Austin Allegro a future Classic or an Automotive Spud?

I was stuck for a car when the engine broke in my 1300GLS MKI Golf so snapped up the pair (1500 & 1750 HLS) of Allegro's our milkman was selling. The 1750 had a cracked block but MOT & tax whereas the 1500 was rotten but good engine so he simply swopped over no plates until he got nervous about being caught and was selling them both for scrap money (£70). I simply added sealant to the 1750 waterways and used it for several months before passing it onto a mate to use up the rest of the tax (which reminds me he still owes me it's value plus what scrap yard paid !)
Anyway I enjoyed the Allegro so much I actually went out of my way to try and find a mint 1300 version for my wife - without success. They therefore get my vote as a worth car to own. Like a lot of BL cars of the era such as Princess, 1800 / 2200, Marina, Ital, Ambassador, they weren't the most sparkling cars at the time but were good plodders that are often overlooked today.

Paul H

Owned a couple in "the day" and found them Ok, would have one today as a daily.

Horrible things and summed up everything that was wrong with the British car industry.
Compare them to mk2 escorts and golfs etc from that era and see just how bad they are.
However, anything retro is cool now and I've no doubt there's soon going to be a scene created around them.

Nostalgia's a wonderful thing.

I'm lucky enough to have been driving for over thirty years now, and am old enough to remember Allegros and their 1970's competitors when they were all just average suburban driveway fodder. They were no better or worse than the Escorts and Vivas of the time, in fact in certain respects they were better. They certainly didn't dissolve as fast as Escorts did (and more importantly didn't refuse to start at the first hint of a damp morning...my overriding memory of teenage lies-in is the sound of various neighbours attempting to coax wheezing, asthmatic lumps of Crossflow pig-iron into action) or suffer the amall Vauxhall's innumerable gearbox/driveline maladies. I'll admit to a bit of bias, growing up as I did a stone's throw from Longbridge. That also meant that there was a helluva lot of BL tin knocking about when I first passed my test, making it cheap to buy second-hand. I never owned one, but plenty of people I knew did.

I think the Allegro's place in the history books is assured, because of (rather than despite) their rather ill-deserved reputation. Nobody can deny that BL had a torrid time in the 1970's, it's well-documented. But the Allegro wasn't anywhere near as hopeless as the naysayers would have you believe.

I'll have an early 3dr 1300 Deluxe please, in Glacier White with navy vinyl seats.

I think they will have their day, some of them in those pics have caught my eye. Especially that 4th one down.

As above comments - early Fords Now are nigh on out of the range of 'normal' folk
Vauxhall's are going up, and I see very tidy triumphs, and latter day BL models sliding up the price range
Allegro's are becoming popular with people called 'hipsters' apparently
I know not what a Hipster is , but hey ho, if they keep the Marque going they are all good

I'm conditioned into thinking they are awful things, with no real basis for it, a not uncommon thing with folks and old cars. I once rolled one in the Cornish china-clay quarries, messing about, other than that no experience. Looking now at photos of them and they have some schweeet retro looks, and a lot of potential. I'd say they have improved with age.

Andy Saunders creation?


The Equipe is shouting 'slam me on wide rims'..



But the estate!.. I don't remember there being an estate! Want!..

"Future" classic? I'd say they're already a classic. That nowadays it's easy and cheap to rectify their typical maladies certainly helps - several extra decades of A-Series experience, for example, and the electronics in them are relatively simple - so I imagine they're even relatively reliable as runarounds.

Even the styling has grown on me. They still look a little "depressed" but they've got character.

That's gorgeous, which is something Allegros rarely are. Understandable that you miss that one.