It’s been a very long time since Bill Pollack raced his Cadillac-powered Allard to victory through the forested road course of Pebble Beach. His back-to-back wins in ’51 and ’52 over Phil Hill and others cemented his place in history as one of the best ever. He remains the only surviving winner of the Pebble Beach races.
In the third week of August, some 60 years after his final Pebble win, Pollack returned to Pebble Beach aiming for a Concours d’Elegance triumph with a car he raced in Southern California in 1953. The car is the Mameco-Ardun and Pollack drove this ground-pounder to a class win at Santa Barbara and 6th overall at March Field in 1953. The car had also been raced at Pebble Beach and Golden Gate in ’53 with Warren Gerdes at the wheel.
After going missing in the 1950s, the whereabouts of the Mameco-Ardun remained obscure until the mid-1990s when Robert Lugo figured out (based on a detailed period magazine article) that the car his father bought in the 1960s was Pollack’s old mount.
In August, Pollack and the car were reunited for the first time in 59 years. Not missing the opportunity, the Pebble Beach Concours officials arranged for a film crew to cover the event. The car’s owner, VR’s own Mark Brinker, also drove Pollack around the original road course in the Mameco-Ardun as Pollack provided colorful narration. On Sunday, Pollack and Brinker drove the Mameco-Ardun onto the show field following an 18-month frame-off restoration performed by Hatfield Restorations of Canton, Texas. Along with Pollack, a huge number of families associated with the car in the 1950s were in attendance, including the Tritts, Gerdes and Martindales.
Pollack spent much of the day sitting behind the wheel, speaking with fans, posing for photos and signing autographs. Not surprisingly, he won again at Pebble Beach as the Mameco-Ardun was awarded the coveted Dean Batchelor Trophy.
