1952 Allard J2X
At a sports and exotic car show a while ago, I was feasting my eyes on sculpted classic Ferraris and Maseratis when the ground began to tremble under my feet. As the rumbling got more insistent, I instinctively looked for cover. It was then that I noticed a big, barroom brawler of a sports roadster swaggering in my direction. I’m talking about the blood red 1952 Allard J2X at that time owned by Brian Dietz. It temporarily stole the show as it was positioned on the judging field, and people came from all directions to see what the fuss was about.
Turns out the car came to the States originally as chassis number J2X 3037, and was the 11th J2X built. It was shipped to R/P Motors, in New York, on January 29, 1952. We were able to glean this information, restoration photos and other details from Colin Warnes at the Allard Register, www.allardregister.org, which is a great source for Allard enthusiasts.
As it turned out, Walker Edmiston, the actor whose face and especially voice appeared in many movies and cartoons, purchased this J2X originally. Edmiston later sold the car to ’60s-era talk show host Joe Pyne. Pyne was sort of the godfather of confrontational, Jerry Springer-style talk radio and television, and was famous for interviewing such controversial people as George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi party, as well as members of the Manson family.
Pyne had lost a leg as a result of a World War II injury, so in order to be able to drive his Allard, he had an automatic transmission installed and a section of the dashboard removed so he could get in and out of the car. Pyne and his J2X were a common sight around the Hollywood and Burbank areas because he used it to go back and forth to work.
Then Brian Dietz’s father purchased the car from Pyne in 1967. The father and son team did up the car together and drove it for many years. By 1995, though, it needed refurbishing so Brian sent it to The Vintage Connection in Oklahoma City to be professionally restored. As you can see, the results were spectacular.
Dietz had the dash restored, and installed a modern, close-ratio, four-speed Muncie transmission. He also added a 390-cu.in. Cadillac V8 in order to make the Allard more lethal for vintage racing. He installed safety equipment as well, such as a fuel cell and seat belts, and he replaced the standard windshield with two Brooklands-style racing windshields.
Dietz loved his J2X. He said, “You’re all arms and elbows when driving it,” but he and his wife took the car everywhere. They even drove it in the California Mille—a 1,000-mile run—and enjoyed every minute of the journey, as well as the camaraderie that developed between the participants. Time eventually came, however, for Dietz to go on to other automotive adventures, so he sold his beloved British Brawler to Herb Wetanson, a well-known racer and car collector who now shows it at local events in the New York area.
This J2X is not as aerodynamically clean as its more exotic and high-strung contemporary counterparts, but it makes up for its lack of sleekness with a look of sheer intimidation, and the muscle to back it up. You don’t dare disrespect a J2X. They look as if someone bred a Ferrari with a Hum Vee. This is not entirely coincidental when you consider that the father of the J2X, Sydney Allard, came from a hillclimbing and trials background in England. That’s why all the cars that carry his name are fast and hard to break.
The J2X’s motorcycle front fenders and no-nonsense leather hood straps make the car appear rather purpose-built when compared to the artfully sculpted Alfas and Jags of the era. But the J2X is nonetheless a thing of beauty in its own right with its long, powerful-looking hood, and its later add-on tiny folding twin windshields, ala earlier racecars. The J2Xs weren’t as expensive as their competitors either. They were instead sort of the ultimate in moderately low-buck racer for their day, though now they sell at auction in the neighborhood of $300,000 in good nick.
In the heat of battle, when campaigned at places like Torrey Pines in Southern California and Le Mans in France in the early ’50s, Allards won races and terrified competitors and spectators alike with their huge, deep-voiced, 230 horsepower, race-tuned, 331-cu.in. Cadillac engines and their cobbled-together front suspension that made the wheels camber crazily while cornering. Allards were crude ruffians crashing the exclusive soirees of European aristocrats, and while the Jags and Alfas screamed hysterically, the Allards bellowed with the sounds of loud, lazy American V8 loutishness.
