In the sixties Chrysler did put a square steering wheel in one of their models. My dad bought a cheep second hands one. Metallic brown with an bleached fly popo beige vinyl roof. I made the vinyl black resprayd the paint were needed and..... The steel wheels and grill i did beige metallic.... I loved the special looks and was never interested in a faster car.
To Chris Bowls from Nygel Miller. I'm glad for YOU that you could see your uncle, Gordon Wilkins on the video, of course. (See my comment about him a bit above where your comment is). My complaint is not about yourself, of course, but HIM.
I had an Allegro, belonged to the owners club, and DID have a video of this programme. I lost the video along with most most of my worldly possessions when I got homeless for a time. Correspondingly I watched this video in tears, remembering what had happened to me. But things are alright now, and I was really pleased that you put this film on the internet, and I could see it again!Thanks, Nygel Miller, Allegro fan
Here in Germany we had the unloved but technically brilliant VW 411 / 412 I also love this car! I love unloved cars because they are special and never boring.
People ( leyland knockers ) conveniently forget that Fords of the 60s/70s were the worst Rotboxes on british roads !! I know, I owned a few, the mk1 Escort was the worst car I ever owned needing severe welding after only 3 YEARS from new, !!!!!!
3:40 - seeing that clip of an interview with the BL chairman of the time reminds me of the spoof BL advert in "Private Eye" with the strap line "buy now while Stokes lasts"
I Watched This Programme From An Old Vhs Tape I Found In My Dads Collection, And I Loved It! I Went Onto Ebay And Bought An 1979 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas In Moonraker Blue,After Watching This! Just Like The One In This Show!!! Super Little Cars!!! LONG LIVE THE ALLEGRO!!!
I'm researching footage to put together an online tribute documentary about Harris Mann and well remember this episode at the time along with the rest of the series. Those titles and Quentin's delivery were a mainstay of any car loving viewer of the 90s. Thanks David
i just bought a 1977 1100cc this evening! its very clean! i want it 4 going to vintage shows on sundays! i very happy with it, its an unusual car to have in ireland coz there wernt many sold over here
I had a 1975 Hillman Avenger,my newest car at the time. I loved it,lovely ride,powerfull, reliable only problem was that the paint was put on a body that already had rust so the car developed these scabs.So the design was good but the build quality very poor,in my opnion the british car industry shot it self in the foot.
I know a guy who was in the motor industry who attended a launch of this car for major dealers at a French chateau. The car was unvelied by parting curtains to a fanfare. One of the dealers had an immediate heart attack. He doen't know whether this was an unfortunate coincidence or reaction to the awful design, but he saw it as a sign!
The British car industry died. This car was produced during the worst period. It was strike after strike, and when we got into the 80;s people start to notice how serious the rust problem was with British cars
I had one as my first car. It was reliable as it had tried & tested Mini engine & gearbox, it was comfortable to. Most who slate it have never been in one or owned one. It was no worse than the competition at the time!
eastwood978 It was shite. When it broke down you couldn't have a front suspended tow as it bent in the middle. The wheels were prone to coming loose and overtaking the vehicle. It signalled the death knell of the British car industry. I remember the unveiling at my local garage....people said oh, and walked away.
Ray Turner...yeah If the BL transverse engines didn't have the weather protector over the electrics they did stop in the rain. The Minis in the UK had a plastic cover in front the distributor. The UK 1100/Allegros a larger one covering the plugs as well. Sometimes these were removed by backyard mechanics and not replaced. In Australia the covers were an optional extra. Unbelieveable. But Leyland Australia decided they didn't need them in the hot weather in the Minis and Morris 1100's and later 1500's they produced there. Even though they did frequently when it poured down. My British uncle taught people to fix it by placing a rubber glove over the distributor on his Morris 1100 there. Everyone began to do the same. Anyway after returning to England my dad..who had been in the RAAF in Australia..bought an Allegro. It was fine never stopped in the rain and was no worse than many seventies cars. I had a Mini in the seventies. They were all rust collectors then. I think UK Fords were even worse for rust and I was a huge Ford fan in Australia. Just forty years of jokes and propaganda. Now the Austin Montego. I had one of those and it broke down a lot. Yet others say they didn't have a problem. There was the old joke about Friday cars at BL Austin Rover. These were the worst built. The workers in a rush to finish and get to the pub.
