Build: December 1937
This well-known pre-war special was fully rebuilt in the early 1970s, taken to America where it was campaigned and photographed, brought back to the UK to be part of Brian Sharp’s collection and then sold on. I have seen it recently and it is a beautiful car in wonderful condition.
ORIGINAL BUILD
Lush records Sydney Allard’s father commissioning “a real touring car” in late 1937 and says it was registered in March 1938. Sydney, with Reg Canham as Sales Manager, was developing the Allard Special as a production range, and EXH455 became the prototype 4 Seater model, featuring in catalogues and adverts. This had been a very busy period for Adlards with ELL300 and ELX50 also being built, EYO750 (the 2 seater prototype) completed by May 1938 and CLK5 receiving major repairs.
KEN NELSON’S REBUILD
Ken Nelson has left a full account, supported by invoices, of the rebuild he undertook. He says the car he took on in June 1970 was “very nearly a useless hulk. None of the body sheet metal was salvageable and only about 25% of the wood could be saved. The car had been altered many, many times…the right rear fender was the only one on the car…the front rails were rotted so badly that 20” of the frame had to be replaced…”
As an Executive of the Ford Motor Co., posted to England and clearly with time on his hands, he engaged some of the leading craftsmen at the time to create what is essentially a new car, as he said “very much better than it was when new”. Little beyond 80% of the chassis and 25% of the wood remains of the original car. The chassis was rebuilt “and in some cases the original design corrected” with a new front end. The front suspension and steering were replaced. New Mercury engine, gears and rear axle. New body and trimming. “Every mechanical part was restored to perfection or replaced with a new one”. He seems to have struggled to restore the front steering and suspension satisfactorily, eventually replacing his “interpreted design” with a complete unit from an early Allard. There have been a number of comments about the car’s steering since then, and Roger Murray Evans feels he has finally sorted out the problems with some major reshaping and repositioning of the caster angle and related components.
Ken took the car back to the USA in 1973, not quite completed. His son Kris says that they could never get the engine to run properly so never used it.
HISTORY
Initially used as chauffeur driven transport for Sydney Allard’s father, post war EXH455 was used in trials, most extensively by BRT Mitchel and JW Parr in Scotland. It seemed to have a chequered life from 1948 moving to Oxfordshire then Ireland where it was modified to coil springs. Back in England by 1952 it was owned and used in Yorkshire in the late 1950’s and then left standing and unprotected for many years before being recovered in 1968. Rebuilt to a better than new standard in the early 1970’s and used in a few events in America, it is now garaged near London.
ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION
The main description of EXH455 is a short article in Motor Sport2 which reads to me like a sales advertisement provided by Reg Canham with small edits by Bill Boddy to show that he had seen the car. With accompanying photographs it gives the following information:.
Chassis
- Follows same specification as the competition 2-seaters with slightly longer wheelbase of 8’6 1⁄2″ (V8) or 9′ (V12). So it would have been built from new Ford chassis members (probably 1932), cut down as necessary.
Steering & Brakes
- Marles high ratio steering box. Cable brakes on all four wheels. Quick release ratchet handbrake.
Transmission
- The 2-speed Columbia rear axle was standard on this touring model in the Allard catalogue, giving an overdrive gear.
Engine
- EXH455 had a Ford V8. The article says a V12 option was available with a slightly longer chassis.
Tank
- Rear 16 gallon slab tank.
Body
- Four seater with full touring equipment. Familiar and imposing radiator guard, dumb-iron apron and bonnet. Flowing front wings and full size running boards. Adequate legroom for rear passengers (though recent owner disagrees). Bill Body said the “demonstration car” (EXH455) was extremely well finished in cream, the body made by Coachcraft who kept the original plans. The factory photo used by Lush and the Motor Sport article show the car with steel wheels but all other photos I have seen, from 1946 onwards, show it with knock off wheels.
