Austin Allegro Vanden Plas | Retro Car | Car Review | Drive in | 1974
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- Thames TV's 'Drive in' takes a look at the new Austin Allegro Vanden Plas and the factory where it gets its plush finishing touches.
First shown: 16/09/1974
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail:
archive@fremantlemedia.com
Quote: VT9857
Back in the late eighties, I was short of money, two young children and my car, a Capri, failed it's mot. I needed a car to get to work. A guy who lived nearby had one of these heavy allegros' for sale, £200 was on the windscreen, I only had £120, he said ok. I drove that car every day for about 5years, it never missed a beat. Got £500 for it when I sold it.
Should have passed the bargain on to the next buyer......simon..name of someone that would be greedy
@@coolboy5428 "Greedy"? Nope, but sensible.
As David Dickinson once said, "that's a Bobby dazzler".
@@coolboy5428 seriously!?
Now that's the Dickenson's real deal!
"The leather seats will outlast the bodywork..." - imagine hearing that in a car review today !!
Cloth seats would have outlasted the bodywork.
I thought one of the few positives of Allegros turned out to be their resistance to rust...
@@jeroenjansen2709 cheese seats would have outlasted the bodywork
VP offered to Zeibart the car too. My Mum had one with the treatment done when new and hers had no rust at all when she sold it at 17 yrs old.
@@Pragwo1f It is and it was, but sadly there is no convincing these people whose minds were made up for them by others...
Best bit was when he failed to release the hand brake when pulling away. 🤣
Rookie mistake Tony.... Disappointed. :(
@@adrianadrian1887 that's why I like classic TV. Nowadays with everything styled and streamlined they simple would have repeated the scene.
I thought it was the car going into drive. Those auto units were primitive.
Junk car
@@Banglish123 Made worse by revving the engine on start up.
There was nothing wrong with the Vanden Plas Allegro. Great little car.
Not a very fast one though.
We had a Vanden Plas 1500 allegro it was 1978. When we bought it it was 22 years old 50,000 miles from new for £450 we used the car every day and all we spent on it was a new set of points fantastic little car. We have the car for 5 years with out any problems.
My mother had one. (an automatic transmission version). Woefully slow but the type of driver that had one of these cars generally didn't care about speed.
A decent car to drive around a congested town, whilst feeling fairly good about yourself.
Not cheap but still reasonable value, considering the refinements.
Our neighbor who was a railroad worker, had a beautiful lil dark green Mini, in West Virginia that was very unusual, my dad called it a clown car, but I agreed wit our our neighbor, it was economical to drive and on a two lane mountain roads was a blast to drive. I was just a kid, but that lil Mini sparked my Love for British automobiles, MGs, Triumphs, Jags, Austin Martins, McLarens and Range Rivers. I never owned any of these wonderful cars, but even now in my 50’s when I pass one on the road, I can’t help but become a 8 year old boy watching Mr. Hale take loving care of his lil Mini, how foreign and wonderful the lil Mini seemed to me. It is also good to know that not all the cars produced were awesome and that Britain had its share of just so so cars in her history!
My gf back in the 90s had a beat to fuck old mini.
I remember one night two random Americans with thick southern accents literally marking out for it.
Weird shit. It was a rusty old tub with a knackered clutch.
1:30. Love this part! BL *could* spend the extra time to make sure everything fits, but that would raise the price of the car!
brutal truth
It did all fit and fit fine. The difference between Austin Allegros and VDP Princesses is that the tolerances were far finer on the VDP cars.
@@charlesregan4576 They should have said: The British accept badly built cars for their money unlike any other country. Made in Britain means they will forgive anything.
@@team3383 untrue. The British flocked in their hundreds of thousands to buy badly made French cars and forgave them for every breakdown and malfunction, but heeded the lies and smears about British cars being poorly made. It was sheer and utter stupidity.
@@charlesregan4576 I wonder WHY brits bought French cars 'en masse' ???
Maybe because they were better built ?
Maybe because they didn't break down so often ?
Maybe they were better value for money ? (But the govt made SURE that wasn't the case by slapping protectionist taxes on foreign imports so they were in fact VERY similarly priced to their GB "competitors").
Please explain. LOL.
Please also bear in mind that YOU are the person who mentions French cars.
VW were just as popular and so much better - they still are.
I never knew any of that, just thought it had a funny grille stuck on it. Also I note that no one moans about the current penchant for having steering wheels with flat sections at the bottom. Oh, of course, posh German cars do so that makes it OK then!
