Simon TAYLOR

"By the time I'd lifted my foot it had gone from 50 to 125, tail-wagging like Allards should and leaving lots of smoke"

I have met a lot of Allard owners, and I've never met a dull one. People who enjoy driving Allards tend to be quirky, entertaining, even eccentric, and you could say that the same goes for their cars. If an owner grows to be like his or her dog, then maybe Allard owners grow to be like their cars.

Certainly Anthony Martinis is an unusual fellow with an unusual Allard, like two different-shaped pieces of the same jigsaw. The car looks like a J2 on steroids. The man is tall, spare and craggy, with poker-faced humour just below the surface. He is also 94 years old.