So basically the Allegro was kinda like the AMC Pacer in the USA: Too expensive to develop, too radical for it´s era and both cars were eaten alive by the German and Japanese cars.
I think the austin allegro is perfect for being a driving school car, especially back in the 70s and 80s, because of its price, running costs, size, layout, drivetrain, safety and to me even the styling expresses that of a functional, quirky but unfashionable but not over the top vehicle and the rear pannel is the perfect place to stick an L plate.
I like the design of the allegro, most people moaning about the Allegros shape happily drive around in their Smart telephone boxes or one of Chris Bangles shit bananas from Munich;-))))
I've a Morris 1100 estate the one it replaced.... the bounce on that allegro is timid compared to the hysrolastic 1100 /1300 which really can leap in the air trampoline style if conditions are right
My father was involved in the development of this lump of 'loveliness'.in his capacity as an R&D engineer at GKN.It tried to kill him on numerous occasions.Just prior to its release he was unfortunate enough to have to drive one for the day and he brought it home.We had a steep-ish drive.He parked it up,applied the handbrake and left it.Sometime later he was looking for something in our garage,its handbrake failed,it rolled down the drive and somehow pinned him to the wall.Unfortunately,nobody was in to come to his rescue so he had to wait in no small amount of discomfort until I arrived home from school and summoned some neighbourly assistance.Funny how he (and I) always referred to it as the Austin All-Aggro
I've always wondered what concept cars would have rolled-off the production line at Ford had Harris Mann not left Ford to join Roy Haynes at British Leyland?
I read that the designer wanted the Allegro to be a hatchback (same thing with the Princess), but then BL decided that only the Maxi would have a hatchback as it's unique selling point. That is the tip of the iceberg of the Stupidity of BL's management.
I thought they were rather nice looking.I would love one, today - including the square steering wheel. The real problem was smart-arse motoring pundits, and socialist trades unions.
People all have different tastes, of course, and that's the problem! Personally, I think the design by Harris Mann was slick, but anonymous. At least you can't say the eventual design was anonymous - it's one of the most distinctive and recognisable cars ever.But like with HATS, it's all a matter of taste what designs we each like!
8:28 "that steering wheels should be round"... unless you own or drive a LaFerarri... www.ribbonmag.com/secure/brands/images/ferrari/ct_laferrari_gallery_19_interior_steering_wheel.jpg
Glad to see you have a sense of humor, was just poking fun. Being a front driver, the 1750 sport did have traction and other advantages from a stand still. Car lovers are all the same, too bad we tend to forget that by bashing others on their choices.
I never said anything against the Maxi or DS, but I don't think the 411/12 was particularly well engineered. It was underengined (1.7l flat 4 with 68hp), not that spacious, ugly, it didn't handle very well and its engine layout was already outdated when it was new. On the plus side it had solid built quality and fairly sophisticated suspension, but it couldn't really keep up with its inhouse competition: the original Audi 100 and the VW (NSU) K70, which were both much more modern cars.
ok if this car was supposed to be a bad car ,how come i see some very good ones about today that are 40 years old and on original sills and panels and still running well on its original engine ,
@kernals12 nah! not really, remember BMC already had a reputation for unreliabile motors with the 1800 etc so strikes and all the other stuff would've probably happened anyway, added to which BMC had no real plans for any new models to compete and all they had were aging morris minors, austin cambridges and they didn't really have any direction for creating new shapes and styles. They even proved it the austin 1800 was considered old-fashioned and ppl wanted new styling but they were relentless
I started my first job in 1979 as an apprentice auto electrician...for me they weren’t the worst car around at the time...all of the fiat Skoda range were shocking in build quality.... and some french cars were just as bad from an electrical reliability point...we the British are so dismissive of what was a product for your average motorist ....Renault fiat Skoda Citroen were just as bad if not worse in my opinion.....
The designer was "disappointed" that the stylish car he drew ended up being the awkward mess it ended up being - talk about understatement. I would have been appalled, outraged, foaming at the mouth, threatening with giving a 2 weeks notice and sending them all to hell. But I guess he also is a practitioner of the British stiff upper lip.
