Built: March 1936
The original Allard Special, the best known and most successful of the pre-war cars. There are hundreds of references and accounts of its outstanding performances in contemporary journals, winning most of the major trials at one time or another. At the end of his first season in 1936 The Motor carried a cartoon of CLK5 leaping in the air with the caption “SH Allard climbing almost any hill, in almost any trial”. Looking back in 1941, Guy Warburton said that in 53 events CLK5 had won 83 awards, including 19 Best Performances.
Tom Lush recounts that a crashed Ford 48 Coupe was collected on 24 February 1936 and towed back to the garage. Nineteen days later, on 14 March 1936 the newly built CLK5 was entered in its first event, the Coventry Cup, a photo being published in Motor Sport of CLK5 on this trial. Lush says its first trial was the London-Bournemouth, but this was a day later on 15 March. Guy Warburton in a 1941 article said it was built from a 1934 Type 40, and a nearly contemporary Motor Sport article in 1937 said it was based on a cut down 1933 chassis, which would have been a type 40. CAN May, describing CLK5 on its first appearance introduces a common misunderstanding by saying that CLK5 is a rebuild of Sydney’s earlier TT Ford.
COMPETITION HISTORY
Contemporary reports show CLK5 being used in most of the main events and with great success. Looking back on the pre-war years, Guy Warburton said that in its first season, in Sydney’s hands, it had competed in 22 events and gained 35 awards: eight best performances of the day, four runners up, three special cups, eight first class awards, four second class awards and eight team awards. Warburton then competed in twenty nine events up till July 1939 gaining forty eight awards: 11 best performances of the day, seven runners up, two special cups, seven first class awards, four second class awards and 17 team awards. Ken Hutchison entered many events in the first post war season and continued to have great success, including winning the Lockhart-Bossingham trophy, the Carless Cup on the Vesey trial and being runner up on the High Peak trial. Restrictions in the availability of petrol and the rise of Ford 10 engined specials limited the use of the car from 1947 though it was used in competition occasionally by later owners and mainly in Scotland till the early 1950’s.
SPECIFICATION
Chassis
- Probably based on 1933-4 Model 40, or less likely a 1934-5 Model 48. Lush describes how the chassis dimensions were worked out to fit a 2.3 GP Bugatti tail, petrol tank, scuttle, steering box & column by placing key components on boxes and moving them back and forth to fit, ending up with wheelbase at 100″, rear track shortened to 4′ (1937 article says 3’10”) and front track keeping the stand- ard Ford track of 4’8″ but using lighter Ford parts. The front radius arms were moved to be more parallel to the chassis, being fixed under the chassis side rails, giving more ground clearance.
Steering & Brakes
- Bugatti 2.3 GP Steering box and column. During 1936 Ballamy independent front suspension was fitted as Sydney had found that the tail heavy car lost steering on steep gradients.
- Initially fitted with mechanical brakes, Hutchison got Adlards to install hydraulic brakes in 1946.
Transmission
- Standard Ford axle and gearbox with torque tube and drive shafts shortened. Later Sydney experimented with a lockable rear axle of his own devising but gave it up as axle keys kept shearing. Lush refers to using a strengthened rear axle, which could refer to the post 1933 axle which had a stronger pinion mounting and 4 spider gears
Engine
- A Type 40 engine may have been used in the speedy initial construction, and a replacement engine fitted within the first year. By 1937 a 1935 Type 48 was installed with raised compression and Vertex magneto. Guy Warburton bought it in late 1937 and said that in 1938 he replaced the engine “with another reconditioned 1934 unit”. In 1946 a Mercury engine was installed.
Body
- The tail, scuttle and bonnet from a GP Bugatti were acquired and by placing these and the engine on boxes and moving them to fit, the dimensions of the car were established. Initially with fabric bonnet sides and a gap between the bonnet and cowl, a more functional front end was soon installed. In 1946 a new cowl was fitted. In 1954 a new body and engine were fitted, possibly by Tony Rumfitt who says he restored CLK5 to original specification.
WHERE IS IT NOW?
Euan Uglow is the last known owner of CLK5, the last registration expiring in June 1957 at the end of the period he is likely to have owned it. So was CLK5 scrapped after 1957?
Perhaps Peter Valentine’s record (Allard Register 1968) that Tom Lush saw it on a bombsite dealer’s emporium in Staines around 1961 is correct. Tom reported that it had been reregistered.
Tony Batt was building a car in the style of CLK5 and had regained the use of that registration, though later examination of Tony’s car showed many differences from the original specification and it is not clear that anything of the original car remained.
