We used these cars as Pandas in the Met when I first joined. The contemporary in the fleet at that time being the Ford Escort Mk2. While the Allegro was pretty slow, it stuck to the road like sh+t to a blanket, and I used to throw them about through corners without worrying for a moment. As they were replaced with Austin Metros, I had several brown-trouser moments when I would forget which car I was driving, and go flying sideways across the road, because the Metro would simply not hold the road like the Allegro did! Looking at the service log for any Met Allegro with, say, 50,000 miles on the clock, would usually show that it had had three replacement engines and five gearboxes in that time, along with many clutches, but we did thrash them mercilessly 24/7, for months on end. I missed them when they were all replaced.
@@robbierobson3251 The met is the reason they stopped fitting the quartic steering wheel because their premise for placing the order was that the cars were fitted with a round steering wheel.
Had an ex-police Allegro as a garage loan car back in '87. Giveaway, other than the colour, were zips in the headlining and empty screwholes in various places. Don't remember anything else about it.
I had an allegro and drove others, great motors. Great road holding and brilliant ride. Liked the square steering wheel, easier to grip. Amazing space inside for such a small car. Due to the great roadholding easily thrashed.
We are great at running down our homemade cars and bigging up the likes of German cars. My dad had a 4 door 1500 Super Mk.2 in sandglow bought new from Wadham Stringer in Aldershot, trading in a Maxi. The car I learned to drive on, and we loved it other the as you rightly pointed out the boot which was awkward to use. Never gave us any trouble, a reliable comfortable car. Thanks for a sensible review.
There is absolutely no comparison between the awful products of BL and the likes of VW , Audi and in particular Mercedes-Benz , with which the likes of Jaguar , Rover and Triumph tried to compete - the big differences were quality and reliability which was a given in the German Cars and utterly lacking in the British ones .
I always has a thing for classic late 50s-70s British cars, I have owned a couple of Mercs which were mechanically very good but had really bland, bog-standard interiors compared with the walnut dashes and leather seats and trim in a lot of comparable British saloons.
@@derekheeps1244 I agree to a point on reliability but I owned a couple of old Mercs and the interiors were so bland and cheap looking compared to the Jags and other comparable British cars. The trouble with BL and other British cars of that era were that quality control was decimated by factory strikes.
I’m glad you came to the conclusion you did. I had a 1979 Allegro 1750 HL with the E Series engine from the Maxi. It had twin SU carbs and produced 90bhp and a 5 speed box, In Champaign Gold metallic, crush velour seating and full length vinyl sunroof. I loved it and easy to work on. If you could find one of those to take for a drive you would further increase your appreciation for the series 2 Allegro.
I had a white 1500 Super, still had the poo brown interior and the most amazing heater. The extra engine capacity and the more importantly the five speed gearbox made all the difference. It was most happy on A roads but could handle motorways easily. The big thing was the way other drivers reacted to me cruising on the motorway at 75/80. Many drivers took it as some sort of personal insult that they had been overtaken by an Allegro. They would come roaring past in their Cavalier/Cortina only a couple of miles down the road once they had settled down to their regular speed to have me come past them again.
I also had a white 1500 but with a blue interior and velour seats - I can't remember the trim level. The 5 speed gearbox was a great benefit of 1500 as it helped keep the noise down on faster roads. As mine (1976 P reg in 1988-90) had been stored without antifreeze it had a cracked engine block, so if I drove over 50 on the motorway it overheated too quickly! It handled well with predictable but not excessive understeer. And so light, so the power it had made it quicker than later cars that had similar power and more weight.
@stephenmorrish I still get that with my Skoda Estelle. Some people (who have fragile egos) get visibly triggered if a cheap car that's older than them comes past. I had one bloke so desperate not to be passed he triggered a speed camera with his 'ego overtake'. My Skoda was free and bottom of the range so zero ego but maximum fun!
I’m with you in that the Allegro isn’t all bad. A few friends had them when I had my first car ( a Marina so I can hardly talk can I?) so I drove them - no better or worse than anything else at the time. The hydragas always intrigued me and now I have an MGF which has hydragas suspension too. Thank you for a great video.
I started my apprenticeship in '84 when these and others of their age were just bangers. From what I remember, Allegro's weren't really any worse than any others reliability wise, certainly there were no rusty subframe issues like the 1100 and Mini. I think their real problem was image, they were just a bit 'stodge'....you never saw the Sweeney or The Professionals driving Allegro's or Marinas. Back when they were bangers, all bread and butter cars were rust buckets, especially if not cherished by owners such as this car. The survivors from this era are the fortunate few that were owned by loving owners, something that in the days of PCP and leasing will become rarer and rarer. Long live all 70s and 80s junk!!
You're so right. Back in the late 70s early 80s I used to sit in the staff room and watch the car owners (of all UK makes to be honest) white faced waiting for the inevitable bad news phone call on MOT day. It was usually an arm and a leg. Halfords was full... of filler! Dad had an 1100 that drove beautifully but was to all intents and purposes build-wise complete rubbish.
Not sure about the Sweeney but the makers of the Professionals approached Leyland about using their vehicles and were told they would not be given cars. If they wanted to use Leyland cars they would have to buy them. They then approached Ford, and the rest is history. Yet another BL home goal.
@@jackcole3146 There seems to be a common thread that runs through BL and it's catastrophic management style....... cannot quite put my finger on it !!!
Allegros , Marinas and then Metros were used by the police because no one else would buy them ! It was always a standing joke that you could tell an Edinburgh CID car because they were Morris Marinas , and they were just about the only people who drove them .
My dad had three of them over the years. They gave sterling service, all good. When I had my driver's licence in 1974 I could drive my fathers Austin 1300 and later his Allegro, and yes, I liked it. A lot.
My first car was an Allegro - an 1100DL in Pageant Blue, reg LAB730T. Loved it. Had to sort a couple of issues out and only had it a year, brother bought it from me and ran it for 2 years with zero problems. Loved the ride. Everyone else seemed to be getting Minis but I was too tall for those! The Allegro was cheap to run day to day and easy to maintain.
Never had an Allegro but we had an Austin Maxi and loved it - the novelty and practicality of a hatchback with folding rear seats at that time cannot be overstated. 😄
AHahahaha, what a load of tosh. Rear quarter panels, mudguards, front edge of sills. Might look fine. But the only thing maintaining the shape of an Allegro is the paint left behind after the metal has vanished. Back in the early 80s when my lot were all getting their license, there was nothing sadder than watching a mate buy an Allegro or an Avenger. We knew it was only a matter of weeks before they would be unable to turn up to football games or social events. Then they would get behind in their rent as the repair bills racked up and nek minnit they'd moved back home with Mum & Dad.
@@Dave5843-d9m Alfa was a much better car in so many ways , but being made for warmer climates , Italian cars tended not to have much in the way of rust proofing .
@@JDWDMC A Hillman Avenger is the worst car I've ever driven. Then again I've never driven an Allegro. I did think about buying one once but got a mini instead.
I had a 1979 Allegro 1500 estate in 1980. I inherited it from my mother who had decided to buy a Bedford CF Freeway. I did not like it and I gave it a name "The Green Phlegm Bomb". But I did take it to France, about the only thing that was good was the refinement, it cruised quietly, doing less than 4000 at an indicated 80 on the Autoroute. I did not bring back any unwelcome guests in the wheel arches the car probably being too laden with vin rouge. It broke down in Calais on the way back, the water pump having thrown a bearing. By the time we arrived in Dover the Austin garage next to the docks had closed at noon we arrived at quarter past and it was the Saturday of August Bank Holiday. as I was in the RAC I called them , they carried me back to North Wales on the back of a lorry,. If I had been in the AA I would have probable spent a couple of days in various laybys, but the RAC used a contractor and did the job with one lorry, The driver told me as he was winching the car that he had just finished a 12 hour shift on the docks. He only stopped once for a coffee at Sandbach services. After dropping me off at my house he left to return to Dover, declining the offer of a break, saying he had to get back to do his next shift on the Docks!!!
Great memories. we had a 1300 S reg from 1988 to 2000 and it was an awsome car.. can't lie things did break and it burnt oil but we all miss her more than many of our other cars
I had to decide between buying a 1750 HL Allegro, or a 1600GT Escort I bought the Allegro. An explanation, I was young, with family, but wanted something quick that I could afford. The Allegro was cheaper to insure, it was quicker, it had independent suspension, it had a five speed box, it was way more luxurious, the engine was more modern with an overhead cam. Both had a boot, hatchbacks were rare. The Escort steered nicer and the gear change was nicer. The Allegro never let us down. Wasn’t a target for other drivers, it was invisible to the Police. One of my favourite cars.
My Grandpa had one, bought new in 1980 and passed onto a neighbour when he stopped driving. He was forever tinkering with the valve train and carburettor. I just remember the smooth magic carpet ride courtesy of the suspension and soft seat cushions along with the strong tobacco smell (he smoked a pipe) and almost always a strong petrol smell whenever it was parked.
@@MrCHrisfj Ah yes, old car smell. Unlike new car smell, I don't believe anyone's tried to bottle and sell it. I can't recall what my small-cigar-smoking father's brown Citroen Visa smelt like inside, but I'm sure it must have become ingrained as he used to drive and smoke with windows tightly shut in the cooler months of the year.
Yours must have been one of the few not to have experienced failure of the hydrangeas suspension then - they were famously prone to failure , mine went twice in the six months I had it from new .
@@davidmascall1575 The first car I bought was a Vauxhall Victor and it had decades of smoking inside... Every surface was slimy with tar and nicotine. Spent 3 days trying to clean it and barely left a mark.
My late Dad bought, rebuilt, sold and scrapped many Allegros during the late 70s through 80s with a few stragglers going on into the 90s. The biggest issue was bad build quality , which had been deteriorating across the board from the early 70s onwards. Also the strikes and parts supply issues to the production lines. I remember the first two Allegros dad bought. a 73 and a 74.. Both had noisy gearboxes even on relatively low miles. So he decided as both cars where generally good, he would swap out the engine /gearbox unit in the 73 car for one from an older Austin 1100 Mk3.. Once swap was done the car was usable.. Then he pulled the original gearbox apart. Anyone who knows these gearboxes will know that there is a first motion shaft and a a mainshaft. In between the two is a needle roller bearing which supports the rear end of the first motion shaft... except that there wasnt in this box.. No roller / cage debris just two damaged bearing surfaces.. Much puzzlement and some bad language.. Anyhoos, Dad rebuilds the box using earlier 1100/1300 parts (of which he had stacks of) and puts the engine/box back in the car and all is fine and dandy... So then he thought. 'I'm gonna do exactly the same with the 74 car.. Out comes the original engine / box , in goes the 1100 engine /box .. car is driveable. Pulls the 2nd box apart and ...... EXACTLY the same part is missing....
@@chrishart8548 It wasn't the box itself IIRC but BL's attempts at one of the first cable gear linkages. Now popular in FWD vans they are still horrible but at least the rubbery notch they go into is usually the gear you wanted.
The worst "shouldabeenahatch" has to be the saloon version of the Opel Kadett D - exactly the same shape as the hatch version, but with massively reduced access to the same boot space. And people actually decided to buy them instead of the hatch!
Yeah. The Peugeot 104, Alfa Sud and Citroen GS also started out as hatchback without a hatch! This car came about in the transition years from saloon to hatchback.
Had a 1300 A series engine, did ok, used to take it to Redcar and back, 4 speed box (of course), no problems. From the days when you had to service your own car, and it was easy. Owned it in the early 90s, it had been through the wars, still reliable, still got me where I wanted to go. A series, just keeps on chugging along.
Many years ago a very proud chap showed me his brand new Allegro with an added extra. He opened the boot and took the spare wheel out, underneath it was a squashed meat pie which had been skillfully sprayed over in the factory!
My very first car was an Austin Allegro. In fact the registration number was TOJ 956N I loved it that much I went and got a Brown one like yours. If I could afford to buy one now I would 100% .
My mum had one around 1979, as I remember it was reliable and comfortable. A yellow 1300 reg DKJ 459T. It's funny the things we remember, ask me what happened last week and I wouldn't have a clue.
