6 Unfortunately, Hordern-Richmond underestimated the cost of producing the bodies and informed Allard they needed to significantly raise their fee for building them. This would have pushed the Clipper’s price to a point where it would not have been competitive, so production was halted and the project abandoned by the end of 1954. Because of its aborted production run, unusual styling, unimpressive performance numbers on paper, and appearance at the end of the Allard story, the Clipper has been labeled one of the worst cars of all time. But this is very unfair to a car whose ambitions were simply to provide cheap transportation to a populace in desperate need of it, and to keep a small factory running while its owners made plans for the future. This formula worked for BMW whose licensing of the Italian Iso Isetta probably saved that company. Unfortunately for Allard, they did not have the resources of a BMW who, despite experiencing difficulties, still had the ability to improve the original design of the Isetta and make it a viable product. The Clipper was almost there, but Allard couldn’t make it what it needed to be in the end. Allard would limp on until 1957 when automobile production came to an end. The company survived until Sydney Allard’s death in 1966 making ambulance conversions, installing sunroofs, and manufacturing performance kits mainly for British Fords. The Clipper has largely remained a footnote in the illustrious Allard story. Allard cars have become highly treasured, and their prices are well into six-figures these days. Sydney Allard is a revered figure in British motorsports history. His victory in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally in an Allard P1 is considered one of the ultimate achievements by a British racing driver. Most people aren’t aware that his company ever built a primitive microcar. But, among car enthusiasts of the unusual and small, the Clipper has long had legendary status due to its undeserved reputation and general oddballness.
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