Hi Folks, in response to Ardun Doug's item about the Allard connection,
yes, Allard had something to do with the story. Zora went over and
worked for them for a couple of years, say '51-'52, as a development
engineer. He drove an Ardun-Allard for them in the '52 (I think) 24
Hours of LeMans, but something broke after 12 or 14 hours. In the mid
'90s he published a charming story about the experience in Road & Track.
Zora made Arduns in New York in the late '40s, probably in smallish
numbers, originally in the pattern with their water outlets on the ends
of the heads. When the '49 Ford/Merc appeared with the new distributor
in the way, he changed them to the late type with the water outlet in
the center. Probably about the same time, he made arrangements for the
AC Company in England, famous then and now for building the double-deck
London buses, to start manufacturing heads for him, with his capital. In
'50-'52? Allard built a number of cars with these Ardun-Fords, as an
alternative to Cadillac V-8s at the customer's option. An Allard
brochure from '50 or '51 (not dated) states "Sole Manufacturers and
Concessionaires of Ardun Equipment. Home and Export Sales." I imagine
this means AC was making it in their plant, and Allard was handling
export to (mainly) U.S. and other markets, and using some in their own
cars. A document exists showing that in '51 Allard hired an outside
consulting engineering firm to do some dyno testing and development work
on the Ardun, whose report we have. So obviously Allard was serious
about using and racing the Ardun in that period, and can be said to have
contributed to development in that sense.
But in truth, in the U.S., Clem TeBow and Don Clark at C.T. Automotive
did the first real Ardun racing development and made a Bonneville record
engine out of it. They were followed by many more, and I daresay none
of them knew or cared what Allard was doing in England.
The Ardun story is a tangled one, but all the original literature has
come down to us, saved by dedicated people like Tom Senter, Ardun Doug,
Robert Whitehead, and Mike Hart, who provided me some rare items not
seen before. Doug and Robert both offer fine collections of reprints,
which are available for modest prices. So anyone who wishes to can
reconstruct the history for themselves from original materials with very
little trouble.
What's more, we are told that a writer who is a family friend of Zora
and Elfi Arkus-Duntov has been given access to their private archives
and has a biography of Zora in preparation. I hope this will shed even
more light on the Ardun story. Cheers from Ardun Bill in the Great
Dismal Swamp
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