So cool seeing that old Thames Logo again
I am one of the rare people who actually liked the Allegro. My Grandmother had two back in the late 70's early 80's and never had any trouble with either of them. The last one she had was a series 3 and that really was a pretty nice car for its day. it wasn't as bad as the press made out, it just never recovered from the Quartic steering wheel which everyone ridiculed and problems they had when they were first launched . The series 2 and 3 were much better cars than the series 1.
It is deadly for car sales if a new model is not properly sorted at launch. It does not matter if it gets sorted in a Mk.2 version, the sales will bomb no matter how good it is. Same happened to the Vauxhall Victor and Hillman Imp. The FB Victor was a really good car, but suffered from the bad name of the F model. The Mk.2 Imp was probably the best small car on the road, but couldn't live down the bad reputation of the Mk.1.
Mr H - So did I and I actually owned a 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe which was an excellent and very reliable fun car that I wish I still had today - very nippy as well and my brother and then mother also had a 1978 Allegro 1500 LE - the same as the Corgi Vanguards model - which was also an excellent and very reliable car.
I liked them too! My uncle had a 1300, my brother's first car was a 1500 super and my mum had a VP 1500. None of them ever broke down or gave any trouble at all. My mum's 1974 1500 with its 5 speed manual would happily cruise at 80mph on the motorway (and how many other cars in 1974 had 5 gears btw?). It was quiet, comfy, softly sprung on hydrogas and reliable, and since it was waxoyled when new (ziebart?) the body never rusted either. She had it for about 10 years and covered 80,000 miles in it before trading it for something newer. And looking up HNF 919N now shows it lasted till 1994! 20 years old - not bad really :)
People wish to blame the unions for the demise of the British auto industry, but it was clearly the sociopathic management class that was the problem.
Reverend Al British management is still generally poor unfortunately. Very little has been learned in that respect.
I owned a couple of VdP 1500's. Beautifully put together and finished, comfortable and quiet. The Allegro didn't rust like its competitors did. So easy for people to slag these cars off when very few of the critics have ever driven or owned one. How on Earth BL made money on these hand finished versions is a mystery. That would have been great working in that factory though, really interesting job. I wonder if the building survives?
Apparently the workshops have all gone, but the front of the building survives.
Can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter
Azureecosse aw sorry mate didn't mean to get under you're skin as much as I seem to have done 😗
... But you can spray it metallic blue...
Ahhhh, internet squabbles ! god bless the internet
Spot on
some muppet on here who sells these reckons theyre great! hahahaha cough cough hahahaha
These Allegro vdp's were quite a nice car. My neighbour had one in cosmic blue and it looked smart with the chrome. People too ready to put a downer on something that they likely have no experience of but its"cool" to be anti British Leyland. I had a series 3 Daimler vdp xj in the late 90's and this was a beautiful car. Wish I had it now!
This is an ugly looking car for sure.
You can have it.
The later metro and maestro had vanden plas versions too, indeed the latter had electric windows and digital, voice synthesized dashboard.
Rex Luminus shut your arse.
É
@@rexluminus9867 thanks, I'd happily find room for one to add to my collection of classics.
Love it , had two great car , looking for a 3rd in 2018
Did you manage to pick your fourth up buddy?
My dad had a yellow 1.1 with a maroon boot in 1992. It used to take us from hitchin to hemsby every year on our summer holiday. Always had to stop at thetford for an hour for her to cool down and top up the radiator
Tony get's all the good cars… My great aunty had one back in the '70's, whilst her husband had a 1970 Jaguar XJ6. Pure class. I have to admit, I do like the Allegro, much miss understood car.
Anyone out there still has a Allgro Camden Plas, could you please let Hob Nut give us a drive review of it.😉😂
Lol 😆
He never showed us the rear picnic tables !!
Mike G and lack of rear leg room from the plusher seats taking up more space
Early production vdp 1500s didn’t have them.
@@owenlewis8006 wtf?! But... but... the whole point of the All Aggro VDP simply WAS those picnic tables. Otherwise.... what's the point?!
I know, right?!
@@Darwinion not all VDP cars had the tables. I had a Daimler XJ series 3 which had no tables.
