The Allard Palm Beach was released as the Allard Motor Company’s more affordable sports car in 1952. The model would compete with similar cars from MG, Triumph, and even Jaguar and Aston Martin.
Although Allard is largely forgotten today the company’s impact on the automotive world was significant. Its lightweight British roadsters with powerful American V8 engines would be driven by both Carroll Shelby and Zora Arkus-Duntov in the 1950s, inspiring them to create the AC Cobra and the V8 Corvette respectively.
Fast Facts – The Allard Palm Beach
- The 1952 Allard Palm Beach was created as an affordable sports car to compete with British brands like MG and Triumph. It featured a lightweight design and was available with Ford inline engines, later being upgraded to a Jaguar XK inline-six for improved performance in the Mark II version.
- Sydney Allard, a successful racing driver, founded the Allard Motor Company and revolutionized automotive design in his own way. His racing success, including winning the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally, helped make the Allard brand a household name. The Palm Beach was developed as an entry-level model to attract U.S. customers.
- The Mark I Palm Beach came with a 1.5 liter or 2.3 liter Ford engine, offering modest performance. However, in 1956, the Mark II model debuted with the more powerful 3.4 liter Jaguar XK engine, which could produce up to 250 bhp. Fewer than 80 Palm Beach cars were produced, and the Jaguar-powered models are typically the most valuable.
- The 1953 Allard Palm Beach featured here has a Jaguar 3.8 liter XK straight-six, swapped from its original 2.3 liter Ford engine. Owned by British director John Paddy Carstairs and actor Norman Wisdom, the car was later upgraded with Jaguar disc brakes and a synchromesh gearbox. It’s now up for auction.
A History Speedrun: The Allard Palm Beach
The Allard Motor Company had started out building cars for trials events in Britain, there are essentially timed off-road races, often with challenging uphill sections, covering exceedingly rough terrain. A number of V8 models were built, as well as one Lincoln V12 model, before production had to stop during WWII.
This is the original brochure for the Pam Beach Mark I, showing the engine options available at the time. Image courtesy of the Allard Motor Company.
During the war Sydney Allard focused his team on the repair and maintenance of Ford trucks for the Allied forces, building up a huge catalogue of Ford parts and engines in the process. After the war he quickly switched back to building race cars (and sports cars), including the J1, J2, J2X, K1, K2, K3, and P series cars.
Sydney Allard was an accomplished racing driver in his own right, he would win the 1949 British Hill Climb Championship at the wheel of a Steyr-Allard he built himself. He would later come in second in 1950 and third in 1951.
He also raced his cars personally at the 24 Hours of Le Mans placing 3rd in 1950, he became a crowd favorite along with co-driver Tom Cole Jr as their gearbox had partially failed, leaving them with only top gear – the high-pitched whining sound of the car earned him the nickname “the hissing madman.”
Perhaps his most famous victory was at the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally driving an Allard P1. He would narrowly defeat Stirling Moss, widely regarded as one of the best drivers in the world at the time.
The Arrival Of The Allard Palm Beach
These motorsport successes had propelled the Allard Motor Company into the news headlines and resulted in strong demand for Allard cars. It was around this time that Sydney realised he needed a more affordable model, and so the Palm Beach was created.
Above Video: This is period newsreel footage of Sydney Allard’s famous win in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally, driving one of his own cars and beating Stirling Moss in the process.
The Allard Palm Beach was developed as a sports car to better compete with the offerings from MG and Triumph in the early 1950s – both of which were enjoying strong sales across the Atlantic in the United States.
The Palm Beach was given a modified version of the tubular steel chassis of the Allard K3 and using much the same front and rear suspension systems. The body was entirely made from aluminum alloy to help keep the weight down, and the car had a modestly-sized trunk and a bench seat which could seat three adults shoulder-to-shoulder – though two fitted more comfortably. Later cars would receive dual bucket seats, considered a more sporting option.
The Palm Beach Mark I + Mark II
Early versions of the Palm Beach, retroactively called the Mark I, would receive either a 1.5 liter Ford Consul inline-four or a 2.3 liter Ford Zephyr inline-six. Later Mark II versions, named the Mark II, would be fitted with the far more powerful 3.4 liter Jaguar XK inline-six, an engine that would power five outright winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1950s.
The Palm Beach had been named for the famous beach in Florida, in the hopes of spurring US sales with visions of white sand, clear blue water, and coconut palms waving in the breeze. The performance of the Mark I cars did leave something to be desired, with the 1.5 liter version offering just 47 bhp and the 2.3 liter version offering 68 bhp, though this was inline with the competition.
Allard was better known for using American V8s in their cars, but for the Palm Beach what Sydney really wanted was the ability to fit the car with the then-new Jaguar XK inline-six with a displacement of 3.4 liters which could produce upwards of 250 bhp depending on the state of tune.
This Allard Palm Beach is powered by a much more powerful 3.8 liter Jaguar XK straight-six fitted with triple SU carburetors.
Jaguar initially denied this request, but in 1956 they came around, and Allard was able to release the Mark II version powered by the much more capable 3.4 liter XK straight-six.
All-in-all, fewer than 80 examples of the Allard Palm Beach were made, and no one is exactly sure how many remain in the world today. The later Jaguar-powered cars tend to fetch the most at auction, but all Allard’s enjoy demand thanks to the marque’s strong collector community.
The 1953 Allard Palm Beach Shown Here
The car you see here is a 1953 Allard Palm Beach, making it a Mark I, but its original engine was long ago removed and swapped for a vastly more powerful 3.8 liter Jaguar XK straight-six.
This Allard was bought new by John Paddy Carstairs, a director of many Norman Wisdom films and the popular British TV series The Saint. Around this time the car was said to have been driven by the popular actor and avowed petrolhead Norman Wisdom.
The car would later be sold to a Mr K.C. Baker of Finsbury, London who would keep it for 52 years, only selling it due to old age. During his ownership he upgraded the car significantly, it had originally been fitted with the 2.3 liter Ford Zephyr engine, but Baker was unimpressed with the performance and installed the much larger Jaguar unit, along with the matching Jaguar transmission.
The interior of the car is very well-appointed by the standards of the early/mid-1950s, arguably better than most of the competition.
He also had the car fitted with Jaguar disc brakes all round, Jaguar steering, chrome wire wheels, and upgraded instruments. After he sold the car, it was later upgraded once again, this time with an improved Jaguar Moss gearbox (for the 4.2 E-Type), an all-synchromesh gearbox.
The car is now due to roll across the auction block with H&H Auctions on the 9th of April with a price guide of £40,000 – £50,000 or approximately $51,800 – $64,750 USD. It’s the first time the car has been offered for sale on the open market since 1960, you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more or register to bid.
Images courtesy of H&H Auctions
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
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