retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,726
Club RR Member Number: 94
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At risk of being shot full of holes!  I am old enough to remember when my dad owned a Beetle in the late seventies, he served in the R.E.M.E in Germany and got hooked on them, so much it was the family car from the sixties through to when he sold his last in the early eighties.Now the thing was the Beetle then was not the fashion icon it is now, but an out dated throw back and a bit of a joke, a compressor on wheels!  Which brings me to the Allegro, unloved in its time and a bit of an automotive joke to a lot of people. Personally I love 'em and I don't seem to be alone as without sounding like an old duffer so do the younger generation. I have not long got my hands on a rough Mk1 off a 21 year old who has FIVE of them including a race car. He said- They are cheap to insure,cheap to run and cheap to buy and different to the normal stuff. Just like the Beetle was in the '80s as I remember! I have seen a quartic wheel sell on eBay for £67 recently and decent Mk1 Allegros are now touching the £2500 mark. My question is then not so much is the Allegro the New Beetle but is it about to turn into a desirable icon or will it always be an automotive Potato! PICTURES MAKE A THREAD THOUGH-----        |
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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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
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I'd own an Allegro anyday.
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1993 Mercedes-Benz 190e LE in Azzuro Blue.
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chevazon
Posted a lot
1939 Chevrolet 2 door coupe, `67 `Zon estate, `87 Ragtop Cavalier, 4 x 800 Drifters,(!) 1500 Drifter
Posts: 2,259
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Owned a couple in "the day" and found them Ok, would have one today as a daily.
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Quite like an Allegro, tbh, I think part of the appeal is the kind of 'naff' image. My mate set out to by one for that very reason, he looked all over to get one in dog curse word brown, to go along side his beige Maxi
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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.
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Id love a vdp in that damson red colour,, i remember sitting in one in the mid 70s at lex bexleyheath thought it was the business,, shame about underdevelopment coulda been a great car, id have one now tho
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Fraud owners club member
2003 W211 Mercedes E class
1989 Sierra sapphire
1998 ex bt fiesta van
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555 
Club RR Member Number: 33
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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.  |
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dan
Part of things
Posts: 589
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My mother had a white 1750 sport and it used to go up Detling & Bluebell Hill like a freight train. She also managed to crash it into the only car in an empty car park lol Happy days I doubt they'd become a desirable icon but they could certainly achieve cult status. I'd have one. |
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Last Edit: Feb 5, 2014 20:56:49 GMT by dan
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I think they will have their day, some of them in those pics have caught my eye. Especially that 4th one down.
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I'm definitely bias when it comes to BL stuff but I don't think we have to wait for the Allegro to become desirable, it already is. Just like the Marina, the Allegro is gaining a very strong following these days and even the price of the Mk3s is steadily on the climb. There's still enough Allegros knocking about that you can be choosey about what you buy, but a lot of people aren't.
I don't think we're that far off BL products becoming properly desirable and I watch the prices on the various models with interest as they're very much considered a decent starter classic now in much the same way as the Beetle used to be and, if you've deep enough pockets, still is.
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fred
Posted a lot
WTF has happened to all the Vennies?
Posts: 2,957
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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 |
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'79 Cossie ran Cortina - Sold
2000 Fozzer 2.0 turbo snow beast
'85 Opel Manta GSI - Sold
03 A class Mercedes
Looking for a FD Ventora - Anyone?
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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 The VW scene is full of them |
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1993 Mercedes-Benz 190e LE in Azzuro Blue.
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Carter
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,535
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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!..  |
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'77 Chevy G20
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Kieran
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,092
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My 2 pence, I think they are great!
Cheap to buy, roomy with torquey ohc engines (think the a series is a bit pushed with a car this big).
Ive got a 1979 1500 super that I'm preparing for the 2014 Manx classic sprint and hillclimb event.
So far I've gas flowed the head, had Autosprint grind me a race profile camshaft, got hold of a 4 branch manifold, weldedup a bike carb manifold, and fitted MG ZS seats and MGF rear displacers all round!
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The Ashby Jackson fleet:-
1979 Mini Clubman 1.8 K series
1978 Skoda 110r Project 130RS K-oupe
1978 Austin Allegro 1500 SDL Estate
1984 BMW K100 Sidecar outfit
1999 Yamaha FZS 1000 Fazer
1991 Kawasaki ZXR400 race bike
2002 Kawasaki ZX9r race bike
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"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.
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djefk
Part of things
Posts: 844
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That's gorgeous, which is something Allegros rarely are. Understandable that you miss that one.
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Future classic or Automotive spud.Trouble with that is it raises the question as to what actually makes a classic car. The answer to that is varied depending on who you ask sadly, so I don't believe there would be a definitive answer ever. I have my own admittedly broad criteria that needs to be fulfilled for that question which is - Does it reflect the time in which it was designed/built? (how does it look, does it show some technology that was available at the time, does it have a story to tell of its creation and the times it was available). So in the Allegro's case it really does fulfill all that. Looking at it, to me it looks incredibly 70s, reminds me of strike action and also the "All Agro" joke at the time among other things. I'm not saying its a bad car as I actually think its quite an interesting one showing some of what BL was aiming for at the time. But my point is it evokes feelings of the 70's in spades. So for me at least, its a classic
Desirable icon or will it always be an automotive Potato?Beauty is in the eye of the beholder sir. If they get popular then I'm all for it.
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never having sat in, let alone driven one I can only go on their looks which I heartily approve of. quite a few have ended up in my ebay watched list so I suspect it's only a matter of time before one is sat on my drive
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