I owned one in 2012 and was very surprised at the good manners the car had and how nicely she went over the speed bumps at 20mph . People like that tosser Clarkson can Afford to take the piss out of BL cars as he has forgotton what a real car is. People all too easily lap up the bullshit of these TV tossers putting them off from getting a fairly good car.Most people cannot afford the 2 million quid Lambo and have to settle for a modestly made motor . Nice to see these old reviews as they are alot more down to earth and not all fur coat and no knickers like the new shows
gpo746 mate a brand new lambo aventador is well under half a million pounds
Daz Z , Oh! thats ok then, I will have 2 of them....no need to be pedantic over the cost, the point is that programmes like Top Gear have lost touch with reality never mind the common man . only about 1% of the population can afford to go out and buy a car of +/- £500,000 . Problem is the mid life crisis boy racers that run the show wouldn't be seen dead in a fiat punto or a Ford fiesta . The whole point of TG was to review normal everyday cars .
BL was terrible and so was everything the made, thats why they went bust simple maths, But Brits stil have McLarren & Lotus and there great cars, especially McLarren.
@ Rage Fire , Its a bit more complicated than that , It was the unions that broke BL . The cars were ok, lack of care and servicing gave them a terrible reputation.
gpo746 the guy in this review even alludes to the fact that the Allegro was a rubbish car even when they were new.
On a quiet night outside the Leyland forecourt, you could hear them rusting.
LOL!!...
No more than any other car of the 1970s and considerably less than the products of some other marques.
Alan Partridge Mk1
I'm trying to remember his name and it was something like Tony Barnstaple or Sebastopol, but yes, more than a touch of the 'a ha' about him. Btw, I always maintain that Fred Dineage was the original AP, except that my mate reckons it was Mike Rodd.
Tony Bastable
ProtoPartridge.
'coming on nicely'
I was always wondered why the Austin Maxi never had this option, it was a much more versatile car, being a hatchback and with its various fold down seating options, you could get a huge amount of load space, my dad had 3 Maxis (all automatics) in the 80's and 90's.
I'd guess the Maxi, being bigger, would have been in direct competition with models that were supposed to be luxury off the peg.
I had one of these - it was a beautiful car, with picnic trays in the back, typical of series 2 and 3 variants. I was 17 and it was my first car.
They did put the 1750 in the series 3 VDP auto, and twin carbs in the manual version. Second hand, they were half the price of an Escort, yet finished like an XJ. Insurance was £200 per year as 17 year old. Most people took it for what it was - a car like we’ll never see again with character. Yes, a couple of niggles as mine approached 100k miles, but easily and cheaply fixed.
In those days, you only got luxury trim at the top of the range, so an affordable quality car was a clear need. Jaguar copied the concept with their X type many years after. Also, hydrogas suspension was perfect for low speed town driving, absorbing all the bumps and discouraging you from driving at silly speeds. As a 17 year old, never did the road manners of the VDP get me into trouble. I did see one in the scrapyard with AC fitted as an option - imagine that! The addition of PAS was its only need.
I kept mine 6 months, and then bought a Carlton 2200Cdi Auto. The Auto box and PAS were a dream, and economy and speed were much improved too.
I’d have a VDP over any of its competitors of the time any day of the day. Don’t mock it until you’ve tried it!
A fascinating film enhanced hugely at 1:21 by our man using the words "....checked over enormously thoroughly....." whilst simultaneously a man (in the inevitable brown coat) puts the merest of final touches to an Allegro. With a hammer.
Nice,my mates used to take the mick out of my when I bought the ordinary model,early seventies,but,I loved that car,served me well for many years,thanks mate,all the best from Devon.
With my portly, retired parents and their luggage, this car reached 0-60 a week on Tuesday. The only good thing was it made their visits shorter.
Ooooh,, get her! Vicious!
They speak very highly of you Kiinell
Hahaha, very funny
Are they dead now ? I sense some resentment
Kiinell I guess you didn't get the house in the will then?
0-60 in 17 secs
85 mph
24 mpg
I want one!
For the same money in 1975, you could buy an Audi 80 GT, 110 mph, German build quality and a vastly better drive.
@@Glenn1967ful Apples and pears...
@@Glenn1967ful i'd take the Audi anyday !
I had one of these! From 1984ish to 1991, haven't kept any other car that long. It was fabulous, well, apart from the crap clutches, suspension and electrics...the engine was sweet as a nut, though, and never let me down. A car with a walnut dash, proper clock and pull-down picnic tables in the back was definitely a talking point!
