Europe’s First Dragster To Visit Northbrook College

Let’s set the scene. Back in 1960/’61 American Johnny Tillotson was high in the Pop Music charts with ‘Poetry in Motion’. The Beatles were yet to be discovered and traditional jazz was popular with bands like Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball competing for chart success. It was the time when Jaguar launched their first E-Type.

But in a small workshop situated in Clapham, South London something else was taking place; something that would change the face of British motorsport forever. British sports car manufacturers and multi-motorsports champion Sydney Allard set his team the task to build Europe’s first dragster – the Mk I Allard Chrysler. Powered by a blown 354 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi engine, for several years it was Europe’s only dragster. It was retired in 1964 with the engine being used in a replacement dragster that was still racing in the late 1960s.

The original Mk I Allard Chrysler was then stored in several workshops and barns and went through a partial restoration carried out by Brian Golder in 1979.  Upon his death in 1992 it was bequeathed to the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu – still without an engine and many key running gear components.

Early in 2008 a group of drag racing enthusiasts got together and approached the National Motor Museum with a plan to complete Brian Golder’s restoration and turn the static exhibit into a dragster that could be fired up. The Allard Chrysler Action Group (ACAG) was formed with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason as its Patron, and for the last five years they have raised funds and carried out the work to achieve this aim. The IMI partnered this challenge linked to their apprenticeship programmes and a regular series of articles have been published in MIM Magazine.

This June, the dragster will be handed back to the museum during the Beaulieu Custom and Hot Rod Show on June 16th. They have given special permission for the car to attend the Northbrook College event on the evening of June 13th and if the weather is fine the team plan to fire up the car that started drag racing in Europe. Quite an occasion and one not to miss. ACAG Chairman and author of Crazy Horses: The History of British Drag Racing, Brian Taylor, along with other key members of the team, will be there.

More details about the Allard Chrysler dragster can be found on www.allardchrysler.org.