One of the things I prefer about modern cars is the quietness with engines turning over at less than 1500 rpm at 70 mph, because of 8 (or more) speed gearboxes. This car reminds me of long journeys on motorways in the 70s when you got to your destination exhausted and slightly deafened.
Most of the cars from this era even with a 5 speed were 45mph @ 2000rpm and around 3500rpm @ 70mph. Or 3000rpm @ 56mph. I actually found a I was in top gear around 34mph and didn't really want to go any faster. As it just got progressively louder.
the one thing I prefer about modern cars is that generally when you put the key in they work and they keep working. You could never make a journey in the 70s and 80s without passing somebody pulled over on the side of the road, bonnet open, broken down, knowing that at some stage it was your turn. From what I;ve read , electric car owners have rediscovered the bliss of playing breakdown russian roulette every journey, most invigorating.
@philldavies7940 I don't know anyone that has broken down in a EV. Modern ice cars are having loads of issues now due to how complicated the engines have become. How does an EV even break down ?
Great review, I always liked the Allegro. My dad had one in the early 80s as our family car and ran it to over 100k miles with very few problems. My mum bought an ancient estate model for a few hundred quid in the late ‘80s and it gave a good few years service, again with little trouble. The suspension and drivetrain were quite advanced compared to competitors cars too. I’d love to drive one!
My Wife had a 1500 Allegro and it was a great car. Reliable, smooth, bags of interior space, good visibility, enough power, but good economy, good gearbox, Handled well. A cinch to service, accessibility was great! There was a recall that was for changing the washer size on the rear wheel angular contact ball bearings, so that if a bearing failed, the larger washers would retain the wheel. To get to that stage, the bearing rumble through lack of grease or rust would have been incredible! Setting the swinging caliper brake pads up was easy, once you knew how. God bless Mr Haynes! I waxoyled it and it was rust free with around 120 k on the speedometer, when we sold it. I had rebuilt the engine though. The A series engine goes back even further than the '59 Mini it was in the A30 and A35, A40, AH Sprite and the Morris 1000 before the Mini appeared.
As a former owner of two during my early (budget) motoring days, I think that's a very fair summary. My first was a late Mk1 1300 with a round steering wheel, that had clearly had a hard life, and it did need new driveshafts and a gearbox bearing. Fit and finish was awful (look back at the rear of the drivers door and you could see light between the window frame and body - something I also saw in a mk3 Cortina!), but it got myself and two friends & camping gear for a fortnight all the way to Switzerland (and even briefly into northern Italy) and back. It was written off when a motorcyclist ran into the back of it. I had just changed jobs, so a little short on savings, and bought a mk2 1100 deluxe which was at least low mileage. It also was a lot better put together - no ridiculous panel gaps, and the interior trim fitted. I found them to have good flexible engines, making up for lack of power. The flexibility and low speed torque of the one you tested might have suffered with the tuning. The least flexible of 5 A-series engined cars I owned was the last - an MG Metro with all of 72bhp. Plus points - generally good ride and handling - much better than a mk2 Escort. I drove a friends one of these to Scotland and was alarmed at how easy it was to slide it if it was wet. Also economic (middle-upper 40s mpg on long runs), and easy to work on - masses of space around the engine. Minus points - looks (a cottage loaf on a roller skate, but better than a Nisan Juke!), lack of rear hatch and fit and finish of the mk1. But all 1970s cars were noisy by modern standards. I'd rate them quieter than contemporary Renault 5 mk1s or late Beetles - I endured long overseas journeys in both of these.
I prefer the appearance of that car to the Allegro 3 that followed and I'd happily own and drive this one. I learned to drive in an Allegro 3 - Damask Red, MAV 766W.😮
My Mum had an Allegro back in the day; she was disappointed because her Dad wouldn't be a gaurantor for a loan on a Vanden Plas so had to settle for a mid-range spec. It died when she got rear ended by a BMW causing the freshly brimmed tank to leak it's entire contents. She's still a bit bitter about that to this day lol.
I'm pretty sure most Fords from that period had 140 mph speedo's, even the 1100's, and even though they over read terribly, you were hardly at risk of a speeding ticket
@@leuvenlife I'm pretty sure my dad's Mk5 Cortina's speedo did indeed go up to 140mph. My Mondeo ST's goes all the way up to 170mph but that is at least fairly close to its top speed
I think BL cars get too much hate, yes, some of them were pretty bad. However, they aren't nearly as bad as people say. You wanna know who I blame? The TopGear boys, they absolutely ragged on BL stuff, especially the Marina. One of the last Grand Tours had Hammond smashing up an Allegro estate.
Great vlog, thought you'd like the car. We had a beige mark 3 and bought headrests for it from Trents when you could just go down to a car scrapyard and take what you needed from the cars there. Cost £10, and no it didn't double the value of the car. 😂😂. We loved ours.
@@ferrumignis So poor they sold millions of them and they were regularly near the top of the sales charts. The Marina did the job it was designed to do. I had a 1978 Marina 1.8 HL/TC in Tahiti Blue and it was an excellent reliable and fast car for its day - so good I was keeping it until a female drove out at a junction without stopping right in front of me writing it off. My brother used to have a Mk1 Marina 1.8 in Sandglow that was also an excellent reliable car as well.
I have happy childhood memories of the Allegro. My father worked for Austin Rover Longbridge for 38 years. His first car was a Mini Clubman, Allegro Mark 2 and an Allegro 3. I remember going to Weston-super-Mare. My father parked on the beach. He allowed me to steer the car while he operated the pedals. After that the had an Ambassador. My lingering memory of the cars was a smooth ride.
When I was a kid, I used to go to the library often. And often I saw one neat looking Allegro, light brown in colour. It moved around, so obviously it was a driving unit. Liked seeing it, and kind of started liking it.. Mid 90s these were all gone in Finland. I did used to see a Marina too around the time. Kind of herb green two door coupe. Liked that one too, there might be something wrong with me. Didn't pay anywhere as much attention to the "cool" cars.. Oh, there was a ratty matt black 504 estate. As an aspiring goth, kind of wished something like that would've been my first car. :D
Great video. Very fair. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Allegro. Looks great ,2 door russet brown. To much negativity surrounding them. Refreshing change. 👍
My Dad had one of these in the late '70s. I was 'forced' to borrow it for a few days commuting when my Citroën (GS) was having something or other done to it. I was similarly surprised that it was better than their reputation -- your description of the suspension behaviour is exactly as per my recollection (versus the GS). Don't remember it being particularly noisy though. Having said it was 'okay', I was glad to get my relatively silky smooth Citroën back!
Really enjoyed your explanation of the hydragas system and the tradeoff between complexity/reliability vs absolute performance! The older I get, the more I appreciate simple and maintainable solutions. If a much simpler system can get even vaguely close to the performance of the more complex alternative, that's a great thing.
I liked the clip of Harris Mann being offered a lift in an Allegro by James May and said he'd rather walk. It's a perfect example of what happens when a committee gets involved. I knew a couple of people with them - one of them had excessively worn rear wheel bearings so the noise would shift from one side of the car to the other when cornering.
Typical of many owners who drove their cars without servicing or looking after them and then blaming the car/manufacturer. Excessively worn wheel bearings are NOTHING to do with the car or manufacturer. Wheel bearings wear on all cars and when you hear them humming you REPLACE them and do NOT keep driving.
My first car was an 'N' reg (July 1975) 4 door Allegro 1300 Super, in white. I was 19 and I loved it! The one issue I had was a water pump failure at almost 80mph on the M1 by Trowel Services. It's down hill, southbound, so that's why the speed! It failed catastrophicly and before I could stop, the engine block was cracked! Had to have a reconditioned engine, which then performed really well. On the interior, mine was post quartic steering wheel, and only had 2 large guages in a small binnicle on the dash, speedo in one and fuel and temp in the other. I also remember having a large cushion on the driver's seat as it had collapsed, and that was in a 6 year old car! I replaced it with a Mk2 Escort Estate (1300 L) and the ride in that was atrocious in comparision to the Allegro's. It was also even noiser! I've always thought that the bashing of the Allegro was pretty unfair. I beileve that the lack of a hatch-back was due more to BL's management's lack of vision and their believe that hatch-backs would never be popular. They still beleived at that time that 3 box saloons were the future. But that was typical of BL Management's total lack of understanding of car manufacturing and design. Thanks for the blast from the past! Jonathan.
As I am nearly 60 and have very different memories to all the cars you review. You are the only person who I have heard describe the allegro as brilliant. God bless you, even the sight of this car (which we used to call ' austin all agro' made me come out in hives, especially in the faeces brown colour scheme.
@DeeKay84 Brown was the "in" colour at the time (you should know this). In the 80's everything was brown. Today "grey" is an "in" colour. Remember, we are talking about cars from 40 odd years ago. In another 40, we'll be talking about current cars and how crap they seem. I won't cos I'll be dead, but you get the point
Only the dumb called them all agro as they just spouted the drivel that they were told by other "experts" in the pub or spouted by the JOURNALISTS on Top Gear etc such as Clarkson who didn't know how to use a spanner or any other tool. They were brilliant cars especially compared to the agricultural MK2 Escorts etc and far more RELIABLE as well. We had two in our family at the same time - my brother then mothers 1978 Allegro 1500 LE and my 1980 Allegro 1750 TC Equipe both excellent and very reliable cars and the Equipe was a fast car for its day as well. friends who owned them back then thought they were great cars as well. Every time I parked my Equipe and came back to it there was always people looking at it and in it and asking me about it as it certainly stuck out with its colour scheme and decals - you did not get that with any other "normal" cars.
Had a 1500 in ‘79. Never missed a beat in 4 years. Great on fuel, and a nice nippy car. Steering wheel was a bit square but wasn’t an issue. What was an issue was BL putting an un-reinforced rubber fuel pipe over the engine which split and sprayed petrol all over the exhaust manifold. Caught fire and burnt out eventually. Princesses were the same. Thanks BL! Boot was big enough.
My mate had one of these years ago, and I remember the rear seat was like a springy mattress! Love these cars, full of character, good to see some been so well looked after and still on the go!
Let’s think of the context this car was released in. Industrial relations at BL were catastrophic and the result was real problems with build quality which are well documented, with frequent disputes and production stoppages. All the cars of this era at BL were impacted : Rover SD1, Morris Marina, Austin Princess and of course the Allegro. I think much of their poor reputation is rooted there. there were even cases of deliberate sabotage on the production line. Cars that have survived to this day have obviously been cured of all those issues. My dad’s 1972 Triumph 2000 caught fire because of a wiring issue a week after delivery. We never had any problems with our 1973 Morris Marina 1.3 super. Dad’s 1977 Princess had loads of quality problems new too - trim falling off, Windows dropping into the doors etc etc
Thank you for that trip down memory lane. That Allegro is nearly identical to my first car. Mine was an 1100 and one year older, otherwise identical colour, trim, and number of doors. I'd forgotten some of the finer details like the look of the instrumentation and the boot. I loved my Allegro and would happily drive it today. I especially loved the way it handled speed bumps. Sadly mine rusted beyond economic repair. I think that part of the reason for the car body being taller than the original design was to accommodate the old A series engine, which was taller than the more modern engine that the designer had wanted to install. Thank you again for the flash back in time.
They did the same with the Leyland Princess. But there was enough demand for a hatchback that various coach builders did a Princess Hatchback conversion. BL in their dying days, eventually got the idea when the Princess was face lifted into the Ambassador.
My friend had the 1750 version back in the early eighties and I remember it being a surprisingly quick well equipped car that could hold its own against most of its contemporaries. Great to see your review of one of the cars of my youth
As with anything from the '70 you need to look at the Allegro in context...the first car to use a flat wiring harness, first family car with full wax body protection. My 1974 Allegro had the quartic steering wheel and never caused me any concern, although it was later replaced with a sporty chrome and leather 'upgrade'. At the time you could have invested in a rust prone cart sprung Ford Escort Mk2 or an over weight Vauxhall Viva HC.
So very very true. It seems everyone that has a negative opinion is too young to have driven one or even been a passenger. The truth is many BL cars were unpolished gems through lack of investment. MANY engineering firsts that appear on cars even today were invented by BL...