I've paused this and rolled it back about 8 times now but still keep hearing 'Allegro' and 'quality' in the same same sentence.Is this witchcraft?
No ,you heard it right and 0-60 in 17 secs ,flat out at 85 .OMG , WTF , that is shite ! You cant make a silk purse out of a PIGS ear either 🤔.its still crap ,better than a Trabant tho ,only just !😁
Nahh you have to play it backwards to get the real context :-)
@@davidtomlinson6138 Well a later model MK1 Golf 1.3 did it in 15.5 and maxed out at 93 mph......fairly 'shite' too I'd suggest?
@Linda Gray Care to quote the 0-60 time for a MK1 1.3 Golf? Or the fuel consumption of the auto version?
We had something similar to this in 1980s US called the Cadillac Cimarron. It was a Chevy Cavalier with extra sound deadening, a Cadillac grille and leather seats.
Dan McCarthy....and it was a Garbage Motors produced hunk of shit....
And so began the descent into the shit hole where it remains today for what was America’s premier car at one time. Nobody except pimps and whoremasters would be caught in a Cadillac and rightly so.
@@mikecastellon3022 Somebody once said to me that a showoff buys a Cadillac, but a wise man buys an Olds?
@@HowardLeVert a truly smart man bought a Buick. But now, even that marque is just kept alive for the pleasure of the Chinese overlords.
@@mikecastellon3022 GM's descent into the shit hole began long before the Cimarron. At least a decade before, with the triumverate of garbazh that was Vega, the Citation, and Chevette.
The car in the clip survived until 1990. Not bad going for a 70s BL. Having had Allegros in the family, I tend to find they were scrapped on the basis of low value rather than anything major going wrong on them. Often a really decent one would set you back a couple of hundred.
How so you work out when it died? Is there a registry somewhere on the web?
@@person.X. There is. Just enter the license place here: vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/
My dad worked there during that time and all the way up until it closed in 1979.
He didn't do the Allegros, but all the extra features on the Daimler limousines, like adding bulletprooof panels.
They were pretty cool. Why anyone bought a Daimler over a XJ6 is not clear to me, but it does seem rather special.
I saw a few of them around, but I only actually knew one person that owned one - he was a teacher at my school. He was very proud of it. It looked perfectly suited to being parked at the bottom of his leafy 1930s cul-de-sac, next to his Marina.
Still see an S-reg one being regularly driven around Ipswich.
Briggs Fartblender That's doing well.
liverush24 v553ś
Car featured is N reg so this was 1975. Very good video quality.
Could have been 1974 as N reg ran from 01-08-74 to end of July 1975. Being in the motor trade I used to hate the run up to August 1st and then for about a month after we'd all our time putting the faults right. I liked the cars but the quality control was shocking.
Yes it's a tarted up Allegro but it was a good seller for BL and there was a tidy profit in each one.
I remember my next door neighbor here in the States had a Austin Allegro many years ago. Car runs quite nice and the front grill looks solid that It reminds me of the Rolls Royce.
NYKgjl10 you must’ve been a drinking man those days
I owned an Allegro 1500 but not the Vanden Plas. I didn't realise it was finished in a different factory and went through a rigorous quality control over an above the regular, rather poor QA from Austin. I thought the VP was just a trim package right from the factory. Sort of makes me want to own one now in 2018.
The VdP treatment was like the Radford Mini. Take an ordinary car to a coachbuilder who fits it out with high quality appointments, and sorts out a few factory mistakes. Pretty good idea in my opinion, but my question is, who is the buyer? Rich people don't want economy cars, lower classes can't see any point in the high purchase price and it's not exactly a family car. Personally I would be much, much more likely to buy a MkII Escort Ghia.
@@angelikahiggs4628 It was bought by retirees. A gold watch and a lump sum on retirement - buy a car. A banker would buy a Bently, the accountant a Daimler and the clerk and Allegro VP, got to keep up appearances...
The body style that really suited the Vanden Plas treatment was the 1100/1300 range.(in my opinion)The Allegro was too short and 'dumpy' to have the baby limo look.
For years I had a 1983 S class Mercedes Benz with a 3.8 litre V8, 2.5 times the size of the Allegro motor. It was bigger, heavier and faster, about 130 mph top speed, probably quieter and returned about 23 miles per imperial gallon on the highway. That's nine years difference in engine economy. My current car is as quiet at the old M-B, about the same size, revs slower for the same speed in top gear despite being only 2.4 litres and returns about 33 mpg on the highway. Thus far have we come.
