300 hp, 427 cu. in. Cadillac V-8 engine, four-speed manual gearbox, semi-independent split front axle, de Dion rear suspension, Lockheed four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,540 mm

• Delivered new to Cuba

• Extremely powerful Cadillac OHV V-8 engine

• Formerly owned by Pat Hart and Jack Goffette

Sydney Allard was an ingenious and competitive specials builder in the U.K. who became very successful building trial cars before World War II. The family’s Ford dealership provided the home for his efforts and most of the components upon which they were based.

Following the war, England was desperate to rebuild its domestic economy, decimated by years of aerial attacks and war-focused production. Exports were essential and the government decreed that scarce resources would be allocated only to those enterprises that produced hard currency revenue. Faced with limits on the supply of parts and material to return to racing, Sydney Allard did what any self-respecting racer would; he adapted his V-8-powered pre-war trials car to circuit racing and looked for customers in the world’s hard currency capital, the United States.

The medium for this enterprise was called the J2. It was as Spartan as a Spartan race car could be and was built along the rugged lines of Allard’s pre-war trials cars. Powered by the reliable and readily available Cadillac V-8, the J2 was easily modified and maintained, as there was certainly no shortage of speed equipment geared to the L-Head V-8, and any mechanic worth his salt was quite familiar with the powerplant. The J2 utilised Allard’s preferred split beam swinging arm front suspension with coil springs and employed a de Dion-style live axle with inboard drum brakes. The brakes themselves came from the Jaguar XK120 but worked much more effectively on the 700-pound lighter Allard.

Fitted with American V-8s, the Allard J2s were without exaggeration rip-snorting, loud, thumping creatures that inspired drivers and spectators with their looming presence and thunderous performance. There was nothing subtle about a J2 on the track; finesse had no place in the J2’s performance equation. It was a deafening, brutal balance between torque and control. The typical Allard body was very much in the spirit of the times: a simple two-seater with cycle fenders. The car was festooned with blisters, fairings, vents and louvers with small cowlings in front of each occupant’s seat where they crouched behind a pair of Brooklands aero screens.

According to the factory production records contained in Tom Lush’s book Allard: The Inside Story, this car, chassis number J2089, was despatched on 31 July, 1951 to Cuba. As an illustration of the worldwide reputation of the Allard marque, surrounding chassis numbers in the list went as far afield as Australia, Singapore, Malaya, Japan, Finland and the USA.

By the 1980s the car was owned by William Farrell of Florida (notably the closest point of the USA to Cuba) and had by that time received a comprehensive restoration that incorporated a later 427-cubic inch Cadillac engine along with the accompanying automatic gearbox. Given the political unrest in Cuba in the late 1950s and the subsequent lack of travel and trade, it is reasonable to assume that the Allard was exported in or around the time of the revolution to South Florida, home to the largest exile community of Cubans.

Given the prodigious power of this newer engine, the choice of gearbox would have been a wise one, as many period racers discovered. In his book Red Wheels and White Sidewalls, famous Allard J2 racer Bill Pollack describes the system of throwing away either gearbox cases or gear-sets at alternating race meetings due to the damage inflicted on the weak three-speed manual transmissions. In fact, another well-known J2 racer, Fred Wacker, ran his first car known as the ‘8-Ball’ with a Dyna-flow automatic gearbox.

In 1989, J2089 was purchased by well known Seattle collector Pat Hart to join his impressive stable of cars, and the car’s history file includes a photograph of the car on display in the collection. The car remained with the Harts until 2006 when fellow Washington State resident and long-time Allard enthusiast Jack Goffette purchased it. Shortly after buying the car, Mr. Goffette took part in the Allard Register Northwestern Tour, which is covered in the Fall 2006 edition of the Register’s newsletter, a copy of which is in the car’s file.

In its current form the car offers electrifying performance; the engine fitted is rated at 375 hp with 525 ft/lbs of torque, coupled with the comfort and convenience of the automatic transmission. However, given the wide variety of prestigious events for which it is eligible, should the new owner wish to return the car to a more ‘standard’ state of tune, it comes complete with the major parts of a correct, period 331-cubic inch Cadillac engine, including Offenhauser rocker covers and dual four-barrel carburettors and intake manifold, plus a freshly rebuilt Borg Warner T10 four-speed gearbox, the gearbox of choice in such performance applications.

Finished in red with black leather trim, the car comes with all duties paid in the UK and with current MoT test certificate.