@Samthebam4044 well BMC did come up with smart things like the Mini, the Minor, and the 1100, and not to mention, they didn't run out of money so much, and by the way I wouldn't really know about BMC's problems by heart because I'm American
What that guy said at 9:00, something similar happened with the Nash Metropolitan or as you Brits call it, Austin Metropolitan, the front fender skirts limited how far the wheels could turn, remove fender skirts to fix problem? No, too expensive, they just put in a short steering rack that limited how far the wheels could turn, which gave the car a ridiculous turning circle.
The claim that the Hydrolastic springing of the predecessor, led to a bouncy ride in the back, because it was a bit floaty, and led to people's shirts coming out of their trousers is another LIE. This time about the 1100/1300 it's predecessor. I suppose that claim did give the poor old Allegro a break from the lies people told about it!
9:00 Many of the 1960-63 full sized Chrysler cars, from the 1960 Plymouth Fury to the 1963 Chrysler New Yorker had square steering wheels and I think the reactions to them were similar. I can see the advantages for driver entrance and egress, but having a square wheel rolling in your hands would be damn annoying. Maybe, for cars with power steering, a wheel rounded on the top with a flat segment on the bottom would be the best of both worlds, since the steering ratios on cars with power assist don't usually require to wheel to turn more than 180 degrees while the car is underway.
The prototype looked like the Austin-Morris 18-22 Series, better known as the Austin (or Leyland) Princess. Now I'm thinking about the commercial for Leyland Princess, the one with "Baa! Baa!" Then the crisp, clean lines had to become rounded, bloated, fat and ugly to accommodate the Maxi 1750cc engine and the Marina heater. Why did the B.L. have to ruin it for everybody? Money, money, and more money.
I agree that would normally be the case (and I did occasionally lose out to the odd parked car) but the vehicles I overtook at the time didn't get above 50mph which was probably just as well :) I still maintain the 1750 sport was really quick. Unbeaten from the lights in the time I owned one, seeing off far more illustrious marques (RS2000 etc). Despite its detractors I still like the square steering wheel!
I actually had that car FOX 866L found it down the side of a body shop and got sprayed hot pot and not very good,later i turned it into a series 3 look it was respayed red with new black fabric roof new grill hls wheel covers and bumpers srayed satin black and boy did that car turn heads,it was used by BL to promote the car a nd you can see it raceing through the sand dunes of Spain.
@riotagus I've owned 3 allegros. A 1.1, a 1.5 estate and a very rare 1750 sport. The sport was my first every car and turned me into a boy race: 0-50mph I could match just about anyone. They were always superbly reliable and my overtaking record still goes to my 1.1; 11 cars and 3 vans in one go. the hydragas suspension and tie down straps...Eee gad they were not good. Still they were the cars were good and I loved all that I owned. Oh and the square wheel(like Audi etc) I thought was superb.
The year before 1973 gave us the Leyland National. But the Allegro, come on. Not for me I'm affraid. The Leyland National was a good vehicle, but many of Leyland's attempts at cars were quite frankly a joke. The Austin 1100 was designed by Peninin Farina, which was probably, why it was a catchig design. The Allegro, on the other hand, quite something else. It is more aerodynamic in reverse.
same thing with the Princess, you see, BL only wanted the Maxi to have a hatchback because that would be it's unique selling point, I know it was a stupid idea, British Leyland had lots of them
Well you couldn't have owned an Allegro without a sense of humour and a huge amount of patience. My 1750 had a new head head and twin SU carbs from a Maxi. Not sure why this had such an amazing effect. My 1750 did have 'slicks' over looked by the boys in blue a few times meaning I had maximum traction when I needed it. I am OK at bashing other drivers as I have owned 25+ cars in my 30+ years of driving; with a huge variety in cars. Alfasud to Skoda estelle with Audi, Sabb, ford V6......etc.
I had an Allegro in 1978 with a square steering wheel - great car, I did a lot of travelling up and down the country and it never broke down!
In the sixties Chrysler did put a square steering wheel in one of their models.
My dad bought a cheep second hands one.
Metallic brown with an bleached fly popo beige vinyl roof.
I made the vinyl black resprayd the paint were needed and.....
The steel wheels and grill i did beige metallic....