Back in the day I went to purchase a 1750 Allegro. I got distracted at the car dealers and ended up buying a 3500 Rover and have no regrets. Looking back on it at the time a think the Allegro's were alright.
I've always wanted one of these! I suppose a modern equivalent would be the Aston Martin Cygnet.
Except that the Toyota iQ it starts out as is a relatively good car.
@@DiscoFang LOL!
What a wonderful old film, at the Kingsbury works. BL never appreciated the craftsmanship of the workers there, and closed this marvellous factory. The limousine finishing was moved to the Jaguar factory, where at least they had craftsman too, but the last van den plas allegros were finished at a BL factory. Not the same thing, customers were not going to pay a premium for that.
It was part of the Edwardes era 'reforms', which for BL were not good; they slashed whole model ranges, the dealer network and sent customers into their competitors' arms.
So lovely Car. I love it.
I lived near that factory in the early 70s,,,the front showroom displayed a Daimler DS420,,,miss the old days,,,
They were transverse engine front wheel drive mid-sized cars which set the pattern to this day.
The Presenter is Tony Bastable, he was an original host of Thames tv's Magpie, he died in 2007 aged 62.
Only thing I remember is its nickname ("All Aggro") and the bloody daft square steering wheel it came with, when first introduced - but they soon changed that. But.. I never owned one, so other than that, I can't pass judgement. I did own a Marina 1.8 TC - and it was pretty fast. Kept it for 18 months and lost no money on it at all.
Bad things about Allegro -
• square steering wheel
• weird shape
• no rear leg room
All quality problems are common to other BL cars.
beautiful car
Premium compact class way ahead of time.
Too bad politicians ruined UK car industry.
And unions.
And British cars
@@mcmcolm Are you a bit mad?
Trouble was that it was an awful car.
In a few days this film is 50 years old, i almost cant believe it.
They should had done a Vanden Plas Marina. That would be interesting!
A step too far I think.
Was that not the Ital?
@@READYTEDDYBEAR No, the Ital was just an update/modernisation/face-lift of the older Marina.
I like Bastabal's kangaroo start. It reminds me of coming back from the Galleon in Chertsey with a girl on my lap, getting out in a lay-by and seeing the Allegro's amazing suspension as the driver had his way. I was 16, he was twenty-something and it was his car. Everyone else got out and talked about whatever, the pub, the weather. The Allegro had amazing suspension and soaked up the bumps. 3 in the back, three in the front. The seats were quite plush too.
You can all slag them off but at least they was British owned and British made and gave work to thousands of workers. Now you can all drive your foreign made and owned cars and see all the British workers in retail parks and supermarkets instead
armjos1 A lack of longterm forsight in the British motor industry antique production lines poor management bad decisions interdepartmental rivalry between makes, ignorance strikes a greedy workforce only thinking about the present / themselves not pride or looking into the future. I could go on and on. Part reason we don't have a motor industry any more.
That's what happens when you're shit at doing something. You end up not doing it any more.
Yes thats Very true but it also a fantastic legacy of good designs. Its happened in the USA Chrysler is basically FIAT and so on. A once mighty industry now a shadow of its former self.
sickpuppy4711 thank you, it just annoys me that people slag BL cars saying they was bad, but over many years of driving they was no worse than ford and a lot better than Vauxhall’s and Rootes cars. I saw plenty of Ford cars rotten after 3 or 5 years from new with engines worn out at 60,000 miles and after having a couple of hillman hunters and an imp , I can say they was a lot worse
A little side note on the Ignorance of the british motor industry is the classic VW Beetle being offered to ford , Roots The BIOS Vauxhall Report evaluation of the wartime beetle is fascinating www.kdf-wagen.de/lcode/index.php?p=10 Basically they turned it down the rest is history. Look at VW how it has weathered the Kurt Lotz 1968-71 era. An accountant replacing an engineer (Heinz Nordinhoff who believed in constant evolution / improvements to a design) Kurt brought in too many undeveloped models K70 , 411 nearly brought VW down crashing. Picture Leyland with its interdepartmental feuds and old rivals. Golf saved the company :) Best car i ever owned was a 1956 oval. Major Ivan Hirst was a true Visionary in the British Motor Industry sadly the others did not pay notice due to prejudice and ignorance. The foundation of the British. There was a bbc4 doc comparing the British with the Germans Auto Industry really fantastic doc.