The J2X was the finest of Sydney Herbert Allard’s 1,900 odd automotive creations over the years. Of that number, only 83 were J2X models developed from the earlier, competition J2s. This particular J2X came with wire wheels held on by center knock-offs so they could be changed quickly for racing, plus dual side-mount spares, while the older J2s, as well as many of the J2Xs, generally came with stamped steel wheels and a spare in the boot. The engine was also moved 7.5 inches forward in the J2X and the frame lengthened by six inches, though the wheelbase remained the same, which made the car handle better and gave the driver much-needed leg room.
Comfort was not Allard’s number one concern when he built the J2Xs. There was no hard top and there were no roll-up windows (most J2Xs did come with windshields, soft tops and side curtains though) and the seat was permanently mounted where it was attached to the interior panels at the factory. It took a two-fisted, red-blooded driver to manhandle one to victory in a race. The dash was arrayed with Smiths gauges—some the size of saucers—and the shifter for the original Lincoln Zephyr gearbox was a no nonsense top loader on the floor.
During the ’30s Sydney Allard owned a Ford dealership and garage in London called Adlard Motors, and started building rather potent backyard specials for himself using mostly Ford components. (In case you are wondering, the similarity between the names Adlard and Allard is purely coincidental. Sydney’s father was a prosperous developer who, when he realized his son would not follow him in the family profession, bought an existing Ford dealership for him that was named Adlards.)
As a result, Sydney Allard’s 1930s “Specials” were made largely from spare parts he had around his garage, such as a discarded Grand Prix Bugatti aluminum body and a ’35 Ford coupe chassis. By the late ’30s, his creations were so successful at trials, races and hillclimbs that other well-to-do, would-be racers asked him if he would build similar cars for them. Eleven of these were completed before World War II stopped production, the final one being completed in 1941.
Allard’s Adlard Motors dealership did very well repairing Ford vehicles for the United States military during World War II, and as a result, was well stocked with spare parts when hostilities ended. And Sydney knew that there was a pent-up demand for automobiles, so he formed a new company and began building cars again, mainly as a way to finance his racing career.
Most of his creations from the ’40s came with Ford flathead V8s that sometimes sported Ardun overhead valve conversion kits, although he did build one successful hillclimb special using a war surplus air-cooled, German Steyr V8 engine. Because the J2 was a limited production car, and since Allard didn’t manufacture his own engines, nearly all of his creations were equipped with American V8s. The standard unit was the 21-stud Ford flathead. However, some customers opted for the 24-stud Canadian Mercury flathead that was bored and stroked to produce 140 horsepower.
Allard J2s and J2Xs shipped to the States came without engines and were generally adapted to take the 331 Cadillac engine, but were designed to accommodate almost any combination of engine and transmission. When mated with the Cadillac, Oldsmobile or Chrysler Hemi, the Allards packed a potent punch. These power plants in the lightweight 1,900-pound J2s and J2Xs made for exciting performance indeed.
It has been said that Allard’s Anglo-American hybrid sports cars were the most consistently successful hot rods of all time. The Allard Motor Company used Ford parts where possible in order to save money, thus making their cars not unlike many of the backyard specials being built in the U.S. at the time. But Allard’s creations were well-engineered with light aluminum bodywork and were effective in competition, unlike many of the domestic backyard specials of the time.
In the early ’50s, Allards were derisively referred to as the “Blacksmith’s revenge” as they blasted past competitors who were driving much pricier, more high-strung machines. Indeed, Sydney Allard never strayed far from his hot rodder roots. His racecars were no longer competitive by the mid-’50s, but in the 1960s he brought drag racing to the British Isles with a Chrysler Hemi-powered quarter-miler. Sydney passed away in 1966, but his family still produces high-quality racing components today.
J2s made their mark in American racing almost immediately. On the West Coast, Bill Pollack and Tom Carstens raced Allards, while Erwin Goldschmidt, Fred Wacker and others campaigned them in the East. In fact, at the inaugural race at Sebring, in Florida, in 1950—then a six-hour event—a Cadillac Allard covered the most distance at the highest average speed, with a second J2 right behind it.
