Photos by Scott Miller, courtesy RM Auctions.
Nowadays known primarily for his work refining the Corvette into an American sports car, Zora Arkus-Duntov already had a resume packed with high-performance engineering and sports car development experience when he arrived at Chevrolet in the mid-1950s. In the latter category, he could count multiple entries into the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver for Allard, and it’s the car that he drove in the last of those entries – a one-of-seven 1953 Allard JR – that will head to auction in Arizona next month.
In fact, one could look at the Allard JR as a significant inspiration for the direction Duntov would later take with the Corvette. A lightweight roadster on a 100-inch wheelbase loosely based on Allard’s street cars, the JR used independent suspension front and rear as well as a powerful American V-8. With the J2X getting long in the tooth by the end of 1952, Sydney Allard began to plan a new competition sports car, one with the dimensions and twin-tube fabricated chassis of the four-cylinder Palm Beach street car, but with the V-8 drivetrain of the J2X, specifically Cadillac’s 331-cu.in. overhead-valve V-8. With the help of some U.S. Air Force officers who had developed an enthusiasm for sports car racing and for Allards in particular (including General Curtis LeMay and Colonel Reade Tilley), Sydney Allard secured a couple of tuned dual-quad Cadillac V-8s as well as permission to test his new cars on American airstrips in the United Kingdom. The first of his new competition cars went to an American buyer, but Allard designated the next two (chassis numbers 3402 and 3403, registered as NLN 652 and NLN 650, respectively) as his entries in that year’s Le Mans: Allard himself and Philip Fotheringham-Parker would drive 3402, while Duntov – then employed with Allard – would co-drive 3403 with Ray Merrick.
Allard sent out both cars for shakedown races in the spring of 1953 and appeared to enjoy plenty of support both from Cadillac and from his USAF friends. In fact, according to Tom Lush’s Allard, the Inside Story, when the engine in 3402 blew during pre-race testing in France, the Americans were able to remove the engine, stick it on a transport plane bound for Detroit, and then return to Le Mans the next day with a replacement race-prepped Cadillac V-8. All that support seemed for naught, though: While Sydney Allard jumped out in front and led the pack on the first lap, he dropped out two laps later with rear axle troubles. Duntov kept 3403 going into the night and even recorded a pass of 143.35 MPH on the Mulsanne Straight, but dropped out on the 65th lap after covering 560 miles at an average speed of 98 MPH.
Both Le Mans JRs went to the United States shortly afterward, though it’s not entirely certain who bought 3403. According to Lush, Tilley bought it, but RM’s auction description for the Allard indicates that LeMay bought it. Tilley apparently then campaigned it in sports car racing stateside before it first made its way back to England in 1975, and then returned to the States again years later. It has since been restored twice, toured in the Colorado Grand, vintage raced, and even reunited with 3402 in 1990 in Monterey. A dual-quad 365-cu.in. Cadillac powers the JR today.
RM, which will offer the Allard JR at its Arizona auction January 17-18 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, estimates that the JR will sell for between $350,000 and $450,000. For more information, visit RMAuctions.com.
UPDATE (20.January 2013): The Allard beat its pre-auction estimate, selling for $605,000.