I owned a 1500 series 2 LE and a 1000 series 3. the 1500 could hit 100 and the 1000 struggled to 70. I really liked my 1500 mind you my first car was a 1750 Maxi. The most comfy and practical car of the time.
We have the Cadillac Cimarron out here in the US. Sans the fine craftsmanship and materials. It’s so bad, it’s good.
I suspect the interiors were far better on the Allegro than on that -Cavalier- Cimarron (same "lipstick on a pig" deal on both cars), but the craftsmanship on other parts of the American car was superior (that's not saying much 'cause it was terrible by modern standards), more so the later models with the 2.8L V6...
Although the snout more closely resembles the Mercury Bobcat, Ford's Pinto-with-a-Brougham-grille that you could still get with a tooled-vinyl base Pinto interior.
Cadillac Catera was a follow-up equivalent. It zagged all the way into Oblivion.
I always kind of liked these. A very British small car. In particular I liked the rear picnic tables.
Good to see the old “yankee screwdrivers “takes me back
james goodwin they have been banded now????
I have 2 of them still working, with no batteries to go flat or permanently give up the ghost
Fascinating, brought back a few memories!
I love how he says 'very'. Back when people had a bit of class in the way they spoke.
As a non-native speaker (and fan) of the English language, I absolutely love the way he speaks.
also the expression 'a chap'. When was the last time you heard someone say that?
It's kicking off...the great Vanden Plahh...Vanden Plass debate.
(It's Plassss! The guy was Dutch, they pronounce the S)
RIP Vanden Plas
I want one of these so bad. I even love the color of the example in this video.
The Allegro Vanden Plas replaced the top of range 1300 Vanden Plas Princess. British Leyland also made a handful of prototype Vanden Plas models of the Morris Marina, and the 1800 Landcrab but never went into production. Also an even more luxurious Vanden Plas Mini, a cut above the booted Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf.
The landcrab ended up as the Wolseley Six. The Marina VP sounds interesting though, wonder what happened to them?
Somewhere I have seen photographs of the prototype VDP 'Landcrab'. It would have knocked Ford's contemporary Zephyr/Zodiac for six and have had an impact on the P6 Rover too.
Vanden Plas Princess1300 was a nice looking, well proportioned little luxury car - we know it had all the usual 11100/1300/AD016 weaknesses... but definitely better looking than the VP Allegro by a long chalk
Out of curiosity, what type of people bought the Vanden Plas Allegro when it was new?
Even with all that sound deadening. When he shut the door, it still sounded like a draw full of spoons.
Ford did something similar to this in the 1970's. They took a Ford Granada and made it the Lincoln Versailles:)
These old cars like the one in the video, and the Marina, the Princess, Ladas etc, have a certain charm to them to me, I find them interesting. I would actually own some if I was rich enough with enough space.
Yes, I agree. If I had the money, space and contacts, I would fill garages with pristine run-of-the-mill 'ordinary' cars from the 70s and 80s.
You Brits surely did gave us Eastern Europeans a run for our money when it comes to building awful cars.
Yeah but we got over it, while you kept building them for another 30 years.
Hmm. I’ve had a Lada riva and an Allegro. No contest, the Allegro was way,way better to drive.
unfortunately the lada was better in every way
but look at skoda hahahahaha dont even fucking start me on that one
Replevideo perhaps, but we still make cars. Skoda from Czech Republic, Dacia from Romania. Massive best sellers these days! Meanwhile Longbridge is now a field.
This is the same sort of last minute luxury-layer they put on the Lincoln Versailles and the Cadillac Cimarron. Neither were really bad cars, but the Lincoln had the same body panels as the USA-spec Granada, which was itself a dressed-up Ford Falcon, and the Cimarron wore a handsome, understated Cadillac egg-crate grill on the body of an internationally recognizable entry-level rental car, the Chevrolet (and similar Vaxhall) Cavalier. The Versailles had an almost bearable 5.0 or 5.7 L V8, but the Cimarron came with the same feeble 1.8 L 4 that struggled to pull the Cavalier; it was eventually replaced with a V6, but the tight engine compartment required stiff engine mounts that made the V6 louder than the 4. I've always thought cars like this would be decent values used, after the original owners had admitted that they paid too much; a little luxury probably didn't hurt these otherwise forgettable cars. But the thought of anyone paying $12,000 for the Versailles, $13,000 for the Cimarron or 10,000 pounds (wasn't that a LOT more than $10,000 in 1974?) for this thing is cringe-worthy; I hope they all got big discounts from the dealers.