However, the handicapping formula that was devised to score the race, which factored in engine size as well as speed, gave the overall victory to a team driving a Crosley Hot Shot of all things. Sydney Allard himself continued to race during that era too, and took a J2 to Le Mans for the 1950 running of the 24-hour endurance race. Despite transmission problems, his Ford-powered J2 managed 3rd overall. The Allard team returned to Le Mans for the next three years, but never bettered that initial result.
The J2s and J2Xs sported De Dion rear ends with inboard drum brakes and long leading arms for support. There were coil springs all around, and the cars were equipped with the somewhat fragile Zephyr three-speed gearboxes. Bodies were all aluminum and there were several models to choose from in the early ’50s. The J was the two-seat competition model, and then there was the K two-seat tourer, and an L four-seat tourer. M designated a drophead coupe, and P meant the car was a saloon.
With the Cadillac engine, an Allard J2X with the right gearing was capable of over 125 mph in an era when Indycars lapped at around 140 mph. Allard handling was spooky at times, due to the car’s somewhat primitive front suspension, but the design was good enough that it was later copied by Lotus and used into the late ’60s on its sports cars.
Peer under the front end of a J2X and what you see is essentially a Ford truck front axle cut in half, with the two halves bolted to a chassis crossmember in the center. This provided a sort of semi-independent front suspension, though the car tended to understeer under acceleration and oversteer during braking.
The front wheels did move up and down separately though, so wheel tramp—a situation where one wheel telegraphs its reaction to a bump, across a solid axle to the other wheel, resulting in uncontrollable alternating bouncing that looked somewhat like Charlie Chaplin walking in his big shoes—was eliminated, but the setup was never a true independent front suspension.
Instead, you had swing axles that caused the wheels to tuck under during acceleration and splay out during braking when the weight of the car was transferred forward, causing the above mentioned somewhat dangerous handling peculiarities. The later J2X had parallel pivots for the swing axles, which mitigated the handling problems that the J2 exhibited to some extent.
Hearing and seeing a big, thundering Allard from the early ’50s is a treat much like hearing one of Carroll Shelby’s awesome Cobras strut its stuff a decade later. In fact, the J2X Allards were the direct inspiration for Shelby’s later creations. Shelby campaigned a J2X during the entire 1953 racing season, and came to appreciate the havoc that big American V8s mid-range torque and brute horsepower could wreak with the European competition in a race. And Shelby’s Cobras had rather primitive suspension as well, and were actually sort of a cross between an American dirt-track sprint car and a European sports car, but they still managed to rub a lot of the continental competitors’ noses in it.
Allard’s brawlers were the result of a synthesis of American muscle and British ingenuity that resulted in some of the most exciting sports cars of all time. Of course, similar things had been done during the ’30s when Britain’s Alvis imported big Hudson sixes to power their offerings; but never before had it been done with such panache. Out of this unholy alliance came not just the J2X, but also the inspiration for the Cobras, as well as other later brawny American automotive beasts such as the solid axle Corvettes and even the Dodge Vipers.
Specifications
Production: 83 (All years)
Weight: 1,900 pounds
Track: Front: 56 inches
Rear: 52 inches
Engine: Usually a Cadillac 331 cubic-inch OHV V8 190-230 HP
Fuel: Four Stromberg 97 two-barrels
Ignition: Vertex Magneto
Clutch: Single dry-plate
Transmission: Ford three-speed, rear end De Dion, in some cases with quick-change, and leading arms
Brakes: Drum brakes in front, inboard drum brakes rear
Body: Aluminum, on chassis
Herb Wetanson’s J2X today is equipped with the same 390-cu.in., race-tuned Cadillac V8 that Dietz installed, and sports the period correct four Stromberg 97, two-barrel carburetors and a Vertex magneto. The carbs were state-of-the-art hot rodding, circa 1952, because the Strombergs could be jetted almost any way you wanted, and the magneto provided a potent spark in the days long before HEI ignition and onboard computers.
To those of us of a certain age, the Allard J2X is nothing less than the prototype for the red-blooded, American sports car. It was awesome looking, powerful and dangerous. It was everything Shelby’s Cobras were for the ’60s generation. Like the Cobra, it became the definition of a real man’s racer for the youth of its era. It was truly the mother of all Cobras, and it was a mean mother at that.
