring restored original Allard Palm Beach MkII to Silverstone Classic

The company is headed by both Sydney Allard’s grandson Lloyd and son Alan. The famous British automotive brand Allard Sports Cars, still owned by the original family and whose founder designed, built and raced cars bearing his own name, is in the final stages of restoring an Allard Palm Beach MkII.

This car is one of only half a dozen cars ever produced, the prototype 1956 Palm Beach was found a year ago in poor but original condition and taken to Allard’s premises, where a ground-up restoration schedule was put in place. The Palm Beach will be on the Allard Owners’ Club display area at Silverstone Classic, 26-28 July.

Alan and Lloyd Allard’s team, which includes Dudley Hume and David Hooper (the original Allard chief draughtsman and the factory’s chief engineer, respectively), is also in the process of building an Allard JR racecar to original 1953 specification, as raced by Sydney Allard; it will therefore carry the continuation chassis number 3408 and have the FIA HTP certification required for participation to historic races such as LeMans. It will be the first original Allard to be built by the family business after a gap of 55 years.

Fewer than 2,000 Allard sportscars were built from 1946 to 1958 and their value as classic cars (especially if with a racing pedigree) has been steadily increasing over the last few years. The 1953 ex-Le Mans, ex-Zora Arkus-Duntov No. 5 JR was sold in January this year for $605,000 by RM Auctions.

There are plans in place to re-launch an Allard Palm Beach MkIII, a model which was planned in 1958 by Allard but never built.