I should also give honorable mention to something that was called the Sterling in the USA; it was probably called something else over there. It was the shell of an Acura Legend with unique body panels and all this nice English leather (from BL) and polished wood that didn't fit very well, for around $20,000. A nice car if you could tolerate the temperamental Lucus add-ons, but for most people, kind of a mixed blessing.
5:52 Tony sticks the boot in! (or the spat shoe in.)
Went in an Allegro VDP and was very comfy
3:25 what happened? Dodgy auto?
It looked like he left the handbrake on.
He started it and didn't wait for the revs drop back to idle before putting it in drive.
Beyond words!
Actually it reminds me of the old Rolls Royce hood for the VW Bug. Cartoonish idk. Well hindsight ha.
British leyland made exellent buses & trucks but the profits they made from commercial vehicles was put back into bl s shit car industry.thats why bl truck & bus was sold to volvo! Shamefull !!
Had 3 allegros-1from new.found them all ok and no problem with rust,unlike my friend's marina which was beginning to rust from the day he bought it new.
Was he suggesting that the standard Alegro, did not receive the usual quality control that you would expect from a new car such as the doors fitting correctly? If so that's a thumb in the face of the working man who cannot afford such luxury
All Leyland cars had panel gap's that were nearly visible from the moon.
Can you imagine that these days? People wouldn't stand for it, just goes to show how a lot of people would sacrifice basic build quality in order to "buy British" in the 70s.
Love the flares!
Lovely car. One of the first 'pimped rides'.
Tremendous car.
All agro. Lol. But I must say I really like them. The vanden plas looked really nice. It was in 1983 that I had a metallic green with black cloth interior vanden plas princess. The poor mans rolls royce, 1700cc rings a bell. Beautiful car to drive though. 🇬🇧
The cuddliest car ever made
I'm forever imagining my ideal woman driving about in one
Is it.... Bella Emberg? The Rolly Pollys? Late 70's Diana Dors?
It was the ideal little RR 'Silver Shadow' for the skint.
Wow! time warp stuff! they never used the Allegro name on the VP version
I want one of those Trousers.
Vanden Plas is a Belgian-Flemish name so the “s” is not silent! Vanden Plassssss...
Do get it right please
You,d think that somebody might,ve told him before it went on air that the S is,nt silent in Vanden Plas.
Yes, Flemish origins, so should be said Plas as in glass
This is technically correct, as my Dad (bless him) pointed out at least 25 years ago, but many English people are pretty dodgy at foreign languages, and sometimes assume everything of non-English appearance should be pronounced as if it's French, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that French is the most common language taught in schools.
Back in the day, the nickname for the Allegro, was "AllAgro" :D
Rust'an Allaggro
I would love to be able to sit in a pub and chat with ‘70s-era Tony- I bet he had some amazing stories to tell! Imagine all the stuff he couldn’t say on tv!
Imagine if BL had spent some more on the Allegro and actually engineered it properly from the beginning. It could have been so much different.
On the BL Allegro the boot used to fill with gallons of water every time it rained, I wonder if that option was also available with the Vanden Plas model.
The hot tub?
Lee Englandland - Oh Dear! Another of these sweetie wife MYTHS being passed on by another sweetie wife. Funny we had two Allegros in our family - my brothers then mothers 1978 Allegro 1500 LE and my 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe and we NEVER had any water filling up our boots never mind gallons of it. The sweetie wives used to say that the Equipe owners used to wake up with flat tyres because the alloys were porous and funny thing is I NEVER wkoe up to any flat tyres and the surviving Equipes are still using the same alloys with NO problems as are the other Allegros with these alloys on them - I will not even go into any of the other sweetie wife MYTHS that you sweetie wives love to spout about Allegros/Marinas etc because they are all just that DRIVEL.
Ann Other Lol
But my Allegro did fill up with water every time it rained, if yours did not, well you were lucky.
And when did you own said allegro Lee?
Wonderful video. Hysterically funny! Thanks for posting.
I like the Allegro, there I said it...
I just had a call from your doctor, he's decided to up the dose of your anti-psychotics.
I've seen worse. Neighbour had a VDP allegro and looked quite tidy in cosmic blue I recall.
Before the Cadillac Cimarron, there was the Austin Allegro Vanden Plas.