I loved the special looks and was never interested in a faster car.
Great to see my uncle, Gordon Wilkins, in this programme. I remember watching it at home back in the 70s when it went out!
To Chris Bowls from Nygel Miller. I'm glad for YOU that you could see your uncle, Gordon Wilkins on the video, of course. (See my comment about him a bit above where your comment is). My complaint is not about yourself, of course, but HIM.
I had an Allegro, belonged to the owners club, and DID have a video of this programme. I lost the video along with most most of my worldly possessions when I got homeless for a time. Correspondingly I watched this video in tears, remembering what had happened to me. But things are alright now, and I was really pleased that you put this film on the internet, and I could see it again!Thanks, Nygel Miller, Allegro fan
Here in Germany we had the unloved but technically brilliant VW 411 / 412 I also love this
car! I love unloved cars because they are special and never boring.
My stepdad had an Allegro, one of the early ones, he says he never had a problem with it
it replaced an Austin 1300 that got written off by a Transit van
Rust wise, these were actually a LOT better than most other '70s cars
People ( leyland knockers ) conveniently forget that Fords of the 60s/70s were the worst Rotboxes on british roads !! I know, I owned a few, the mk1 Escort was the worst car I ever owned needing severe welding after only 3 YEARS from new, !!!!!!
3:40 - seeing that clip of an interview with the BL chairman of the time reminds me of the spoof BL advert in "Private Eye" with the strap line "buy now while Stokes lasts"
I Watched This Programme From An Old Vhs Tape I Found In My Dads Collection, And I Loved It! I Went Onto Ebay And Bought An 1979 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas In Moonraker Blue,After Watching This!
Just Like The One In This Show!!!
Super Little Cars!!!
LONG LIVE THE ALLEGRO!!!
They say that jackets reflect their times, Quentin.
Looking at the Golf Mk VI, new Lambo & Audi's 2018 steering wheels, it looks like the squared off wheel has come full circle after 4 decades...
The Quartic steering wheel.... irony is that manufacturers are coming up with lots of other designs, other than round, to fit in their cars...
best car ever made....my parents even named me after it..thats how awesome it was! ;)
What your name is Austin Allegro 😂🤣
I was around in the 70's and considering it was supposed to be such a bad car, there was an awful lot of them around!!
You either love or loathe them, i love mine so i'm biased! at least they have character and are fun to drive.
Many people clearly loved these cars! Had fun making this film.
I'm researching footage to put together an online tribute documentary about Harris Mann and well remember this episode at the time along with the rest of the series. Those titles and Quentin's delivery were a mainstay of any car loving viewer of the 90s. Thanks David
Learnt to drive in one of these with its “square” steering wheel
Honestly, I quite like the Allegro for the precise reason that everyone else hates it. I'd absolutely like to buy myself a Vanden Plas version.
i just bought a 1977 1100cc this evening! its very clean! i want it 4 going to vintage shows on sundays! i very happy with it, its an unusual car to have in ireland coz there wernt many sold over here
I had a 1975 Hillman Avenger,my newest car at the time. I loved it,lovely ride,powerfull, reliable only problem was that the paint was put on a body that already had rust so the car developed these scabs.So the design was good but the build quality very poor,in my opnion the british car industry shot it self in the foot.
I miss this program.
I have two! one waiting patiently for me to put it back together!
Why are everyone hating this car so much? I am not from UK but I actually think the car looks just fine for that time
I know a guy who was in the motor industry who attended a launch of this car for major dealers at a French chateau. The car was unvelied by parting curtains to a fanfare. One of the dealers had an immediate heart attack. He doen't know whether this was an unfortunate coincidence or reaction to the awful design, but he saw it as a sign!
had one in 80 and quite liked it
The British car industry died. This car was produced during the worst period. It was strike after strike, and when we got into the 80;s people start to notice how serious the rust problem was with British cars
I had one as my first car. It was reliable as it had tried & tested Mini engine & gearbox, it was comfortable to. Most who slate it have never been in one or owned one. It was no worse than the competition at the time!
eastwood978
It was shite. When it broke down you couldn't have a front suspended tow as it bent in the middle.
The wheels were prone to coming loose and overtaking the vehicle.
