Introduced in October 1949, the Allbon Arrow was a 1.5 cc glow-plug motor of extremely neat and compact appearance, also being notably lightweight for its displacement. It was constructed along the same lines as many of the second-generation diesels which were then appearing in Britain, utilizing 360 degree radial cylinder porting allied to crankshaft front rotary valve (FRV) induction. Like all Allbon products, it was very well made. It was also an extremely fine-handling unit, being unusually easy to start. 

That said, the plain fact was that the performance of the Arrow fell well short of expectations. Word of this quickly got around among the British power modelling fraternity, doing no favours at all to designer Alan Allbon's reputation. To his credit, Allbon recognized this immeadiately and wasted no time in developing a replacement diesel version of the Arrow which was to become famous as the Allbon Javelin. In this form, the engine was a resounding success, restoring the Allbon name to its former prominence almost immediately.

The Arrow continued in limited production until the end of 1950, when financial woes (detailed elsewhere) forced Allbon to seek new and reduced-scale premises. Thereafter, production of the Arrow ceased to be a priority for Allbon. Serial number evidence suggests that perhaps 2200 examples were produced in total.

A full review of all the early Allbon FRV models may be found elsewhere on this website.  This includes a full review and test of the Allbon Arrow.