Strangely, because it's an Austin, the Allegro was made at Cowley. I knew the Plant Manager at Cowley when the Allegro was launched. Some of the cars had wax protection, some didn't. It was a 50/50 split according to the Manager. BL were trialling the use of cavity wax protection and needed a control i.e. the 50% that didn't get protected!
@@stephen546 i am old enough to have driven loads worked on loads ,and luckily never owned one , if you think they were good , fine , however for those of us that were actually there , they were crap and fords at the time were far superior
My old man had an Allegro, it was a right nail but I still loved it. And I don't remember it ever breaking down either. He managed to keep it running without any issues. Having said that I didn't love it enough to take it off him when he offered it me for nowt 😆 It's one of the only cars I can still remember the registration number of as well, GRF 323V 😂 I remember years later spotting it in the local scrap yard so I got the plates off it as a keep sake. I would love one now but modded to the max just because it would stand out. Great video thanks for bringing back the memories. ✌️😎
There is a rumour -- I don't know how true it is -- that if you jacked up one rear wheel of an Allegro the rear window would pop out of its rubber frame. So, a body shell with no resistance to torsion, The large X frame visible inside the boot looks like an attempt to deal with that. But it also means that it would have been impossible to make an Allegro hatchback without an enormous amount of heavy and expensive reinforcement inside the rear door frame.
The original Alfasud had a frame between the rear wheel arches, behind the seat back. When it was converted to a hatchback it gained a reinforcing crossmember across the boot floor which was carried over to the 33 derivative.
The window popping out was just one of the many "myths" spread by the "experts" that heard it from a mate or from dumb JOURNALISTS on Top Gear etc re the Allegro. People like myself who looked after and serviced our own cars used to jack our Allegros up at all angles when working on them on the drive/street and never had any problems with windows popping out etc. The Allegro shell was just as rigid as most other rivals back then and superior to some such as the Mk2 Escort.
I had a 1974 Allegro. The 1300 super, with the square steering wheel. Although I travelled many miles in the two years that I owned it, I was forever changing out faulty parts. It became my weekend job to rectify issues. These included, head gasket failure, faulty thermostat, clutch master cylinder, water transfer port, alternator, non starting issues, SU carburettor change, sealed beam headlights to name but a few. I have to say that I loved that car. After selling it I moved to a Dolomite sprint, easily the best car that I have ever owned.
I have a mk2 allegro in orange I love it was fed up of my bms Audi’s going into limp mode etc etc I use it ever day for work and keep on top of it with maintenance which is much and mot/ tax exempt and £89 for the year to insure and cheap on fuel 👍🏻
Harris Mann was a visiting lecturer to our course in Industrial Design, around 1990. He showed us the original marker designs for the Allegro, we were amazed at how cool it looked inside his head. He mentioned many elements in his designs were sacrificied in favour of what was available in the current parts bins. I still love his work, pushing the boundaries as far as he could, given the incredible financial constraints.
As a 67 year old, I'm amused by your observations about the fit of the wheels inside the wheel wells. Our first new car was a 1980 VW Rabbit (US market Golf). The wheel well fit and tire sizes were very similar and common enough for the era. Our Rabbit had 155-80R13 tires.
I passed my test on a Nissan (then Datsun) Sunny in 1982, but then, still living at home, we went in for an Austin Allegro shortly afterwards ("S" reg), and had the use of it for a couple of years. It broke down frequently, had a back seat that needed to be repaired, and had the non-hatchback layout at the back. We were glad to get rid of it in late 1984 for a Nissan Micra, which we kept for over ten years!
The Imp engine was very good, and years ahead of its time. The 'S' version could kick out nearly 60bhp, which was a lot considering it was a very light car. Apparently, Austin tried the quartic steering wheel as the main road wheels, but they had trouble finding square tyres. Shame. (Very good explanation of hydrogas!) Subbed.
My first car was an 1979 Allegro Equipe 1750. It was parked up outside someone’s house on my walk to school. It 1989 and I paid £150 and my Dad helped me get it roadworthy. All my mates had 850 Minis and were impressed with my twin carb maxi powered rocket.
We had an Allegro Special in the 1980s, Bronze with a brown vinyl roof, superbly comfortable velour seats and a 1500cc engine. It was still going strong at 120,000 miles. The hydrogas suspension was amazing, it gave such a smooth ride. We still rate this as one of our most favourite cars. We had a Rover 216 after the Allegro, that was horrible. We prefer booted cars and our present car is a Mazda 3 Saloon. This is also an amazing car that ticks all the boxes for us. We bought it brand new with £4000 scrapage on our Honda. Beautiful styling that does not show on the hatchback. That was 7 years ago and we have only come across one other Mazda 3 Saloon on the road. It was on the M5 and the same year reg and colour. I still have my original car I bought in the lower 6th at school for £5, a Bond Mk C Minicar, that was 54 years ago. I have owned two Hillman Imp powered Bond 875 three wheelers in the past, very stable and could leave Boy Racers standing at the lights. The two stroke Bonds were the first cars to officially drive on a British motorway (the Preston bypass), they were afforded the privilege as they were manufactured in Preston. To gain the best publicity they positioned one car in each lane for the ribbon cutting, so holding up any other vehicles in order to be the first photographed by the press positioned on the first bridge. As you may have gathered I am a microcar enthusiast, I have two 1956 Mark C Bond Minicars (the first mini! but they did not patent the name, it is there on the bonnet badge). I also have an original Peel P50 I bought for £50 in the late 70s.
@@mehrzahl2219 I'm going to guess that the definition here is that the boot extends significantly beyond the bodywork as a distinct third 'box' on the design.
I recall my grandparents testing this when it was a brand new model and how impressed they were. It had amazing new suspension. They were very impressed with the ride but actually bought the maxi instead. Stylistically it was very modern and I think the success of the peugeot 205 ten years later reveals how style wise it was ahead of its time.
We never got the Allegro in Australia. We did get the Marina, which, like so many similar cars in the early seventies, was pretty agricultural and certainly not exciting. We also didn't get the Maxi. Instead, there was the Morris Nomad, which was a restyled version of ADO-16, with a modified front end to accommodate a 1500cc engine, and a hatchback rear end. Yes, it is true that the Allegro was originally intended to be a hatchback, but the BL management argued that it would take sales away from the Maxi. Go figure! The Maxi had a 1750cc engine and a five speed manual transmission. The Allegro had smaller engines, a four speed manual transmission, and different suspension. The two were not really competitors. That's BL for you. Leyland Australia disappeared down the plughole of doom in 1975, due to all the problems BL had. That was just at the time when they had begun to produce the P76, which was a large car meant to compete with the Holden Kingswood and the Ford Falcon.
@@kkiwi54 I'm pretty sure the reason was that Leyland Australia ceased local production in 1975, and as far as imports were concerned, only premium brands like Jaguar and Range Rover were imported. I guess BL realised that they couldn't compete with the Japanese rivals, and the locally produced vehicles from Holden, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi. I don't know anything really about the motor industry in New Zealand. What I have seen seems to indicate full importation of vehicles, or local assembly from CKD. Some Aussie cars were assembled in New Zealand from CKD.
My mother had one from new. It was a Mk1 with the odd steering wheel. I remember driving it with four people inside from Hornchurch to Chelmsford. It took almost half the distance there to reach 60 mph. ( only kidding ) Like you were saying it was par for the course in those days. You were talking about the small wheels and the amount of space around them. We used to joke about it, saying that it was a design feature that allowed you to remove all of the mud that used to accumulate inside the wings. Rust was the big killer of cars in those days. I at the time was driving a Mk1 Escort, and as it was the basic model, I honestly can't say that it was much better than the Allegro. I enjoyed your take on the Allegro. It's nice to see someone enjoy driving this almost forgotten piece of history.
The Allegro was far better than the press would have had you believe. They loved to knock BL and its products but that was based upon anti-union sentiments rather than anything substantial. As for the Quartic steering wheel - derided at the time but actually ground breaking coz if you look today so many standard cars feature a squared off steering wheel.
My grandad had one back in the early 80s when I was a young lad - he had the upmarket Vanden Plas in light blue, on an X reg so it was one of the very last ones made. Used to ferry my gran round in luxury with its walnut dash, leather seats and even picnic tables built into the back of the front seat for the rear passengers to enjoy a picnic. I used them myself on an outing to Lake Vyrnwy I got taken on. The car was a really smooth ride and you would not think it was an Allegro when sat inside it , but it wasnt even badged as an Allegro - just a Vanden Plas. They seemed everywhere when I was at growing up in the 70s and 80s, my uncle had one and my best mate's parents had one too. I remember one of the teachers at my school had the estate version. Cant believe they only made 600K of them over 10 years, as they seemed so popular back in the day. And yes, I called them All Aggro 's too. Never owned one myself though, although I did have a B reg beige Metro so that was the closest I got to an Alllegro in terms of engines and a BL badge. I wouldnt say they were awful - they were just pretty plain and uninspiring much like the Morris Marina and Vauxhall Viva. If you also remember, I think the Austin Princess was not a hatchback either initially, until it became the Ambassador - again They didnt want the Princess to be a hatchback as the Maxi should be the only car offering one - even though the Rover SD1 got the hatchback.
Hydragas cars were interconnected. The reasoning behind this was devilishly simple: when a wheel hits a bump, the suspension compresses, pushing fluid down the interconnecting pipe to the unit at the rear. In other words - front wheel goes up, rear wheel goes down - and you remain level when you hit a bump.
I had a 1750 Alegro in early '70's (previously my Dad's 3 yr old car). It was perfectly fine.. even the maligned 'quartic steering wheel'. (I think it was everyone 'piling-in' with comments - essentially parotting views even when they had no experience of them). The 5 speed 'cable' gear change worked fine. The only foible was that the hand-brake cable ran under the back seat, and when 4-up the weight on back seat actuated the handbrake. It was easily fixed - and presumably redesigned. Like the Maxi, the suspension was excellent at soaking up potholes.
Thank you, UPnDOWN. _Subscribed._ *My first car was an Austin Allegro (British Racing Green!), bought 1986, Dumfries. I do not remember the 'year of birth', series or the registration.* 🤔 It served my Dear Family and me very well. Sadly missed, but never forgotten! 💚 Stay free. Rab 😎 👋🏻
26:25 ohhh how I remember that A series drone when i regularly traveled from Cambridge to Scotch Corner on the A1 and wishing, hoping and praying for a 5th gear😂😢
The best version was the estate. Good little load carrier. Had one for several years and loved it. Usual BMC issues, wheel bearings, universal joints, etc, but kept going. Two sand bags under the bonnet when the snow came, Knobbly Colway remoulds on the front, and then go clearing the blocked roads. Second most fun you could have in a car.
I had a blue estate allegro i realy used to over load it never gave me any trouble tho i gave it away in the early 90s to a farmer who promptly cut the back off and used it as a pick up on his farm for feeding his sheep lol it wasnt in bad condition either just wasnt realy worth much back then .
The Austin Allegro was devised as a new, innovative car that would be the base upon which BL would build its future The Morris Marina was a "parts bin special" cobbled together with pieces from other, mostly older cars and destined to soldier on only for a few years, until something better was designed. Given such clear strategic vision it will surprise no one knowing that the Allegro development budget was 27 million pounds, whereas the Marina got 48. 😂😂😂😂
We had ours new in 1980, V reg, same colour, but ours was a 1750 HL (High Line), that was Mum’s car, Dad had a V reg Maxi out of the same dealership, in gold … that was also a 1750 HL!! There were quite a few trim packages from what I remember, ranging from the base Allegro 1500, to the Allegro Equipe towards the end of the Allegro 3. Vanden Plas were always the ones I lusted after 🤣🤣 they also had some seriously funky metallic colours for them too! You won’t find me skating one, that’s for sure 👍👍
It has been over 40 years since I drove a 1300 Allegro, it was not terribly old at the time. It was a competent car and easy to drive. BL suffered from a lack of investment and we had all seen the mechanical components in other cars. The A series in front wheel drive form may date back to 1959 in the Mini but the basic engine is far older. The car was awful over speed bumps, if I remember correctly the rear suspension had check straps to limit the travel. Most people that insult Marinas and Allegros have never driven them.... As for comparison to the Escort, the most valid comparison is not to the Mk1 and 2 but the FWD Mk3.