It signalled the death knell of the British car industry. I remember the unveiling at my local garage....people said oh, and walked away.
Ray Turner...yeah If the BL transverse engines didn't have the weather protector over the electrics they did stop in the rain. The Minis in the UK had a plastic cover in front the distributor. The UK 1100/Allegros a larger one covering the plugs as well. Sometimes these were removed by backyard mechanics and not replaced. In Australia the covers were an optional extra. Unbelieveable. But Leyland Australia decided they didn't need them in the hot weather in the Minis and Morris 1100's and later 1500's they produced there. Even though they did frequently when it poured down. My British uncle taught people to fix it by placing a rubber glove over the distributor on his Morris 1100 there. Everyone began to do the same.
Anyway after returning to England my dad..who had been in the RAAF in Australia..bought an Allegro. It was fine never stopped in the rain and was no worse than many seventies cars. I had a Mini in the seventies. They were all rust collectors then. I think UK Fords were even worse for rust and I was a huge Ford fan in Australia. Just forty years of jokes and propaganda. Now the Austin Montego. I had one of those and it broke down a lot. Yet others say they didn't have a problem. There was the old joke about Friday cars at BL Austin Rover. These were the worst built. The workers in a rush to finish and get to the pub.
There was a pub in Abingdon called the Lord Stokes but was renamed the Magic Midget in later years because of the MG factory in the town
So basically the Allegro was kinda like the AMC Pacer in the USA: Too expensive to develop, too radical for it´s era and both cars were eaten alive by the German and Japanese cars.
My first car and I loved it.
I had one ten years and still him missing!!Cannot complain!
I think the austin allegro is perfect for being a driving school car, especially back in the 70s and 80s, because of its price, running costs, size, layout, drivetrain, safety and to me even the styling expresses that of a functional, quirky but unfashionable but not over the top vehicle and the rear pannel is the perfect place to stick an L plate.
Rover sd1 had a quartic type wheel as well.
I love this car!
Surprisngly comfortable little cars, room for 4 and easy to drive.
getting rare now too, save one now before they become hugely valuable!
I wonder why willson didn't call his programme 'anti-hero car'....
An old man over the street from me had one of these he had a tool box in the engine bay. :)
Beautiful
I like the design of the allegro, most people moaning about the Allegros shape happily drive around in their Smart telephone boxes or one of Chris Bangles shit bananas from Munich;-))))
couldn't agree more than I do. bmw's design is sooooo cocky and kitsch....
Haffschlappe
I liked the odd shaped steering wheel when I drove one.
7:22 "the vertical bounce has disappeared". 7:24 - 07:38 the car bounces around multiple corners, each one worse than the one before it.
I've a Morris 1100 estate the one it replaced.... the bounce on that allegro is timid compared to the hysrolastic 1100 /1300 which really can leap in the air trampoline style if conditions are right
I remember my mum nearly bought one, very close shave
My father was involved in the development of this lump of 'loveliness'.in his capacity as an R&D engineer at GKN.It tried to kill him on numerous occasions.Just prior to its release he was unfortunate enough to have to drive one for the day and he brought it home.We had a steep-ish drive.He parked it up,applied the handbrake and left it.Sometime later he was looking for something in our garage,its handbrake failed,it rolled down the drive and somehow pinned him to the wall.Unfortunately,nobody was in to come to his rescue so he had to wait in no small amount of discomfort until I arrived home from school and summoned some neighbourly assistance.Funny how he (and I) always referred to it as the Austin All-Aggro
I've always wondered what concept cars would have rolled-off the production line at Ford had Harris Mann not left Ford to join Roy Haynes at British Leyland?
5:44
Who looks at that and says "Yes. We should make this!"
I read that the designer wanted the Allegro to be a hatchback (same thing with the Princess), but then BL decided that only the Maxi would have a hatchback as it's unique selling point. That is the tip of the iceberg of the Stupidity of BL's management.
you have to remember what it replaced, the BMC 1100
Swimming pool in the boot was an optional extra but only after rain !!
I thought they were rather nice looking.I would love one, today - including the square steering wheel.
The real problem was smart-arse motoring pundits, and socialist trades unions.
Quartic steering wheels rock!
