Allard, much like Ferrari and Porsche, began as a phenomenon of the Automotive Renaissance - those exciting, innocent years immediately following World War II.

All three marques were race-bred lines fostered by charismatic genius, and all three earned immediate respect on the road as well as on the track.

If ever a motor manufacture was an enthusiast, it was Britain's Sydney Allard.

By 1929 he was racing a three-wheeled Morgan at Brooklands.

But while Ferrari and Porsche pursued engineering and aesthetic finesse approaching artwork, Sydney Allard's approach was the antithesis.

His cars were pure utilitarian machines - crude products of a single-minded effort to harness brute torque and horsepower and most effectively apply it to the road.

Based from his family's garage, before World War II, he graduated to racing flathead Fords and then to building specials powered by both Ford V-' and Lincoln V-12's.

Postwar, the Allard Motor Company turned out a variety of sports and racing ca...