My mum had an Allegro for a bit. I remember it was an appalling shade of orange and had a square steering wheel. Just one of the many reasons why BL went down the pan.
CARS
Austin Allegros
Author of this article:
Contributors to this article:
- There are no contributors yet
Do You Remember Austin Allegros?
Do You Remember Austin Allegros?
-
Anonymous
on
My first car was a 1978 ('S' Reg) 'Russet Brown' Austin Agro (as my mates called it) Vanden Plas edition (as mentioned by Johnz). It had a 'brisk' 1500cc engine in it, but the fuel consumption was dreadful! I bought it in 1987 so it was classed as a 'banger' for ?500. It only had 48000 miles on it - not bad for it's age and it had the Vanden Plas chrome grill, wooden dash and picnic tables which folded out of the front seats for use by rear passengers. I can totally agree about the gearbox - like stirring porridge to change gear! It wasn't a bad motor and I didn't have to spend much on it, although the original owner had written down a list of parts he'd replaced inside the cover of the owners manual and it was almost like War & Peace! They are starting to become a bit of a rarity and quite collectable these days. KJ
-
Anonymous
on
i had one given to me about 9 or 10 years ago,a dark reddish brown in colour,known as 'THE FIG' to me and my mates! it had a 1000cc engine,and i managed to squeeze a ton out of it downhill! the seats were like armchairs,but it was one of the most reliable cars i've owned! sadly,the rust was beyond repair and i had to let her go,great fun tho!
-
Anonymous
on
worked for bl dealer in surbiton surrey ,P.D.I an allegro in 1973 for local customer.many years later bought the car back,as a classic .MUST be the lowest mileage 1500 allegro saloon at just 17000 miles and unrestored ,And now lives on the isle of wight. unless you know different !!
-
Anonymous
on
BETSY that was the name of my old ambulance , i work for surrey ambulance and used to do non emergency transport , and we nicknamed our transit OLD BETSY OR BETS for short i really miss her she was a real charecter , she was one of the last of the fleet to be sold off to auction . if i saw her for sale now and i had the money i would buy her myself bless her
-
Anonymous
on
I had an Allegro, got it from a neighbour 4 free !! he just used it 4 shopping in the town, it had 15000 mls on the clock with a 1.1 engine and it did 95 mph !!!, burnt no oil and was imaculate best car I ever had !!! then some drunk driver, came round a corner on the wrong side of the road and killed her in a head on collision :( the car was over 16 years old ( P reg 1976) and the insurance company gave me ?750 for her. still think of her every now and the..sniff!! R.I.P. Betsy :)
-
Anonymous
on
as i recall they used to call the estate version the hampster hearse he he
-
Anonymous
on
i remember these when you got a puncture a leg grows ha ha the old ones are the best
-
Anonymous
on
Some of those 70s car colours were horrific ! The Allegro was very much a middle-age type of car, my primary teacher had one.
-
Anonymous
on
My mate's mum had one and used to pick us up from school - it was a horrible mustard colour. I seem to remember it had a square steering wheel. or did I dream that bit up?
-
Anonymous
on
The BL Austin Allegro. I will never forget the fantastic advert shown at the loacl cinema showing the allegro coming over a hill and flying through the air (although we never saw the results of landing on Hydragas suspension) my father bought one. not on the strentgh of teh advert but on cost . it was i think the cheapest estate car at the time a sporty 1.5 litre turd brown non dynamic motorcar with the worst gearbox in existance - anyone who had one with the innovative 5 speed box i am sure will tell you about the grazed knuckles when egaging 1st gear. ahh bliss. they don't make them like that anymore. thank god!. One more thing. I remember they made A Vanden Plas model and also a Wolsley version I believe they had walnut seats and picnic tables fitted in the back. More oddly they had large Bentleysque radiator grills fitted. probably to give them that touch of class. OR they had a shed load of radiator grills left. I know which i believe.
Show previous comments