VRF144L IS THE REAL VERSION OF THE HARVEST GOLD VANGUARD MODEL FROM YR 2000 WITH SAME REG PLATE
4:28 He momentarily lapses into Miss Jean Brodie
Harris Mann was so appalled by the Allegro's final styling that he decided to get BL back by designing the TR7 for them.
People all have different tastes, of course, and that's the problem! Personally, I think the design by Harris Mann was slick, but anonymous. At least you can't say the eventual design was anonymous - it's one of the most distinctive and recognisable cars ever.But like with HATS, it's all a matter of taste what designs we each like!
8:28 "that steering wheels should be round"... unless you own or drive a LaFerarri...
www.ribbonmag.com/secure/brands/images/ferrari/ct_laferrari_gallery_19_interior_steering_wheel.jpg
Thing is that is looks good today
The steering wheel now would probably work as we have d steering wheel now . The 1750 twin carb car 0-60 similar to the Ford xr3 . Regards mark
The original sketch was was beautiful. The original design would have sold
‘The Shirtlifter’….. couldn’t say that today…🤭
Does anyone know where you can get hold of the Car's The Star series?
Glad to see you have a sense of humor, was just poking fun. Being a front driver, the 1750 sport did have traction and other advantages from a stand still. Car lovers are all
the same, too bad we tend to forget that by bashing others on their choices.
I never said anything against the Maxi or DS, but I don't think the 411/12 was particularly well engineered. It was underengined (1.7l flat 4 with 68hp), not that spacious, ugly, it didn't handle very well and its engine layout was already outdated when it was new. On the plus side it had solid built quality and fairly sophisticated suspension, but it couldn't really keep up with its inhouse competition: the original Audi 100 and the VW (NSU) K70, which were both much more modern cars.
ok if this car was supposed to be a bad car ,how come i see some very good ones about today that are 40 years old and on original sills and panels and still running well on its original engine ,
My dad had one when I was a kid and we used to drive around in it all the time. It was dreadful!! Yet he swapped it for a triumph Toledo!!
i have a allegro 1100 from 74 great cars!!
@kernals12 nah! not really, remember BMC already had a reputation for unreliabile motors with the 1800 etc so strikes and all the other stuff would've probably happened anyway, added to which BMC had no real plans for any new models to compete and all they had were aging morris minors, austin cambridges and they didn't really have any direction for creating new shapes and styles. They even proved it the austin 1800 was considered old-fashioned and ppl wanted new styling but they were relentless
i remember when my dad had a white one with a stripe down the side.
its sad the allegro wouldve looked great if it wasn't mashed together with odd parts
Wasn't that Colin Corke bloke also in the Clarkson's Car Years program ?
See the BBC: Which One is Worse? Allegro vs Marina clip
Doesn't every car get bloated and compromised from sketchpad to production line?
I started my first job in 1979 as an apprentice auto electrician...for me they weren’t the worst car around at the time...all of the fiat Skoda range were shocking in build quality.... and some french cars were just as bad from an electrical reliability point...we the British are so dismissive of what was a product for your average motorist ....Renault fiat Skoda Citroen were just as bad if not worse in my opinion.....
Better known as the "All Aggro"
It's a beautiful car.
The designer was "disappointed" that the stylish car he drew ended up being the awkward mess it ended up being - talk about understatement. I would have been appalled, outraged, foaming at the mouth, threatening with giving a 2 weeks notice and sending them all to hell. But I guess he also is a practitioner of the British stiff upper lip.
Who doesn’t love a shirtlifter?? 😮
@Samthebam4044 well BMC did come up with smart things like the Mini, the Minor, and the 1100, and not to mention, they didn't run out of money so much, and by the way I wouldn't really know about BMC's problems by heart because I'm American
dad's first car
What that guy said at 9:00, something similar happened with the Nash Metropolitan or as you Brits call it, Austin Metropolitan, the front fender skirts limited how far the wheels could turn, remove fender skirts to fix problem? No, too expensive, they just put in a short steering rack that limited how far the wheels could turn, which gave the car a ridiculous turning circle.
The claim that the Hydrolastic springing of the predecessor, led to a bouncy ride in the back, because it was a bit floaty, and led to people's shirts coming out of their trousers is another LIE. This time about the 1100/1300 it's predecessor. I suppose that claim did give the poor old Allegro a break from the lies people told about it!