The comparison was the Mk2 Escort both 70's cars - the Mk3 Escort was an 80's car the equivalent to the Maestro. The Allegro was a far superior and far more reliable car than the agricultural Mk2 Escort and would have been far more successful if it had the hatch that it was designed to have in the first place especially as all cars were coming out with hatches since it came out.
@@williamwoods8022 there was of course a change in Escort models during the Allegro production run. I am no fan of the MK3 Escort but I found even the 1.3 CVH engine smooth and the car was relatively comfortable and quiet. Certainly far from agricultural. I actually like the styling of the Mk1 Allegro estate, a very rare car as they only made them for 100 days.
My first car was a twin carb Marina in the 80’s. It was an OK car for it’s day, but the really bad point about it was the seriously slippy rear wheels, if you took a decent corner at any speed, you would very quickly be going sideways into the nearest ditch or tree!
I've probably commented this before, on this video, but my first car was an 1100 DL Allegro (with 1275 engine fitted), It was easy and nice to drive, comfortable, reliable, economical, (40+ MPG on a run) practical. I can't remember my car not starting in 4 years of ownership. Cheap to run as well, it was my student car. never needed to be towed by the AA. I definitely would like one again and would do some daily driving in it!!! A good car then only ruined by the styling , which now doesn't look bad, it now looks Quirky. By the way, I don't remember my car having a boomy exhaust. I suspect being an older car with a low milage the exhaust system may be quite old and may not be blowing externally, but the silencers may have rotted internally hence no longer silencing, hence causing the booming sound.
I was working in a BL dealership when the Allegro came out to very little acclaim or fuss. It was a utilitarian car with distinctive looks but essentially a replacement for the Austin/Morris 1100/1300 hydrolastic cars. Much later when I was working at the Rover Solihull plant I discovered the hatchback Allegro prototype body literally shelved in a workshop. Finally I owned a secondhand Allegro 1750 with the fancy go-faster red stripes. This was a really fun car to drive and the only time it temporarily broke down was when I hit a large puddle of flood water that splashed over the distributor cap. I did get wet feet but soon had it dried out enough to finish my journey. Not a bad car in its day and also simple to fix by todays standards.
The early ones suffered from the rear wheel bearings failing and the wheels parting company. They were very noisy too! I bought a soundproofing kit for mine, which didn't improve things much.
I had a couple of these back in the 80's, the first one when I passed my test in 1983. To be honest, it wasn't a bad car at all, I only ended up getting rid of it when I ended up wrapping it around a stone bridge when I took a 90 degree corner too fast..! Fortunately it was in the middle of the night and nobody else was around..! I had another one which was obviously a Friday afternoon car, it was a heap of crap. The speedo cable kept coming out of the back of the clock and the engine ate an exhaust valve three parts of the way around the Coventry ring road one day. So my honest opinion..? It's not all that bad and doesn't deserve the reputation it's got. Find a good one and it's excellent. Pick a bad one and you'll know it. A bit like anything else, really.
Our firm had a fleet of several Allegros including Van den plas automatics. We had them over several years and they were excellent cars, reliable and performed well. We never had any problems and there was no criticism. The insults came later and that was caused by the name sounding similar to aggro. I am an engineer and dealt with design, production, modification, maintenance and repair of tens of thousands of vehicles and capital equipment. Where did the criticism come from? - Well it was from the dishonest, lying, cheating media and press who love to criticise and make fun of everything British. Remember that German, French and Italian journos never did and never would criticise their own national products, no matter how bad they are. Note that the shape is nearly identical to BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis which copied the Allegro shape.
Yes, several models have copied that Allegro rounded rear end shape which are often called SUV : BMW 1 Series, 2 Series, etc. M.Benz A Class, B Class, GLC, etc. Audi A1, Q4, Q8, S4, Q5, many of those dead ringer models, "all the same". And the VW, Seat and Skoda types, so many look all the same.
@@glendryhurst8234 Lol, what a vivid imagination you have! The Allegro's rather tall stance was due to the engine and gearbox design, it was never intended to look like that, it was certainly no SUV fore father! My first car was an Allegro and they were every bit as bad as people said they were, a pile of junk best consigned to the history books.
I've only once driven an Allegro - also a 1300, borrowed from my local garage for a weekend when my VW Beetle was in for repair - and I also found it a lot better than its reputation. It did feel tinny compared to the Beetle, and compared to my Dad's Maxi (the Maxi had a very strong bodyshell), but it was reasonably roomy and performed and handled quite well, and was fairly economical. I was used to the Hydragas on the Maxi so the suspension didn't surprise me. It didn't have the Beetle's build quality or character, but it wasn't bad to drive at all.
If you see the original drawings for the Allegro penned by Harris Mann, it was a fantastic piece of design. However, by the time BL got their hands on it, it had turned into the amorphous blob we all know and hate 🤣
I learned on a 1982 Allegro estate. All my mates thought it looked like a cream hearse, but it was a nippy old cream hearse. I've driven a lot worse than it in my time! That wonderful old Austin engine sound... takes me back!
The reason for the change of design from the original plan was because the engines wouldn't fit, and BL couldn't afford to design new ones, though the 1500 and 1750 models did have newish engines. The suspension has been pumped up too high, hence the large amount of space in the wheel arch. When you pressed the front wing down and the car was very soft...it shouldn't do that!!!!!. Overall, the Allegro wasn't a bad car and was fairly reliable. The issue was the British public were very conservative, and that's why they preferred the Ford Escort, which was far more primitive with it's Leaf spring suspension and equally ancient weedy engines. The Allegro wasn't a bad car (I'm 63) it's just that it was a bit too out there for many...that's why Citroen didn't do that well either
Not going to lie when i was younger i derided this car but have grown to appreciate it. I would say i would have one over a Mark 1 Escort, the Mark 1 Escort does nothing for me at all. An excellent unbiased review Rich.
Interesting video and good to see a review where somebody can understand and appreciate a car for what it is and what it was built and designed for. Funnily enough, I've found many cars of lesser status to be more fun than the prestige makes and models. Will have to check out some more of your videos.
I was living with my parents in '89. Came home one day to an empty house to find some keys and a logbook on the doormat. A friend had been given a 1750 Allegro (blue with black vinyl roof) by his boss (it was owned by the boss' dad, who had become too old to drive it). It didn't have an MoT and my unmechanical friend had it on his parents' drive for a while before they got fed up with it and made him get rid of it. The girlfriend of the guy who "dumped it" on me berated him for his actions. I didn't have a car at the time and was super stoked to have scored a new car for free. I put it in for an MoT and it only failed on a bad front brake hose and something else even more minor. Cost me about £20 to fix and it passed. Cheap insurance and tax and I was on the road. During my year or so of Allegro ownership, on one night there were 2 carloads of us going up to London for a party after the local pub closed. The other car was a mate's Alfa Romeo GTV (not a sporty engine one, but still a pretty fancy one and for us teens at the time, an expensive car). I was in the lead doing about 30 and looked over to see him trying to overtake me. So I put my foot down- he couldn't get past me. He stayed level with me with a grimace on his face, then started dropping back. He gave up in a huff and pulled in behind me as all of us in my Allegro pissed ourselves laughing. In the end I gave it to a friend of mine when I finished with it. He drove it into the ground for a year before he passed it on to another guy and I lost track of it. I don't think any of us did any kind of servicing. Just put in fuel. One of the best cars I ever owned, and I've owned a few.
Excellent! I've been really looking forward to seeing your video on George of All Things Alex and mango ice lolly fame. My mate has a few Allegro's. One of them is the 1973 British Leyland rally car which he's restoring. Super review Rich.
I had this exact model in the same lovely brown colour, it was alright, A to B job, highlight memories were 1. When i filled the boot with manure for the garden (in a plastic liner) then had a puncture in the middle of nowhere, pre mobile phone, spare wheel under a load of sh*te. 2. I decided to respray the car with the same brown one evening, I was an engineering technician in a tech college, of course the heating was off and the paint bristled, so resulted in a sort of matt finish, I did fit sporty Saab seats i picked up from a scrap yard, then sold it to a neighbour whole fell for the fancy seats. I also owned a Morris Marina also in brown, my next car was a 20v Audi Coupe.
I've a Russet brown MGB, and when I saw the car in the pics I wasn't convinced at all, until I saw it in the metal. I loved it when I saw it, especially with the bright orange interior! As for the Allegro, I'd absolutely have one! They're quirky!
My Gran had one and drove all over the country with it. It endured many miles being driven, fairly badly, around Scotland in all weather's, across various terrains, including rough tracks, and never had an issue apart from regarding the springs. It never broke down and just went on and on until she stopped driving.
Takes me back to my school days in the 70s. Our headmaster was a big fan of the Allegro and it was rumoured he had two of the buggers! Definitely remember it being perceived as a very naff car at the time 😮
We used these cars as Pandas in the Met when I first joined. The contemporary in the fleet at that time being the Ford Escort Mk2. While the Allegro was pretty slow, it stuck to the road like sh+t to a blanket, and I used to throw them about through corners without worrying for a moment. As they were replaced with Austin Metros, I had several brown-trouser moments when I would forget which car I was driving, and go flying sideways across the road, because the Metro would simply not hold the road like the Allegro did! Looking at the service log for any Met Allegro with, say, 50,000 miles on the clock, would usually show that it had had three replacement engines and five gearboxes in that time, along with many clutches, but we did thrash them mercilessly 24/7, for months on end. I missed them when they were all replaced.
@@robbierobson3251 The met is the reason they stopped fitting the quartic steering wheel because their premise for placing the order was that the cars were fitted with a round steering wheel.
Had an ex-police Allegro as a garage loan car back in '87. Giveaway, other than the colour, were zips in the headlining and empty screwholes in various places. Don't remember anything else about it.
@@Phil-go8rf Could well be. I never drove a "quartic"-wheeled Allegro panda, nor remember ever seeing one.
I had an allegro and drove others, great motors. Great road holding and brilliant ride. Liked the square steering wheel, easier to grip. Amazing space inside for such a small car. Due to the great roadholding easily thrashed.
Brilliant comment! 3 replacement engines etc - love it!
We are great at running down our homemade cars and bigging up the likes of German cars. My dad had a 4 door 1500 Super Mk.2 in sandglow bought new from Wadham Stringer in Aldershot, trading in a Maxi. The car I learned to drive on, and we loved it other the as you rightly pointed out the boot which was awkward to use. Never gave us any trouble, a reliable comfortable car. Thanks for a sensible review.
There is absolutely no comparison between the awful products of BL and the likes of VW , Audi and in particular Mercedes-Benz , with which the likes of Jaguar , Rover and Triumph tried to compete - the big differences were quality and reliability which was a given in the German Cars and utterly lacking in the British ones .
@@derekheeps1244
The trademark for German cars today is rust - rust - rust.
I always has a thing for classic late 50s-70s British cars, I have owned a couple of Mercs which were mechanically very good but had really bland, bog-standard interiors compared with the walnut dashes and leather seats and trim in a lot of comparable British saloons.
@@derekheeps1244 I agree to a point on reliability but I owned a couple of old Mercs and the interiors were so bland and cheap looking compared to the Jags and other comparable British cars. The trouble with BL and other British cars of that era were that quality control was decimated by factory strikes.
I’m glad you came to the conclusion you did. I had a 1979 Allegro 1750 HL with the E Series engine from the Maxi. It had twin SU carbs and produced 90bhp and a 5 speed box, In Champaign Gold metallic, crush velour seating and full length vinyl sunroof. I loved it and easy to work on. If you could find one of those to take for a drive you would further increase your appreciation for the series 2 Allegro.
I think there's a reason Magnum drove a Ferrari 308 and not an Allegro 😂😂
I had a white 1500 Super, still had the poo brown interior and the most amazing heater. The extra engine capacity and the more importantly the five speed gearbox made all the difference. It was most happy on A roads but could handle motorways easily. The big thing was the way other drivers reacted to me cruising on the motorway at 75/80. Many drivers took it as some sort of personal insult that they had been overtaken by an Allegro. They would come roaring past in their Cavalier/Cortina only a couple of miles down the road once they had settled down to their regular speed to have me come past them again.
