Not a barn find in the strict sense, but all the more mysterious ...
The scenery is reminiscent of the "barn find of the century" in France. But the series of pictures comes from the United States, more precisely from Ohio. For any classic car enthusiast, opening this garage door without warning would certainly have been a life-threatening situation.
Because what was hidden behind the door was reminiscent in every detail of the Cisitalia 202 Coupé, one of the greatest design icons to have made its way into the Museum of Modern Art. The breathtaking and, above all, aerodynamically convincing shape was created by master Pinin Farina.
And it was precisely this shape that convinced the three men Bill Burke, Mickey Thompson and Roy Kinch when they were looking for a suitable shape for their own plastic sports car. And so they created a negative mold of publisher Robert Petersen's Cisitalia 202 while that car was at the painter. The decisive factor was not the attractiveness of the shape, but the aerodynamic efficiency. (The following picture shows the Cisialia 202 (red) next to a restored Allied Swallow in Amelia Island).
The product was called the Allied Swallow and a coupe form could be purchased for USD 685, with all the windows, lights and grille also part of the package. This was not exactly cheap and perhaps also the reason why only around 25 of these plastic bodies were produced between 1952 and 1955, which then found their way onto the chassis of sports cars of the time. One popular option was the MG TD.
Both the original drive set and American V8 engines were possible. In any case, Bill Burke managed an impressive 167 miles per hour on the Bonneville salt lake in his sports car, which was refined with gullwing doors and certainly did not suffer from a lack of power.
The car shown here was built in 1953 by a certain Hal Thompson and he was obviously satisfied with the power of the 1.3-liter MG engine. The car was later passed on to Anthony Spalvieri, who tried to sell the sports car for USD 1500 in "Road & Track" magazine in July 1957. Despite the overhauled engine, this was not successful and so the car remained in the garage until Geoffrey Hacker, the well-known American plastic car historian and founder of the website "f orgotten fiberglass " , was able to buy it. This was about a month ago.
We see Geoff inspecting the car for the first time before it is put on the trailer. The price was not disclosed, but the 1500 American dollars from 1957 were probably not quite enough. According to Hacker, the car is complete and could be restored with a little work.
First, however, the car is to be shown in its current condition at the Boca Raton Concours. And there, the first owner will even be able to celebrate a reunion with the car.
For the collector, the Allied Swallow offers an interesting dilemma. Although it is rarer than the Cisitalia 202, it is of course first and foremost a copy, but one that has been given its own identity by the individual builders of the 25 or so cars, as can be seen from the interior. For plastic sports car fans, however, it is the first choice anyway.
The pictures were kindly provided by Geoffrey Hacker.