5:36 My goodness, that is a great looker! How come BL got it SO WRONG?!
The beige colour Austin Allegro was the ultimate 'peanut on wheels'... They were all different coloured peanuts on wheels... Lol.
9:00 Many of the 1960-63 full sized Chrysler cars, from the 1960 Plymouth Fury to the 1963 Chrysler New Yorker had square steering wheels and I think the reactions to them were similar. I can see the advantages for driver entrance and egress, but having a square wheel rolling in your hands would be damn annoying. Maybe, for cars with power steering, a wheel rounded on the top with a flat segment on the bottom would be the best of both worlds, since the steering ratios on cars with power assist don't usually require to wheel to turn more than 180 degrees while the car is underway.
@riotagus hmm om but i like my marina
Known as the Austin Aggro!
allegro has vroom for four
The prototype looked like the Austin-Morris 18-22 Series, better known as the Austin (or Leyland) Princess. Now I'm thinking about the commercial for Leyland Princess, the one with "Baa! Baa!"
Then the crisp, clean lines had to become rounded, bloated, fat and ugly to accommodate the Maxi 1750cc engine and the Marina heater. Why did the B.L. have to ruin it for everybody? Money, money, and more money.
my first car a bright yellow allegro my mates would take the piss calling it the banana wasnt really sorry when i wrote it off
I agree that would normally be the case (and I did occasionally lose out to the odd parked car) but the vehicles I overtook at the time didn't get above 50mph which was probably just as well :) I still maintain the 1750 sport was really quick. Unbeaten from the lights in the time I owned one, seeing off far more illustrious marques (RS2000 etc). Despite its detractors I still like the square steering wheel!
@kazimann he still owns it :-)
The AMC Pacer was possibly inspired by the Allegro Concept Sketches and the Porsche 928 is inspired the AMC Pacer.. What the hell.
I actually had that car FOX 866L found it down the side of a body shop and got sprayed hot pot and not very good,later i turned it into a series 3 look it was respayed red with new black fabric roof new grill hls wheel covers and bumpers srayed satin black and boy did that car turn heads,it was used by BL to promote the car a nd you can see it raceing through the sand dunes of Spain.
Haha, shirtlifter!!
@riotagus I've owned 3 allegros. A 1.1, a 1.5 estate and a very rare 1750 sport. The sport was my first every car and turned me into a boy race: 0-50mph I could match just about anyone. They were always superbly reliable and my overtaking record still goes to my 1.1; 11 cars and 3 vans in one go. the hydragas suspension and tie down straps...Eee gad they were not good. Still they were the cars were good and I loved all that I owned. Oh and the square wheel(like Audi etc) I thought was superb.
understeer
Does anybody think that if BMC hadn't become British Leyland, things would've gone better?
Has anyone noticed the sketch looks like an AMC Pacer, especially at the rear?
The year before 1973 gave us the Leyland National. But the Allegro, come on. Not for me I'm affraid. The Leyland National was a good vehicle, but many of Leyland's attempts at cars were quite frankly a joke. The Austin 1100 was designed by Peninin Farina, which was probably, why it was a catchig design. The Allegro, on the other hand, quite something else. It is more aerodynamic in reverse.
The Austin Shirt Lifter . . . . whadda car!
same thing with the Princess, you see, BL only wanted the Maxi to have a hatchback because that would be it's unique selling point, I know it was a stupid idea, British Leyland had lots of them
I think people have different tastes but my god is the allegro a hideous looking car, i'll keep my Capri lol
Well you couldn't have owned an Allegro without a sense of humour and a huge amount of patience. My 1750 had a new head head and twin SU carbs from a Maxi. Not sure why this had such an amazing effect. My 1750 did have 'slicks' over looked by the boys in blue a few times meaning I had maximum traction when I needed it. I am OK at bashing other drivers as I have owned 25+ cars in my 30+ years of driving; with a huge variety in cars. Alfasud to Skoda estelle with Audi, Sabb, ford V6......etc.
allegro is ace totally class competitive
how comes british cars took so long to think about how great hatch backs are - untill the metro - super market - hatch back - peoples car hatch back
@arospeed169 Easy - they don't make them anymore.