I also had a white 1500 but with a blue interior and velour seats - I can't remember the trim level. The 5 speed gearbox was a great benefit of 1500 as it helped keep the noise down on faster roads.
As mine (1976 P reg in 1988-90) had been stored without antifreeze it had a cracked engine block, so if I drove over 50 on the motorway it overheated too quickly!
It handled well with predictable but not excessive understeer. And so light, so the power it had made it quicker than later cars that had similar power and more weight.
I had a metallic blue 1.5le I felt the same
@stephenmorrish I still get that with my Skoda Estelle. Some people (who have fragile egos) get visibly triggered if a cheap car that's older than them comes past. I had one bloke so desperate not to be passed he triggered a speed camera with his 'ego overtake'. My Skoda was free and bottom of the range so zero ego but maximum fun!
My 1500super was in 'baby's first nappy' green!!
Best thing about it was the top of the range Harry Moss stereo!! 😍
@@tomwinch9107 lets compare this with a modern car... you had a car... with a CRACKED ENGINE BLOCK and it merely suffered reduced performance lol
I’m with you in that the Allegro isn’t all bad. A few friends had them when I had my first car ( a Marina so I can hardly talk can I?) so I drove them - no better or worse than anything else at the time. The hydragas always intrigued me and now I have an MGF which has hydragas suspension too.
Thank you for a great video.
I also own an MGF. There is something really special about the suspension.
I started my apprenticeship in '84 when these and others of their age were just bangers. From what I remember, Allegro's weren't really any worse than any others reliability wise, certainly there were no rusty subframe issues like the 1100 and Mini. I think their real problem was image, they were just a bit 'stodge'....you never saw the Sweeney or The Professionals driving Allegro's or Marinas. Back when they were bangers, all bread and butter cars were rust buckets, especially if not cherished by owners such as this car. The survivors from this era are the fortunate few that were owned by loving owners, something that in the days of PCP and leasing will become rarer and rarer. Long live all 70s and 80s junk!!
You're so right. Back in the late 70s early 80s I used to sit in the staff room and watch the car owners (of all UK makes to be honest) white faced waiting for the inevitable bad news phone call on MOT day. It was usually an arm and a leg. Halfords was full... of filler! Dad had an 1100 that drove beautifully but was to all intents and purposes build-wise complete rubbish.
Not sure about the Sweeney but the makers of the Professionals approached Leyland about using their vehicles and were told they would not be given cars. If they wanted to use Leyland cars they would have to buy them.
They then approached Ford, and the rest is history.
Yet another BL home goal.
@@jackcole3146 There seems to be a common thread that runs through BL and it's catastrophic management style....... cannot quite put my finger on it !!!
Allegros , Marinas and then Metros were used by the police because no one else would buy them ! It was always a standing joke that you could tell an Edinburgh CID car because they were Morris Marinas , and they were just about the only people who drove them .
I've driven the Marina a few times in the 80s, absolutely awful car, it had nothing going for it.
My dad had three of them over the years. They gave sterling service, all good. When I had my driver's licence in 1974 I could drive my fathers Austin 1300 and later his Allegro, and yes, I liked it. A lot.
My first car was an Allegro - an 1100DL in Pageant Blue, reg LAB730T. Loved it. Had to sort a couple of issues out and only had it a year, brother bought it from me and ran it for 2 years with zero problems. Loved the ride. Everyone else seemed to be getting Minis but I was too tall for those! The Allegro was cheap to run day to day and easy to maintain.
Never had an Allegro but we had an Austin Maxi and loved it - the novelty and practicality of a hatchback with folding rear seats at that time cannot be overstated. 😄
As a 1970s car, one important thing about the Allegro was that it didn't rust too badly.
Alfa Sud (basically the same car with a much better engine) was even worse for rust. Who knows what Fiat were thinking.
AHahahaha, what a load of tosh. Rear quarter panels, mudguards, front edge of sills. Might look fine. But the only thing maintaining the shape of an Allegro is the paint left behind after the metal has vanished. Back in the early 80s when my lot were all getting their license, there was nothing sadder than watching a mate buy an Allegro or an Avenger. We knew it was only a matter of weeks before they would be unable to turn up to football games or social events. Then they would get behind in their rent as the repair bills racked up and nek minnit they'd moved back home with Mum & Dad.
I only kept mine 6 months from new , so never had it long enough to find out ; years later there were plenty of rotten ones around .
@@Dave5843-d9m Alfa was a much better car in so many ways , but being made for warmer climates , Italian cars tended not to have much in the way of rust proofing .
@@JDWDMC A Hillman Avenger is the worst car I've ever driven. Then again I've never driven an Allegro. I did think about buying one once but got a mini instead.
I had a 1979 Allegro 1500 estate in 1980. I inherited it from my mother who had decided to buy a Bedford CF Freeway. I did not like it and I gave it a name "The Green Phlegm Bomb". But I did take it to France, about the only thing that was good was the refinement, it cruised quietly, doing less than 4000 at an indicated 80 on the Autoroute. I did not bring back any unwelcome guests in the wheel arches the car probably being too laden with vin rouge.
It broke down in Calais on the way back, the water pump having thrown a bearing. By the time we arrived in Dover the Austin garage next to the docks had closed at noon we arrived at quarter past and it was the Saturday of August Bank Holiday. as I was in the RAC I called them , they carried me back to North Wales on the back of a lorry,. If I had been in the AA I would have probable spent a couple of days in various laybys, but the RAC used a contractor and did the job with one lorry, The driver told me as he was winching the car that he had just finished a 12 hour shift on the docks. He only stopped once for a coffee at Sandbach services. After dropping me off at my house he left to return to Dover, declining the offer of a break, saying he had to get back to do his next shift on the Docks!!!
Props to the RAC contractor
- what a TOP BLOKE 👍👍
Superb review mate. A very honest appraisal. Thanks for featuring George on your channel. And yes, I will be sorting those tired brakes!. Cheers :D
A great looking survivor - loved seeing it!
@@AllThingsAlex it's my favourite brown car hands down to feature on Up N Down vids. 😉
@@bondbug73 Cheers lol
Great memories. we had a 1300 S reg from 1988 to 2000 and it was an awsome car.. can't lie things did break and it burnt oil but we all miss her more than many of our other cars
I had to decide between buying a 1750 HL Allegro, or a 1600GT Escort
I bought the Allegro.
An explanation, I was young, with family, but wanted something quick that I could afford.
The Allegro was cheaper to insure, it was quicker, it had independent suspension, it had a five speed box, it was way more luxurious, the engine was more modern with an overhead cam.
Both had a boot, hatchbacks were rare.
The Escort steered nicer and the gear change was nicer.
The Allegro never let us down. Wasn’t a target for other drivers, it was invisible to the Police.
One of my favourite cars.
My Grandpa had one, bought new in 1980 and passed onto a neighbour when he stopped driving. He was forever tinkering with the valve train and carburettor. I just remember the smooth magic carpet ride courtesy of the suspension and soft seat cushions along with the strong tobacco smell (he smoked a pipe) and almost always a strong petrol smell whenever it was parked.
My father had one for a couple of years also :)
@@MrCHrisfj Ah yes, old car smell. Unlike new car smell, I don't believe anyone's tried to bottle and sell it. I can't recall what my small-cigar-smoking father's brown Citroen Visa smelt like inside, but I'm sure it must have become ingrained as he used to drive and smoke with windows tightly shut in the cooler months of the year.
Yours must have been one of the few not to have experienced failure of the hydrangeas suspension then - they were famously prone to failure , mine went twice in the six months I had it from new .
@@davidmascall1575 The first car I bought was a Vauxhall Victor and it had decades of smoking inside... Every surface was slimy with tar and nicotine. Spent 3 days trying to clean it and barely left a mark.
the fuel pipes would perish and the pump rubber flaps crumbled but that was poor maintenance
My late Dad bought, rebuilt, sold and scrapped many Allegros during the late 70s through 80s with a few stragglers going on into the 90s. The biggest issue was bad build quality , which had been deteriorating across the board from the early 70s onwards. Also the strikes and parts supply issues to the production lines. I remember the first two Allegros dad bought. a 73 and a 74.. Both had noisy gearboxes even on relatively low miles. So he decided as both cars where generally good, he would swap out the engine /gearbox unit in the 73 car for one from an older Austin 1100 Mk3.. Once swap was done the car was usable.. Then he pulled the original gearbox apart. Anyone who knows these gearboxes will know that there is a first motion shaft and a a mainshaft. In between the two is a needle roller bearing which supports the rear end of the first motion shaft... except that there wasnt in this box.. No roller / cage debris just two damaged bearing surfaces.. Much puzzlement and some bad language.. Anyhoos, Dad rebuilds the box using earlier 1100/1300 parts (of which he had stacks of) and puts the engine/box back in the car and all is fine and dandy... So then he thought. 'I'm gonna do exactly the same with the 74 car.. Out comes the original engine / box , in goes the 1100 engine /box .. car is driveable. Pulls the 2nd box apart and ...... EXACTLY the same part is missing....
I own a Austin Maxi 1750 from 1973 and its a great car😎🇳🇴
@@Oyvind88 I had a maxi, loved it and two egg rolls a 1.5 and a 1.0
@@davidgibson4840,cool😀
But that's not what this is about. Is it?
I had a black 1500 maxi. The gearbox was awful.
@@chrishart8548 It wasn't the box itself IIRC but BL's attempts at one of the first cable gear linkages. Now popular in FWD vans they are still horrible but at least the rubbery notch they go into is usually the gear you wanted.
The worst "shouldabeenahatch" has to be the saloon version of the Opel Kadett D - exactly the same shape as the hatch version, but with massively reduced access to the same boot space. And people actually decided to buy them instead of the hatch!
Yeah. The Peugeot 104, Alfa Sud and Citroen GS also started out as hatchback without a hatch!
This car came about in the transition years from saloon to hatchback.
The rear window on that Kadett D saloon was also significantly smaller than the one on the hatchback. So the rear visibility was worse as well.
@@jfv65 And the Fiat 127. And the VW Passat. And (more than a decade earlier) the Austin A40 Farina.
Hatchbacks just weren't a 'thing' in 1973. The Renault 16 and Maxi were seen as quirky and most people wanted a 'proper' saloon.
@@visionsofhere3745 I actually had a 1.2 Astra (not Kadett) with the "notahatchback" feature. Seats didn't fold either. And it was orange.
Had a 1300 A series engine, did ok, used to take it to Redcar and back, 4 speed box (of course), no problems. From the days when you had to service your own car, and it was easy. Owned it in the early 90s, it had been through the wars, still reliable, still got me where I wanted to go. A series, just keeps on chugging along.
Many years ago a very proud chap showed me his brand new Allegro with an added extra. He opened the boot and took the spare wheel out, underneath it was a squashed meat pie which had been skillfully sprayed over in the factory!
Hahahahaa!
The designers probably wanted a bit more meat in the boot to strengthen it.
and that my friend was how Greggs started,
My very first car was an Austin Allegro.
In fact the registration number was TOJ 956N I loved it that much I went and got a Brown one like yours.
If I could afford to buy one now I would 100% .
My mum had one around 1979, as I remember it was reliable and comfortable. A yellow 1300 reg DKJ 459T. It's funny the things we remember, ask me what happened last week and I wouldn't have a clue.
My very first car was also an Allegro, and I loved it to bits. If the Mrs would let me l would have another one tomorrow.
One of the things I prefer about modern cars is the quietness with engines turning over at less than 1500 rpm at 70 mph, because of 8 (or more) speed gearboxes. This car reminds me of long journeys on motorways in the 70s when you got to your destination exhausted and slightly deafened.
Most of the cars from this era even with a 5 speed were 45mph @ 2000rpm and around 3500rpm @ 70mph. Or 3000rpm @ 56mph. I actually found a I was in top gear around 34mph and didn't really want to go any faster. As it just got progressively louder.
@chrishart8548 34mph, when you had a 250 mile round trip to do in a day, would have been hopeless. So exhaustion and partial deafness it had to be!
