Apart from a broken inner drive shaft at the second Valence meeting I had no major failures. While I always understood the Steyr was only on loan to me I knew that at some point I would have to return it. I had spent considerable money on the car but in the early 70’s it was rumoured to me that Alan wanted it back, not to keep it as one of Sydney’s cars but to sell to Alan Tiley. For some time I ignored the rumblings but in the end I returned it. The rear axle being left stripped with the parts in a box. I arranged and paid for the transport by trailer to somewhere in Sussex. That was the last time I saw the car. £40 out of pocket to this day! (15.11.2007)
Following the loss of the Steyr my interest in ‘Things Allard’ waned.
Around 1961/2 I had began to think of my future, principally a nagging worry about having a pension and the long term future of the Allard Company. While the company had started to recover from their financial problems, they were saved by some of the larger debtors recognising Sydney’s racing achievements. The Palm Beach, both 21C and 21Z had been a disaster, not only the lack of interest by the Americans (Allard Motor Company Inc.) but both Triumph and Austin had new small capacity sports cars which were both cheaper and technically better. In the past the Ford Pilot design had close links with the American Ford de- sign this encouraged their development by UK’s small specialist companies. The first prototype 21Z Palm Beach had a Salisbury rear axle with a higher ratio but it needed to match the 13” wheel rims, a change of wheel centres and brake drums. From a cost point of view the decision was to use the Ford rear axle assembly, along with a three speed gear box. There was a solution, by using the 4 speed box which required an adaptor casting to fit to the Ford bell housing. In addition, the US company did not like the body styling. Discussions were made to use fibreglass, further increasing weight and more importantly cost. Following the UK Motor Show ‘potential sales’ were good, however in reality they were poor. In addition the tubular chassis for the replacement P Type Saloon, K3 and Safari were painfully slow in being produced.
In 1964/5 Sydney had asked me to show a collection of Allard spares, which were stored on the fourth floor at Clapham High Street, to Jim Tiller who was a regular competitor with his J2 ‘Old Fella’ and was one of a small band of enthusiasts who competed at race meetings, sprints and hill climbs.