Book Reviews, July 1977, July 1977

“Allard -The Inside Story” by Tom Lush. 207 pp. 9+ in. x 7; in. (Motor Racing Publications, 28 Devonshire Road, London, W4 2HD. £7.95.)

Although we reviewed an Allard history as recently as last May, and very good it is, if you can afford the extra price of Lush’s book you will get more information and more pictures about this very sporting, now defunct, make of car. Indeed, this book is more about the Allard’s creator, Sydney Allard, “The Guv’nor” than is the earlier Allard book. Tom Lush worked on Sydney’s cars as mechanic and rode with him on epics such as the Monte Carlo Rally, the Targa Florio, etc., and consequently his book contains detailed and accurate information about how the building of Sydney’s first Bugatti-tailed Allard led to the production of these cars in various forms by Adlards Motors Ltd.

The book is of landscape shape to humour the non-glossy illustrations and its chapters run from the early to the closing years, through the 1930 -1936 and 1937 -1939 period, and cover the war years when Adlards serviced Army vehicles, the formation of the Allard Motor Co., the post-war struggle, the building of the Steyr racing single-seater, Show Allards, and the saloon model, how Sydney became Hill-Climb Champion in 1949, International incidents, the X-series cars, the 1952 victory in the Monte Carlo Rally, the Palm Beach and other models, the diversified years from 1954 to 1958, the book ending with the fire at the Clapham premises and Sydney’s death from cancer. Because Lush was there he writes of it from first-hand knowledge, which makes the book live, and he has provided long tables of Allard production records, a summary of all models from Ji to Type 72, through Ks, L, M, P, J2, K2, K3, J2X, M2X, P2, etc., a list of the pre-war Specials, commencing with the famous CLK 5, and details of other Allards. As I know Lush well and remember the pre-war and post-war Allard activities, I was asked to contribute the Foreword. Even more pictures, and an index, would have been nice. -W.B.

The English translation of that odd Russian book, half novel, half history, notably about Citroen and Ford, by Ilya Ehrenburg, is now available from Pluto Press, for £2.70.

“We At Porsche”, the autobiography of Dr. lng. h.c. Ferry Porsche, first published in America in 1976, is now available here, from the Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford, Yeovil, for £5.95.

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A soft-cover book about “Automobile Brakes and Braking” is available for £1.35, from Newnes-Butterworths, Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8PH.

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Commercial vehicle and ‘bus fanatics will find the enormous volume on “The Leyland Bus” a tremendous treat. Written by Doug Jack, it covers in 440 big pages and over 700 pictures, the development of the Leyland ‘buses from the earliest days to the present, a unique record of nearly 80 years of these famous ‘buses, by Leyland’s own Export Manager. The Foreword is by Lord Stokes, and in the pages of this enormous book we read of Lion, Tiger, Titan, Comet, Worldmaster, National, B15, indeed about all the great Leyland passenger service vehicles, with asides about lorries, char-a-bancs. There are extensive tables, rare photographs mostly from the Leyland archives and the Transport Publishing Co., of Glossop, Derbyshire, is handling production, the book selling for £13.50. – W.B.

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The AA have published a comprehensive and very helpful book of London street plans and Collins have issued an outsize in road maps of Britain and Ireland (their title), to a scale of 4 miles to the inch, and consequently very easy to consult. It also contains many town maps and is priced at £1.95.

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In the same format as the Rolls-Royce book we described last month, IPC Transport Press Ltd. have published a big-paged softcover volume about the Aston Martin, commencing with an introduction by Sammy Davis about how it all happened, in the Bamford and Martin days, and running right up to the 1973 V8 road-test. There are many fine colour plates, a list of all AM models through the ages, and the whole book is redolent of the days when the famous British sports car was in the ascendent, whether Lionel Martin, Bertelli, David Brown or otherwise sponsored, not forgetting the present-day Newport Pagnell cars. The cutaway drawings, road-test figures, Gordon Crosby pictures, etc. make this a good buy for all AM followers. The editor is Peter Gamier and the book sells for £1.25.—W.B.