@@nickdoughty518 That's why there was a thriving market for 'Silent Travel' kits! My father fitted them to two Triumph Heralds and a Triumph 2000.
the one thing I prefer about modern cars is that generally when you put the key in they work and they keep working. You could never make a journey in the 70s and 80s without passing somebody pulled over on the side of the road, bonnet open, broken down, knowing that at some stage it was your turn. From what I;ve read , electric car owners have rediscovered the bliss of playing breakdown russian roulette every journey, most invigorating.
@philldavies7940 I don't know anyone that has broken down in a EV. Modern ice cars are having loads of issues now due to how complicated the engines have become. How does an EV even break down ?
Great review, I always liked the Allegro. My dad had one in the early 80s as our family car and ran it to over 100k miles with very few problems. My mum bought an ancient estate model for a few hundred quid in the late ‘80s and it gave a good few years service, again with little trouble. The suspension and drivetrain were quite advanced compared to competitors cars too. I’d love to drive one!
My Wife had a 1500 Allegro and it was a great car. Reliable, smooth, bags of interior space, good visibility, enough power, but good economy, good gearbox, Handled well. A cinch to service, accessibility was great! There was a recall that was for changing the washer size on the rear wheel angular contact ball bearings, so that if a bearing failed, the larger washers would retain the wheel. To get to that stage, the bearing rumble through lack of grease or rust would have been incredible! Setting the swinging caliper brake pads up was easy, once you knew how. God bless Mr Haynes!
I waxoyled it and it was rust free with around 120 k on the speedometer, when we sold it. I had rebuilt the engine though.
The A series engine goes back even further than the '59 Mini it was in the A30 and A35, A40, AH Sprite and the Morris 1000 before the Mini appeared.
As a former owner of two during my early (budget) motoring days, I think that's a very fair summary. My first was a late Mk1 1300 with a round steering wheel, that had clearly had a hard life, and it did need new driveshafts and a gearbox bearing. Fit and finish was awful (look back at the rear of the drivers door and you could see light between the window frame and body - something I also saw in a mk3 Cortina!), but it got myself and two friends & camping gear for a fortnight all the way to Switzerland (and even briefly into northern Italy) and back. It was written off when a motorcyclist ran into the back of it. I had just changed jobs, so a little short on savings, and bought a mk2 1100 deluxe which was at least low mileage. It also was a lot better put together - no ridiculous panel gaps, and the interior trim fitted. I found them to have good flexible engines, making up for lack of power. The flexibility and low speed torque of the one you tested might have suffered with the tuning. The least flexible of 5 A-series engined cars I owned was the last - an MG Metro with all of 72bhp.
Plus points - generally good ride and handling - much better than a mk2 Escort. I drove a friends one of these to Scotland and was alarmed at how easy it was to slide it if it was wet. Also economic (middle-upper 40s mpg on long runs), and easy to work on - masses of space around the engine. Minus points - looks (a cottage loaf on a roller skate, but better than a Nisan Juke!), lack of rear hatch and fit and finish of the mk1. But all 1970s cars were noisy by modern standards. I'd rate them quieter than contemporary Renault 5 mk1s or late Beetles - I endured long overseas journeys in both of these.
Sliding in the wet reminds me of my Mk2 Granada estate ... even mini roundabouts at low speed the rear would slide out. Oh happy days.
I prefer the appearance of that car to the Allegro 3 that followed and I'd happily own and drive this one. I learned to drive in an Allegro 3 - Damask Red, MAV 766W.😮
My Mum had an Allegro back in the day; she was disappointed because her Dad wouldn't be a gaurantor for a loan on a Vanden Plas so had to settle for a mid-range spec. It died when she got rear ended by a BMW causing the freshly brimmed tank to leak it's entire contents. She's still a bit bitter about that to this day lol.
Strewth - the VP was so ugly at the front it made me ill.
The speedo goes up to 120mph - the definition of optimism!
Be optimistic if it was in kmh, too!
My 2006 Clio has 145 on the clock and that's VERY optimistic 😂😂
The UK is an island, the risk of falling off is the reason the speedo goes so high.
I'm pretty sure most Fords from that period had 140 mph speedo's, even the 1100's, and even though they over read terribly, you were hardly at risk of a speeding ticket
@@leuvenlife I'm pretty sure my dad's Mk5 Cortina's speedo did indeed go up to 140mph. My Mondeo ST's goes all the way up to 170mph but that is at least fairly close to its top speed
I think BL cars get too much hate, yes, some of them were pretty bad. However, they aren't nearly as bad as people say. You wanna know who I blame? The TopGear boys, they absolutely ragged on BL stuff, especially the Marina. One of the last Grand Tours had Hammond smashing up an Allegro estate.
@@Sid3300 I am glad those three jerks left.
The Marina was objectively poor compared to any of it's peers.
Great vlog, thought you'd like the car. We had a beige mark 3 and bought headrests for it from Trents when you could just go down to a car scrapyard and take what you needed from the cars there. Cost £10, and no it didn't double the value of the car. 😂😂. We loved ours.
Trust me, the Ford Escort was worse!!@ferrumignis
@@ferrumignis So poor they sold millions of them and they were regularly near the top of the sales charts. The Marina did the job it was designed to do. I had a 1978 Marina 1.8 HL/TC in Tahiti Blue and it was an excellent reliable and fast car for its day - so good I was keeping it until a female drove out at a junction without stopping right in front of me writing it off. My brother used to have a Mk1 Marina 1.8 in Sandglow that was also an excellent reliable car as well.
I have happy childhood memories of the Allegro. My father worked for Austin Rover Longbridge for 38 years. His first car was a Mini Clubman, Allegro Mark 2 and an Allegro 3. I remember going to Weston-super-Mare. My father parked on the beach. He allowed me to steer the car while he operated the pedals. After that the had an Ambassador. My lingering memory of the cars was a smooth ride.
When I was a kid, I used to go to the library often. And often I saw one neat looking Allegro, light brown in colour. It moved around, so obviously it was a driving unit. Liked seeing it, and kind of started liking it.. Mid 90s these were all gone in Finland. I did used to see a Marina too around the time. Kind of herb green two door coupe. Liked that one too, there might be something wrong with me. Didn't pay anywhere as much attention to the "cool" cars..
Oh, there was a ratty matt black 504 estate. As an aspiring goth, kind of wished something like that would've been my first car. :D
I almost bought a black one of these with a mustard interior, but instead bought a 1974 Sunbeam Avenger, Also watching from Finland.
Love the looks. Clean and modern. Suspension, comfort. Simplicity, Honesty!
Great video. Very fair. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Allegro. Looks great ,2 door russet brown. To much negativity surrounding them. Refreshing change. 👍
I have a soft spot for the Allegro, as I took my driving lessons and passed my test in one back in 1983. It was a X reg and a nice car 😊
My Dad had one of these in the late '70s. I was 'forced' to borrow it for a few days commuting when my Citroën (GS) was having something or other done to it. I was similarly surprised that it was better than their reputation -- your description of the suspension behaviour is exactly as per my recollection (versus the GS). Don't remember it being particularly noisy though. Having said it was 'okay', I was glad to get my relatively silky smooth Citroën back!
Really enjoyed your explanation of the hydragas system and the tradeoff between complexity/reliability vs absolute performance! The older I get, the more I appreciate simple and maintainable solutions. If a much simpler system can get even vaguely close to the performance of the more complex alternative, that's a great thing.
I liked the clip of Harris Mann being offered a lift in an Allegro by James May and said he'd rather walk. It's a perfect example of what happens when a committee gets involved.
I knew a couple of people with them - one of them had excessively worn rear wheel bearings so the noise would shift from one side of the car to the other when cornering.
Typical of many owners who drove their cars without servicing or looking after them and then blaming the car/manufacturer. Excessively worn wheel bearings are NOTHING to do with the car or manufacturer. Wheel bearings wear on all cars and when you hear them humming you REPLACE them and do NOT keep driving.
My first car was an 'N' reg (July 1975) 4 door Allegro 1300 Super, in white. I was 19 and I loved it! The one issue I had was a water pump failure at almost 80mph on the M1 by Trowel Services. It's down hill, southbound, so that's why the speed! It failed catastrophicly and before I could stop, the engine block was cracked! Had to have a reconditioned engine, which then performed really well. On the interior, mine was post quartic steering wheel, and only had 2 large guages in a small binnicle on the dash, speedo in one and fuel and temp in the other. I also remember having a large cushion on the driver's seat as it had collapsed, and that was in a 6 year old car!
I replaced it with a Mk2 Escort Estate (1300 L) and the ride in that was atrocious in comparision to the Allegro's. It was also even noiser!
I've always thought that the bashing of the Allegro was pretty unfair. I beileve that the lack of a hatch-back was due more to BL's management's lack of vision and their believe that hatch-backs would never be popular. They still beleived at that time that 3 box saloons were the future. But that was typical of BL Management's total lack of understanding of car manufacturing and design.
Thanks for the blast from the past!
Jonathan.
As I am nearly 60 and have very different memories to all the cars you review. You are the only person who I have heard describe the allegro as brilliant. God bless you, even the sight of this car (which we used to call ' austin all agro' made me come out in hives, especially in the faeces brown colour scheme.
You never had one? Never drove one?
@@htimsidI had 1, my brother had 3 the absolute definition of Bangerenomics.....jees they were crap!
@@buckneighkidd419 And how old were they?
@DeeKay84 Brown was the "in" colour at the time (you should know this). In the 80's everything was brown. Today "grey" is an "in" colour. Remember, we are talking about cars from 40 odd years ago. In another 40, we'll be talking about current cars and how crap they seem. I won't cos I'll be dead, but you get the point
Only the dumb called them all agro as they just spouted the drivel that they were told by other "experts" in the pub or spouted by the JOURNALISTS on Top Gear etc such as Clarkson who didn't know how to use a spanner or any other tool. They were brilliant cars especially compared to the agricultural MK2 Escorts etc and far more RELIABLE as well. We had two in our family at the same time - my brother then mothers 1978 Allegro 1500 LE and my 1980 Allegro 1750 TC Equipe both excellent and very reliable cars and the Equipe was a fast car for its day as well. friends who owned them back then thought they were great cars as well. Every time I parked my Equipe and came back to it there was always people looking at it and in it and asking me about it as it certainly stuck out with its colour scheme and decals - you did not get that with any other "normal" cars.
Bought a brand new 1100 in 1980, drove it for 6 years and loved it. Also crammed in 4 adults, a baby and luggage for a weeks holiday with no problems.
I like that you like it: I had to travel in them as a kid, I hope to finish my counselling sessions soon...
Had a 1500 in ‘79. Never missed a beat in 4 years. Great on fuel, and a nice nippy car. Steering wheel was a bit square but wasn’t an issue. What was an issue was BL putting an un-reinforced rubber fuel pipe over the engine which split and sprayed petrol all over the exhaust manifold. Caught fire and burnt out eventually. Princesses were the same. Thanks BL! Boot was big enough.
You've gain a subscriber, a good, honest, unbiased review. Going through the rest as we speak.
My mate had one of these years ago, and I remember the rear seat was like a springy mattress! Love these cars, full of character, good to see some been so well looked after and still on the go!
Let’s think of the context this car was released in. Industrial relations at BL were catastrophic and the result was real problems with build quality which are well documented, with frequent disputes and production stoppages. All the cars of this era at BL were impacted : Rover SD1, Morris Marina, Austin Princess and of course the Allegro. I think much of their poor reputation is rooted there. there were even cases of deliberate sabotage on the production line. Cars that have survived to this day have obviously been cured of all those issues. My dad’s 1972 Triumph 2000 caught fire because of a wiring issue a week after delivery. We never had any problems with our 1973 Morris Marina 1.3 super. Dad’s 1977 Princess had loads of quality problems new too - trim falling off, Windows dropping into the doors etc etc
Thank you for that trip down memory lane. That Allegro is nearly identical to my first car. Mine was an 1100 and one year older, otherwise identical colour, trim, and number of doors. I'd forgotten some of the finer details like the look of the instrumentation and the boot. I loved my Allegro and would happily drive it today. I especially loved the way it handled speed bumps. Sadly mine rusted beyond economic repair. I think that part of the reason for the car body being taller than the original design was to accommodate the old A series engine, which was taller than the more modern engine that the designer had wanted to install. Thank you again for the flash back in time.
