The tail of the Allard was replaced with a narrower one, the front and rear guards removed and wire wheels adapted to Lancia hubs. Hawkes raced the car in standard form for a while and then engaged Melbourne’s Ern Seeliger to modify it by fitment of an Ardun OHV engine kit and Jaguar 4 speed gearbox with ‘C Type’ ratios to replace the 3 speed Ford Pilot ‘box. Jones sold the car to Geelong, Victoria, driver Tom Hawkes in a deal which involved Jones taking over a Cooper MkV 500 Bill Patterson and Hawkes had raced in England in 1951. In 1951 he raced the car successfully at Rob Roy, at Bathurst where he was timed at 104.8mph on ConRod Straight and at other meetings. Jones first J2 competition event was the 1950 Australian Hillclimb Championship at Rob Roy in November, he finished 2nd in his class. 5 of the 6 J2’s imported to Australia entered this meeting,3 started! (Ray Eldershaw Collection) Color red, ‘standard’ Ford Pilot side-valve spec V8. The J2 in the Bathurst paddock during Stan Jones ownership at Easter 1951.
I wrote an article about Stan’s career, click on this link to read it Stan was well aware of the car’s competition record in the UK and US and bought it on his inexorable rise to the top of Australian Motor Racing. The red painted, side valve Ford Pilot engined car immediately impressed Stan Jones, the 1959 Gold Star and Australian Grand Prix winner and father of 1980 World Champion Alan Jones. He didn’t race, but took it to Mount Panorama for display purposes. Gardner drove the car to the October 1950 Bathurst meeting. Gardner’s premises were on the Princes Highway, Carlton, a southern Sydney suburb. Gardner was appointed the local concessionaire having travelled to the UK to do the deal with Allard himself early in 1950. Tom Hawkes caresses his powerful Allard around the twisty, challenging gravel confines of South Australia’s Collingrove Hillclimb at its inaugural, public, 15 March 1952 meeting…Ĭhassis #99/J/1731 fitted with Ford Pilot engine # 5338/26 was the first of 6 Allards imported to Australia, the car arrived in September 1950 to Rube Gardner’s order. Tom Hawkes, Allard J2, Collingrove Hillclimb, Angaston, SA, March 1952. Markbisset on Bugatti Castlemaine Spring…