To summarize: for an extra £2,000 in 1974 money (which translates roughly to £20,000 in 2018) you would still drive a standard Austin Allegro, albeit with much, much better build quality and finishing than the one that rolled off the BL production line. It is a nice niche product and as such deserves a place in British automobile history, but as the presenter already said, the interior will still look fresh when the body has rotten away. Also the added weight of the interior and exterior trim bits and soundproofing would hamper the already mediocre performance of the Allegro. Apparently Vandenplas did nothing to tune the engine or modify the suspension setup.
To account for the additional weight?
A trim company, no. A coachbuilder, yes, if they aim to offer a well-rounded product.
this is exactly what ive said, the biggest problem with these apart from the engine was the suspension, adding even more weight was a very bad idea.
LS swap time !
Guess in the wake of the fuel crisis they shyed away from installing the 1750 if the 1500 only managed 24mpg. They reckon the 6.0 w12 2018 bentley will do 24mpg now!
Good suspension and easy to drive from my memory. Reliable it serviced regularly. No worse than the Renault14 looks wise but no one remembers that.
Far better looking than the Renault 14, far better built, far better quality and far more reliable.
March 2019 Britain will be going back to those heady days of the early 1970's and British manufacturing! Can't wait for The new "Austin Brexit"
RedBeard81 I have an Austin Brexit. The gearbox is stuck in reverse and it has a nasty habit of stalling. I tried taking it back but the dealers, Mays of Downing St, are very shifty, and say it's non returnable. Their stock reply is 'it's the will of the people, now drive on." The deluxe Van Den Farage model looks good though. Tweed carpets. Tweed upholstery. Tweed headliner. Oak dash. It has a hybrid engine that runs on alcohol vapour and hot air.
Brilliant very good. I need to take a look at the "Vanden Farage" model. Im also interested in Boris Marina!
Funniest comments I've seen on UA-cam in a long time 😂😂
We had people like Jeremy Corbyn in power in those days.
Yes, the Boris Marina, with blond felt upholstery....
People hated them but my dad the estate version for years, it never missed a beat it was still driving around for years after he sold it.
0 - 60 in 17 seconds? And he seems to be boasting
So he should, it was a miracle it reached that speed at all lol
Because 1974.
Agreed. My father bought a Ford Cortina 1600 L in 1973 and the 0-60 was 14.5 sec. Even the Mk5 1600 did it in 13.5 secs 1n 1980. Keep things in perspective.
Sounds about right. Allegros were slow to say the least.
Nobody went over 59mph in those days. It took too long. ☝🏻🧐
We had the normal one my mum always wanted this one ,I thought it was just a different grill!!!!!
Why are so many people going on about the 0 to 60 time? I've got an old What Car mag with stats for 1974 models...the list is LONG for onea that hit 60 in 17+secs!!
Agreed - I think my old Renault 16 (not the cross-flow one) was about 14 seconds - about the same as a single-carb 1600 Capri. People really should learn to see things *in context*.
Was it down hill? Impressive.
@@HowardLeVert Agree with the agreed. I had a 1981 Peugeot 104 SR (Swift n Rapid, according to my mate). 1200cc, 0-60 14ish secs and I called the AA when it stopped, not realising 24mpg was standard, 28mpg if you "hypermile" drove it. Duff fuel gauge, Kenwood Chef radio, hamster-wheel alternator. By the mid-80s though, a lot of makes leapt forward and Austin Rover was smoke and mirrors by then.
@@dizzyonaball4623 Funny you should mention that... I got my 16 from my brother as his wife found it too big to drive. It was replaced by a 1977 Peugeot 104SL!!
@@HowardLeVert More coincidence. My (much) older brother offered me his wife's Renault 18TS but the insurance for a young noob was (haha, talking a few hundred, then) horrific and the 104SR was much more do-able. It only lasted me a few months (I've since developed a better spider sense for used cars) and I bought a new August plate Supercinq.
I saw one parked next to my Peugeot 3008 today. It is such a small car.
It must have been tough to make the Vanden Plas Allegro even more ugly than the standard version. Congratulations to everyone involved.
What drugs we're they on designing this ugly ass thing
In 1974 when this Vanden Plas model was launched it had a round steering wheel. All mainstream Allegros from 1973 with four engine choices, 1100, 1300, 1500 and 1750 at the time had the Quartic wheel until there was a series 2 facelift in late 1975.