The Allard Motor Company Limited was a British low-volume car manufacturer founded in 1945 by Sydney Allard in Clapham, south-west London. Allard produced approximately 1900 cars featuring large American V8 engines in light British chassis and body, providing high power-to-weight ratios. This prefigured later cars such as the Sunbeam Tiger and AC Cobra. Both Carroll Shelby, designer of the Cobra, and Zora Arkus-Duntov, chief engineer of the Chevrolet Corvette, drove Allards in the early 1950s. Allard went insolvent and ceased trading in 1958, having produced cars for just over a decade.
History
Allard Motor Company was founded by Sydney Allard in London in 1945, and the first Allard car was built to compete in "trials" events using a Ford flathead V8 engine in a body based on a Bugatti. The car debuted at the Gloucester Cup Trials and won the 100-mile event at Southport Sands. Later, more Allards were built to order, and modifications were made to the front beam axle, including converting it to independent front suspension using swing axles. Allard also produced modified Fords before World War II, with twelve Allard Specials built by 1939. During the war, Allard worked on Ford-based trucks and built up a substantial inventory of Ford parts.