They did the same with the Leyland Princess. But there was enough demand for a hatchback that various coach builders did a Princess Hatchback conversion.
BL in their dying days, eventually got the idea when the Princess was face lifted into the Ambassador.
My friend had the 1750 version back in the early eighties and I remember it being a surprisingly quick well equipped car that could hold its own against most of its contemporaries. Great to see your review of one of the cars of my youth
As with anything from the '70 you need to look at the Allegro in context...the first car to use a flat wiring harness, first family car with full wax body protection. My 1974 Allegro had the quartic steering wheel and never caused me any concern, although it was later replaced with a sporty chrome and leather 'upgrade'. At the time you could have invested in a rust prone cart sprung Ford Escort Mk2 or an over weight Vauxhall Viva HC.
So very very true. It seems everyone that has a negative opinion is too young to have driven one or even been a passenger. The truth is many BL cars were unpolished gems through lack of investment. MANY engineering firsts that appear on cars even today were invented by BL...
Strangely, because it's an Austin, the Allegro was made at Cowley. I knew the Plant Manager at Cowley when the Allegro was launched. Some of the cars had wax protection, some didn't. It was a 50/50 split according to the Manager. BL were trialling the use of cavity wax protection and needed a control i.e. the 50% that didn't get protected!
@@stephen546 i am old enough to have driven loads worked on loads ,and luckily never owned one , if you think they were good , fine , however for those of us that were actually there , they were crap and fords at the time were far superior
I was there and one family member had one as a company car@@ianrichards4907
@@stephen546 Very true. Starting with the Mini. A great opportunity missed with the hatch sadly.
My old man had an Allegro, it was a right nail but I still loved it. And I don't remember it ever breaking down either. He managed to keep it running without any issues. Having said that I didn't love it enough to take it off him when he offered it me for nowt 😆
It's one of the only cars I can still remember the registration number of as well, GRF 323V 😂
I remember years later spotting it in the local scrap yard so I got the plates off it as a keep sake. I would love one now but modded to the max just because it would stand out.
Great video thanks for bringing back the memories. ✌️😎
There is a rumour -- I don't know how true it is -- that if you jacked up one rear wheel of an Allegro the rear window would pop out of its rubber frame. So, a body shell with no resistance to torsion, The large X frame visible inside the boot looks like an attempt to deal with that. But it also means that it would have been impossible to make an Allegro hatchback without an enormous amount of heavy and expensive reinforcement inside the rear door frame.
The original Alfasud had a frame between the rear wheel arches, behind the seat back. When it was converted to a hatchback it gained a reinforcing crossmember across the boot floor which was carried over to the 33 derivative.
The window popping out was just one of the many "myths" spread by the "experts" that heard it from a mate or from dumb JOURNALISTS on Top Gear etc re the Allegro. People like myself who looked after and serviced our own cars used to jack our Allegros up at all angles when working on them on the drive/street and never had any problems with windows popping out etc. The Allegro shell was just as rigid as most other rivals back then and superior to some such as the Mk2 Escort.
@@williamwoods8022 Not a myth, the Met put plates over the rear jacking point to prevent the screens popping out.
I had a 1974 Allegro. The 1300 super, with the square steering wheel. Although I travelled many miles in the two years that I owned it, I was forever changing out faulty parts. It became my weekend job to rectify issues. These included, head gasket failure, faulty thermostat, clutch master cylinder, water transfer port, alternator, non starting issues, SU carburettor change, sealed beam headlights to name but a few. I have to say that I loved that car. After selling it I moved to a Dolomite sprint, easily the best car that I have ever owned.
I have a mk2 allegro in orange I love it was fed up of my bms Audi’s going into limp mode etc etc I use it ever day for work and keep on top of it with maintenance which is much and mot/ tax exempt and £89 for the year to insure and cheap on fuel 👍🏻
Not much was meant to say
Harris Mann was a visiting lecturer to our course in Industrial Design, around 1990. He showed us the original marker designs for the Allegro, we were amazed at how cool it looked inside his head. He mentioned many elements in his designs were sacrificied in favour of what was available in the current parts bins. I still love his work, pushing the boundaries as far as he could, given the incredible financial constraints.
As a 67 year old, I'm amused by your observations about the fit of the wheels inside the wheel wells.
Our first new car was a 1980 VW Rabbit (US market Golf). The wheel well fit and tire sizes were very similar and common enough for the era. Our Rabbit had 155-80R13 tires.
Always interesting to watch someone who's taken the time to learn about the history and design of a car. I still enjoyed this though.
I really like that look. I really don't think it is as bad as people say.
I passed my test on a Nissan (then Datsun) Sunny in 1982, but then, still living at home, we went in for an Austin Allegro shortly afterwards ("S" reg), and had the use of it for a couple of years. It broke down frequently, had a back seat that needed to be repaired, and had the non-hatchback layout at the back. We were glad to get rid of it in late 1984 for a Nissan Micra, which we kept for over ten years!
The Imp engine was very good, and years ahead of its time. The 'S' version could kick out nearly 60bhp, which was a lot considering it was a very light car. Apparently, Austin tried the quartic steering wheel as the main road wheels, but they had trouble finding square tyres. Shame. (Very good explanation of hydrogas!) Subbed.
The Imp engine was originally a fire pump engine, Coventry Climax.
My first car was an 1979 Allegro Equipe 1750. It was parked up outside someone’s house on my walk to school. It 1989 and I paid £150 and my Dad helped me get it roadworthy. All my mates had 850 Minis and were impressed with my twin carb maxi powered rocket.
Next stop must be a "Rover 100" with the fully linked Hydragas suspension. To compare.
Delightful report. 👍
It's a bit "Up and Down" then?
We had an Allegro Special in the 1980s, Bronze with a brown vinyl roof, superbly comfortable velour seats and a 1500cc engine. It was still going strong at 120,000 miles. The hydrogas suspension was amazing, it gave such a smooth ride. We still rate this as one of our most favourite cars. We had a Rover 216 after the Allegro, that was horrible. We prefer booted cars and our present car is a Mazda 3 Saloon. This is also an amazing car that ticks all the boxes for us. We bought it brand new with £4000 scrapage on our Honda. Beautiful styling that does not show on the hatchback. That was 7 years ago and we have only come across one other Mazda 3 Saloon on the road. It was on the M5 and the same year reg and colour. I still have my original car I bought in the lower 6th at school for £5, a Bond Mk C Minicar, that was 54 years ago. I have owned two Hillman Imp powered Bond 875 three wheelers in the past, very stable and could leave Boy Racers standing at the lights. The two stroke Bonds were the first cars to officially drive on a British motorway (the Preston bypass), they were afforded the privilege as they were manufactured in Preston. To gain the best publicity they positioned one car in each lane for the ribbon cutting, so holding up any other vehicles in order to be the first photographed by the press positioned on the first bridge. As you may have gathered I am a microcar enthusiast, I have two 1956 Mark C Bond Minicars (the first mini! but they did not patent the name, it is there on the bonnet badge). I also have an original Peel P50 I bought for £50 in the late 70s.
CX, GS and DS also had the same type boot. Same with Peugeot 104. Not so uncommon at that time!
DS was a proper saloon, in fairness. The GS and CX I grant you (hence my mention of the GS in the vid)
@@UPnDOWNThank you. Why is the DS a proper saloon in your opinion?
@@mehrzahl2219 I'm going to guess that the definition here is that the boot extends significantly beyond the bodywork as a distinct third 'box' on the design.
I recall my grandparents testing this when it was a brand new model and how impressed they were. It had amazing new suspension. They were very impressed with the ride but actually bought the maxi instead.
Stylistically it was very modern and I think the success of the peugeot 205 ten years later reveals how style wise it was ahead of its time.
We never got the Allegro in Australia. We did get the Marina, which, like so many similar cars in the early seventies, was pretty agricultural and certainly not exciting. We also didn't get the Maxi. Instead, there was the Morris Nomad, which was a restyled version of ADO-16, with a modified front end to accommodate a 1500cc engine, and a hatchback rear end. Yes, it is true that the Allegro was originally intended to be a hatchback, but the BL management argued that it would take sales away from the Maxi. Go figure! The Maxi had a 1750cc engine and a five speed manual transmission. The Allegro had smaller engines, a four speed manual transmission, and different suspension. The two were not really competitors. That's BL for you. Leyland Australia disappeared down the plughole of doom in 1975, due to all the problems BL had. That was just at the time when they had begun to produce the P76, which was a large car meant to compete with the Holden Kingswood and the Ford Falcon.
Odd that you didn't get them in Australia and yet we got them here in New Zealand 🤔
@@kkiwi54 I'm pretty sure the reason was that Leyland Australia ceased local production in 1975, and as far as imports were concerned, only premium brands like Jaguar and Range Rover were imported. I guess BL realised that they couldn't compete with the Japanese rivals, and the locally produced vehicles from Holden, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi. I don't know anything really about the motor industry in New Zealand. What I have seen seems to indicate full importation of vehicles, or local assembly from CKD. Some Aussie cars were assembled in New Zealand from CKD.
My mother had one from new. It was a Mk1 with the odd steering wheel. I remember driving it with four people inside from Hornchurch to Chelmsford. It took almost half the distance there to reach 60 mph. ( only kidding ) Like you were saying it was par for the course in those days.
You were talking about the small wheels and the amount of space around them. We used to joke about it, saying that it was a design feature that allowed you to remove all of the mud that used to accumulate inside the wings. Rust was the big killer of cars in those days.
I at the time was driving a Mk1 Escort, and as it was the basic model, I honestly can't say that it was much better than the Allegro.
I enjoyed your take on the Allegro. It's nice to see someone enjoy driving this almost forgotten piece of history.
The Allegro was far better than the press would have had you believe. They loved to knock BL and its products but that was based upon anti-union sentiments rather than anything substantial. As for the Quartic steering wheel - derided at the time but actually ground breaking coz if you look today so many standard cars feature a squared off steering wheel.
Larger sized wheels were all that stopped this from being a good looking. Unfairly slagged over time.
I think the real problem was the people who put them together 😢
My grandad had one back in the early 80s when I was a young lad - he had the upmarket Vanden Plas in light blue, on an X reg so it was one of the very last ones made. Used to ferry my gran round in luxury with its walnut dash, leather seats and even picnic tables built into the back of the front seat for the rear passengers to enjoy a picnic. I used them myself on an outing to Lake Vyrnwy I got taken on. The car was a really smooth ride and you would not think it was an Allegro when sat inside it , but it wasnt even badged as an Allegro - just a Vanden Plas. They seemed everywhere when I was at growing up in the 70s and 80s, my uncle had one and my best mate's parents had one too. I remember one of the teachers at my school had the estate version. Cant believe they only made 600K of them over 10 years, as they seemed so popular back in the day. And yes, I called them All Aggro 's too. Never owned one myself though, although I did have a B reg beige Metro so that was the closest I got to an Alllegro in terms of engines and a BL badge. I wouldnt say they were awful - they were just pretty plain and uninspiring much like the Morris Marina and Vauxhall Viva.
If you also remember, I think the Austin Princess was not a hatchback either initially, until it became the Ambassador - again They didnt want the Princess to be a hatchback as the Maxi should be the only car offering one - even though the Rover SD1 got the hatchback.
Hydragas cars were interconnected. The reasoning behind this was devilishly simple: when a wheel hits a bump, the suspension compresses, pushing fluid down the interconnecting pipe to the unit at the rear. In other words - front wheel goes up, rear wheel goes down - and you remain level when you hit a bump.
I had a 1750 Alegro in early '70's (previously my Dad's 3 yr old car). It was perfectly fine.. even the maligned 'quartic steering wheel'. (I think it was everyone 'piling-in' with comments - essentially parotting views even when they had no experience of them). The 5 speed 'cable' gear change worked fine. The only foible was that the hand-brake cable ran under the back seat, and when 4-up the weight on back seat actuated the handbrake. It was easily fixed - and presumably redesigned. Like the Maxi, the suspension was excellent at soaking up potholes.
