American sports car enthusiasts owe more to British engineer Sydney Allard than they may know. Operating out of his small London garage business, he became famous for his successes in trials competition in the 1930s, driving his own creations that were usually powered by Ford or Lincoln engines and featuring Leslie Ballamy-designed split-axle independent front suspension. During WWII, Allard serviced and rebuilt mainly Ford military vehicles and by the time the war was over, he had amassed a large array of spares and an extremely well-equipped shop. Faced with a pile of surplus engines, he expanded his offerings from trials cars into road going cars with the K1 of 1949\\. The K1 featured a box-section chassis, Ballamy's innovative front suspension, live rear axle and an attractive two-seat steel body. Power came via British-built Ford or Mercury V8 engines, with the Mercury being the performance choice thanks to its 95hp output. Some of those engines were offered with the Ardun OHV conversion developed by Zora-Arkus Duntov, a man who was Allard's technical advisor and who went on to become the father of the Corvette at Chevrolet. With the K1 and subsequent models, Allard made quite a splash in the fledgling American road-racing scene. Open road racing was gaining popularity in the USA, as WWII veterans were returning home with sports cars purchased in Europe and were seeking a suitable place to exploit their performance. Allard was there to provide affordable sporting cars that could return serious performance and win races- particularly the famous Olds and Cadillac powered J2 and J2X.