Still these rare photographs miraculously turn up!
Two more recent eBay treasures have been acquired.
These are original press photographs from Silverstone on 8 April 1964 when Sydney Allard's Dragstar Dragon was introduced to the motoring press.
The typed caption on the back reads:
''Ford dealer Sydney Allard offers words of advice to Collett Engineering director Ian Smith before he drops the clutch of the Allard 'Dragon Dragstar' at Silverstone. Allard markets the supercharged 1 1/2 litre dragsters for less than £600 in construction kit form.''
Photograph by Douglas Armstrong, North Lodge, Shurlock Row, Berkshire, England.
Dragon Press pic 1.jpg (404.64 KiB) Viewed 14239 times
Dragon Press pic 2.jpg (407.09 KiB) Viewed 14239 times
There's an interesting conundrum here for Dragon fans and racing historians to consider. One which I haven't seen discussed before.
Looking closely at these two photographs it seems clear that the two cars are not identical. There appears to be a greater angle at the front of the frame on the Works Dragon than on the other one. The roll bar looks taller, the exhaust headers pass below the frame rail rather than above it, and the chassis tubing appears to be of a thicker gauge. Plus the steering pitman arm is positioned differently. These would all appear to be subtle improvements over the other design.
Edit: close examination of the works Dragon photo above reveals that a cropped version of the pic was used in the 'Motor Racing' magazine feature seen on the next page of this thread. Which means that the driver is journalist John Blunsden.