Interestingly the door handles survived until the late 90's on the Land Rover Discovery 1
Thank you, UPnDOWN. _Subscribed._
*My first car was an Austin Allegro (British Racing Green!), bought 1986, Dumfries. I do not remember the 'year of birth', series or the registration.* 🤔
It served my Dear Family and me very well. Sadly missed, but never forgotten! 💚
Stay free. Rab 😎 👋🏻
26:25 ohhh how I remember that A series drone when i regularly traveled from Cambridge to Scotch Corner on the A1 and wishing, hoping and praying for a 5th gear😂😢
The best version was the estate. Good little load carrier. Had one for several years and loved it. Usual BMC issues, wheel bearings, universal joints, etc, but kept going. Two sand bags under the bonnet when the snow came, Knobbly Colway remoulds on the front, and then go clearing the blocked roads. Second most fun you could have in a car.
I had a blue estate allegro i realy used to over load it never gave me any trouble tho i gave it away in the early 90s to a farmer who promptly cut the back off and used it as a pick up on his farm for feeding his sheep lol it wasnt in bad condition either just wasnt realy worth much back then .
The Austin Allegro was devised as a new, innovative car that would be the base upon which BL would build its future
The Morris Marina was a "parts bin special" cobbled together with pieces from other, mostly older cars and destined to soldier on only for a few years, until something better was designed.
Given such clear strategic vision it will surprise no one knowing that the Allegro development budget was 27 million pounds, whereas the Marina got 48.
😂😂😂😂
We had ours new in 1980, V reg, same colour, but ours was a 1750 HL (High Line), that was Mum’s car, Dad had a V reg Maxi out of the same dealership, in gold … that was also a 1750 HL!!
There were quite a few trim packages from what I remember, ranging from the base Allegro 1500, to the Allegro Equipe towards the end of the Allegro 3. Vanden Plas were always the ones I lusted after 🤣🤣 they also had some seriously funky metallic colours for them too!
You won’t find me skating one, that’s for sure 👍👍
It has been over 40 years since I drove a 1300 Allegro, it was not terribly old at the time. It was a competent car and easy to drive. BL suffered from a lack of investment and we had all seen the mechanical components in other cars. The A series in front wheel drive form may date back to 1959 in the Mini but the basic engine is far older. The car was awful over speed bumps, if I remember correctly the rear suspension had check straps to limit the travel. Most people that insult Marinas and Allegros have never driven them....
As for comparison to the Escort, the most valid comparison is not to the Mk1 and 2 but the FWD Mk3.
Mk1 fiesta would have been a better choice
@@gillscorner794 that would be more of a comparison to the Metro.
The comparison was the Mk2 Escort both 70's cars - the Mk3 Escort was an 80's car the equivalent to the Maestro. The Allegro was a far superior and far more reliable car than the agricultural Mk2 Escort and would have been far more successful if it had the hatch that it was designed to have in the first place especially as all cars were coming out with hatches since it came out.
@@williamwoods8022 there was of course a change in Escort models during the Allegro production run. I am no fan of the MK3 Escort but I found even the 1.3 CVH engine smooth and the car was relatively comfortable and quiet. Certainly far from agricultural. I actually like the styling of the Mk1 Allegro estate, a very rare car as they only made them for 100 days.
My first car was a twin carb Marina in the 80’s. It was an OK car for it’s day, but the really bad point about it was the seriously slippy rear wheels, if you took a decent corner at any speed, you would very quickly be going sideways into the nearest ditch or tree!
I've probably commented this before, on this video, but my first car was an 1100 DL Allegro (with 1275 engine fitted), It was easy and nice to drive, comfortable, reliable, economical, (40+ MPG on a run) practical. I can't remember my car not starting in 4 years of ownership. Cheap to run as well, it was my student car. never needed to be towed by the AA. I definitely would like one again and would do some daily driving in it!!! A good car then only ruined by the styling , which now doesn't look bad, it now looks Quirky.
By the way, I don't remember my car having a boomy exhaust. I suspect being an older car with a low milage the exhaust system may be quite old and may not be blowing externally, but the silencers may have rotted internally hence no longer silencing, hence causing the booming sound.
I availed myself of the free AA membership which came with all BL cars back then - and boy did they need it !
The Maxi 1750 was one of the best cars I ever had.
My dad had one. Although a Ford man, he loved it.
I was working in a BL dealership when the Allegro came out to very little acclaim or fuss. It was a utilitarian car with distinctive looks but essentially a replacement for the Austin/Morris 1100/1300 hydrolastic cars. Much later when I was working at the Rover Solihull plant I discovered the hatchback Allegro prototype body literally shelved in a workshop. Finally I owned a secondhand Allegro 1750 with the fancy go-faster red stripes. This was a really fun car to drive and the only time it temporarily broke down was when I hit a large puddle of flood water that splashed over the distributor cap. I did get wet feet but soon had it dried out enough to finish my journey. Not a bad car in its day and also simple to fix by todays standards.
quartic wheel was to give clearer view of dials
✅You beat me to it
The early ones suffered from the rear wheel bearings failing and the wheels parting company. They were very noisy too! I bought a soundproofing kit for mine, which didn't improve things much.
My grandad had a allegro estate in blue, with a blue velour interior, which I remember had really comfortable seats
I had a couple of these back in the 80's, the first one when I passed my test in 1983. To be honest, it wasn't a bad car at all, I only ended up getting rid of it when I ended up wrapping it around a stone bridge when I took a 90 degree corner too fast..! Fortunately it was in the middle of the night and nobody else was around..! I had another one which was obviously a Friday afternoon car, it was a heap of crap. The speedo cable kept coming out of the back of the clock and the engine ate an exhaust valve three parts of the way around the Coventry ring road one day.
So my honest opinion..? It's not all that bad and doesn't deserve the reputation it's got. Find a good one and it's excellent. Pick a bad one and you'll know it. A bit like anything else, really.
Our firm had a fleet of several Allegros including Van den plas automatics. We had them over several years and they were excellent cars, reliable and performed well. We never had any problems and there was no criticism. The insults came later and that was caused by the name sounding similar to aggro. I am an engineer and dealt with design, production, modification, maintenance and repair of tens of thousands of vehicles and capital equipment. Where did the criticism come from? - Well it was from the dishonest, lying, cheating media and press who love to criticise and make fun of everything British. Remember that German, French and Italian journos never did and never would criticise their own national products, no matter how bad they are. Note that the shape is nearly identical to BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis which copied the Allegro shape.
Step forward Jeremy Clarkson.
@@glendryhurst8234 What Mercedes, BMW or Audi looks like an Allegro!?😂
The German car tests of Rainer Günzler ( many on the 7Freitage channel on UA-cam) were quite favorable of foreign makes... if and when deserved.
Yes, several models have copied that Allegro rounded rear end shape which are often called SUV : BMW 1 Series, 2 Series, etc. M.Benz A Class, B Class, GLC, etc. Audi A1, Q4, Q8, S4, Q5, many of those dead ringer models, "all the same". And the VW, Seat and Skoda types, so many look all the same.
@@glendryhurst8234 Lol, what a vivid imagination you have!
The Allegro's rather tall stance was due to the engine and gearbox design, it was never intended to look like that, it was certainly no SUV fore father!
My first car was an Allegro and they were every bit as bad as people said they were, a pile of junk best consigned to the history books.
I've only once driven an Allegro - also a 1300, borrowed from my local garage for a weekend when my VW Beetle was in for repair - and I also found it a lot better than its reputation. It did feel tinny compared to the Beetle, and compared to my Dad's Maxi (the Maxi had a very strong bodyshell), but it was reasonably roomy and performed and handled quite well, and was fairly economical. I was used to the Hydragas on the Maxi so the suspension didn't surprise me.
It didn't have the Beetle's build quality or character, but it wasn't bad to drive at all.
If you see the original drawings for the Allegro penned by Harris Mann, it was a fantastic piece of design. However, by the time BL got their hands on it, it had turned into the amorphous blob we all know and hate 🤣
You might have it, I like the shape.
I learned on a 1982 Allegro estate. All my mates thought it looked like a cream hearse, but it was a nippy old cream hearse. I've driven a lot worse than it in my time! That wonderful old Austin engine sound... takes me back!
The reason for the change of design from the original plan was because the engines wouldn't fit, and BL couldn't afford to design new ones, though the 1500 and 1750 models did have newish engines. The suspension has been pumped up too high, hence the large amount of space in the wheel arch. When you pressed the front wing down and the car was very soft...it shouldn't do that!!!!!. Overall, the Allegro wasn't a bad car and was fairly reliable. The issue was the British public were very conservative, and that's why they preferred the Ford Escort, which was far more primitive with it's Leaf spring suspension and equally ancient weedy engines.
The Allegro wasn't a bad car (I'm 63) it's just that it was a bit too out there for many...that's why Citroen didn't do that well either
Not going to lie when i was younger i derided this car but have grown to appreciate it. I would say i would have one over a Mark 1 Escort, the Mark 1 Escort does nothing for me at all.
An excellent unbiased review Rich.
Interesting video and good to see a review where somebody can understand and appreciate a car for what it is and what it was built and designed for. Funnily enough, I've found many cars of lesser status to be more fun than the prestige makes and models. Will have to check out some more of your videos.
Thanks! 👍
I was living with my parents in '89. Came home one day to an empty house to find some keys and a logbook on the doormat.
A friend had been given a 1750 Allegro (blue with black vinyl roof) by his boss (it was owned by the boss' dad, who had become too old to drive it). It didn't have an MoT and my unmechanical friend had it on his parents' drive for a while before they got fed up with it and made him get rid of it.
The girlfriend of the guy who "dumped it" on me berated him for his actions. I didn't have a car at the time and was super stoked to have scored a new car for free.
I put it in for an MoT and it only failed on a bad front brake hose and something else even more minor. Cost me about £20 to fix and it passed. Cheap insurance and tax and I was on the road.
During my year or so of Allegro ownership, on one night there were 2 carloads of us going up to London for a party after the local pub closed. The other car was a mate's Alfa Romeo GTV (not a sporty engine one, but still a pretty fancy one and for us teens at the time, an expensive car). I was in the lead doing about 30 and looked over to see him trying to overtake me. So I put my foot down- he couldn't get past me. He stayed level with me with a grimace on his face, then started dropping back. He gave up in a huff and pulled in behind me as all of us in my Allegro pissed ourselves laughing.
In the end I gave it to a friend of mine when I finished with it. He drove it into the ground for a year before he passed it on to another guy and I lost track of it. I don't think any of us did any kind of servicing. Just put in fuel. One of the best cars I ever owned, and I've owned a few.
Excellent! I've been really looking forward to seeing your video on George of All Things Alex and mango ice lolly fame. My mate has a few Allegro's. One of them is the 1973 British Leyland rally car which he's restoring. Super review Rich.
I had this exact model in the same lovely brown colour, it was alright, A to B job, highlight memories were 1. When i filled the boot with manure for the garden (in a plastic liner) then had a puncture in the middle of nowhere, pre mobile phone, spare wheel under a load of sh*te. 2. I decided to respray the car with the same brown one evening, I was an engineering technician in a tech college, of course the heating was off and the paint bristled, so resulted in a sort of matt finish, I did fit sporty Saab seats i picked up from a scrap yard, then sold it to a neighbour whole fell for the fancy seats. I also owned a Morris Marina also in brown, my next car was a 20v Audi Coupe.
The irony with the quartic wheel is that it is now used in lots of cars these days. New puma being perhaps most obvious example.
The Maxi was brilliant, the all aggro was reliable once one assembled it correctly
👍Thanks for video. I remember loads of these on the roads in the 70s. By the end of the 80s they had virtually disappeared.
I've a Russet brown MGB, and when I saw the car in the pics I wasn't convinced at all, until I saw it in the metal. I loved it when I saw it, especially with the bright orange interior! As for the Allegro, I'd absolutely have one! They're quirky!
My Gran had one and drove all over the country with it. It endured many miles being driven, fairly badly, around Scotland in all weather's, across various terrains, including rough tracks, and never had an issue apart from regarding the springs. It never broke down and just went on and on until she stopped driving.
Takes me back to my school days in the 70s. Our headmaster was a big fan of the Allegro and it was rumoured he had two of the buggers! Definitely remember it being perceived as a very naff car at the time 😮