Developed by successful British race driver and car builder Sydney Allard, the J2 was created primarily for the US market to fill America’s voracious postwar appetite for sports cars. Years ahead of the AC Cobra or Sunbeam Tiger, Allard combined a light and nimble British chassis with big American V-8 power to create a reliable and formidable automobile.

The known history of this particular J2, chassis 1788, begins when it left London on November 21, 1950, bound for E. Alan Moss, the Allard distributor in Hollywood, California. It was painted black with a red leather interior and was set up to accept a Cadillac engine. Interestingly, according to Colin Warnes of The Allard Register, this J2 was born with the round heat-extractor portholes seen on the car today, as opposed to the more common oval portholes, making it unique and easily identifiable.

The Allard was purchased new by privateer racer Jack Armstrong of Alhambra, California, a test pilot for Douglas Aircraft. He painted it light gray and campaigned it to several significant podium finishes. His first race was at the 1951 Palm Springs Road Races where he finished an impressive 2nd to Marshall Lewis, who was driving Jim Kimberly’s Ferrari 166 MM. For its next outing, Armstrong drove the Allard 350 miles from Hollywood to Pebble Beach, where, remarkably, he finished 4th in the first race with his luggage still on board. In the second race, The Pebble Beach Cup, Armstrong finished 2nd to Bill Pollack’s full race-specification Allard, beating Phil Hill in his Alfa Romeo 2.9. Impressively, Armstrong achieved these results while keeping the car largely stock, as it was his daily transport. In the September 1951 issue of Road & Track magazine, he stated “uppermost in my mind was the knowledge that the car had to get me back to Los Angeles in time for work Monday morning.”

Armstrong eventually sold the Allard, and it passed among several collectors, including Road & Track editor Tony Hogg, before being acquired by automotive historian Ron Kellogg in 1986. Mr. Kellogg loved this Allard so much he stored it in his living room. By 1990, the car was painted black, and the current owner purchased it from Dragone Classic Motorcars in Orange, Connecticut, around 2007. Offered from a significant sports car collection, the Allard is now finished in its original color scheme.

The story of this J2 perfectly encapsulates the golden era of California sports car racing when privateers could buy competitive cars straight from the dealership, drive them to the track, campaign them successfully, and still drive them to work on Monday morning. Allards with such fascinating provenance do not often come to market, so collectors are encouraged to seriously consider this special J2.

*Please note that this vehicle is titled by its serial number, which is 8M536.