As my mother’s side of the family hails from Great Britain and I’ve had these few snapshots forever, it’s high time they are put to good use here. Yes, I am a little ashamed to admit that my Grandfather George was the proud owner of this hearing-aid beige Austin Allegro, the car that Britons love to hate.
Photographed in Hull (in “The North” as it is dismissively referred to by Londonites) this was in fact taken in front of its garage next to my grandparents’ house. I am sure I rode in it at least several times as a wee lad, but don’t have any concrete memories. I have more memories of the garage which was, uh, concrete and always very cold but filled with interesting gadgets and “stuff”.
It was George’s last car and he took very good care of it. I believe it took good care of him as well in return. The R-registration indicates that it is a 1976 or 1977 model known as the Allegro 2. In the U.K., these were mocked similarly to how the AMC Pacer was mocked stateside although I am curious if there is some nostalgia starting to form now that they have become thin on the ground.
After George stopped driving due to a stroke, my grandmother Helga took up those duties. The Allegro was disposed of and replaced with the pride of Britain, a new Austin Metro. I remember my grandmother speaking very fondly of this car. I have no idea where this photo was taken, very likely in Arnesby, Leicestershire where my aunt lived. It doesn’t look like Hull though.
The Austin Metro was first launched in 1980 (named the miniMetro) and intended as a replacement for the Mini. That didn’t quite work out so they were sold side by side. The five-door bodystyle became available in 1985 which is what I believe this one to be. The Metro was a huge seller in Britain over its 17-year run but it is fairly rare to see any these days.
Again, I have no idea what happened to this car either but my grandmother had a stroke as well, which also put an end to her driving days. As a huge fan of the Group B Rally era, I am inordinately pleased that my grandmother drove the car that was the basis of the MG Metro 6R4. (With the word Metro being the only actual commonality between the cars that I am aware of).
I was puzzled as to whose car this delightful red Mini was, but my mother told me it belonged to Uncle Phil after I texted the pictures to her. I have no recollection of her Uncle Phil (my great-uncle) but he had good taste in cars. Clearly a relative of mine took this picture as we share the common trait of chopping off part of the car in the picture.
The picture was taken in Hull as well, on the other side of George and Helga’s house just ahead of where the Allegro above was shot. The T registration dates it as a late 1978 to early 1979 vehicle which is near the beginning of the time frame when the Mark IV’s were starting to be built.
I doubt Phil is still driving it as he’d be in his 90’s by now but hopefully he didn’t have a stroke as well. Frankly, I’d rather not know for sure. At least this generation of Brits in the family stuck true to their domestic product offerings and I do not recall a bad word ever being said about any of them.
Must. Have. Allegro.
Thanks for this. I’ve followed the British industry for awhile now, even buying the book “The Cars Of British Leyland” from the UK.
Sweet seller, apologized for it being a shabby ex library book, but that only made it more special for me.
Also “Crash” about the entire BL era. And magazines that featured the Allegro when it was new.
Call me sick and twisted, but I’d love an Allegro. Or a Marina.
Thanks for sharing your family album.
Always in search of new books about what I know little about. So just got off Ebay buying the same two books you mentioned. Thanks for mentioning the titles. I wanted to buy Ford in England but couldn’t find a cheap enough copy. You might also want to buy the book called “Export British Cars around the globe 1945-1985”. That’ll be my next one.
Oh wow! Good. Crash is a little dry, but “Cars Of” is fantastic, lots of shots of prototypes and such.
End Of The Road is an interesting chronicle of Rover’s last days, another I discovered in my searches.
I’ll look for the title you suggested. British automobile exporting was a major part of the industry apparently.
Lots of You Tube stuff on BL too. Spent an entire evening watching not too long ago.
The personal shame continues for me as my uncle John (also in the UK) had a purple Marina back in the day. Trying to round up a picture…
Was that a factory color, or did it get a respray?
What colour was the piano that fell on it?
(I’m using colour since we’re talking about British cars)
Purple Marinas were quite common. Must be factory.
Yes, the color was just one more indignity of the whole.
DweezilAZ you really are sick and twisted. Only sad people could be nostalgic about the Allegro, it was dreadful. I had a company Marina for a couple of years, and the antiquated “A” series engine and (Triumph ?) gearbox were the best parts, along with the steering column stalks. Everything else was truly dire.
I didn’t know you could get an A-series engine in the Marina. In the US, they came standard with the 1.8 liter B-series shared with the emissions-strangled MGBs of 1973-1975. The Marina seems like a lot of car for a 1,275 cc pushrod engine to motivate.
I stand accused, Uncle. Not sad, just have a sick sense of humor. I love all the residents on the Isle Of Misfit Cars: Larks, Ramblers, X Cars, IONs.
Never have understood the fascination, myself. Like a lover of strays, I guess.
The highlight of my many years of going to car shows was a ride across the show field in a Trabant by a guy who imported one.
Not a common sight in Van Nuys CA at an Italian/French/European car show
Marinas are still quite common in New Zealand at least where I live I see several in daily use, Allegros though are rare never terribly popular they shared the Minis mechanicals with all the problems Issigonis design involved,
Marinas were available in Canada in the early ’70s when I was 7-8 but they disappeared very quickly from the roads never to be seen again. The eternal automotive question has got to be, “Which POS was worse, the Allegro or the Marina?”
The Allegro had a very hard act to follow in the shape of ADO16 which over the time it was produced was always in the top five sellers in the UK, often no.1. It should have been simple enough and the initial styling sketches looked good but… ah well. There was one area that was better than ADO16: rustproofing, so they were still quite common even into the 1990s.
Ugliest front had to be the Vanden Plas version with it’s ridiculous ‘beaver teeth’ grille, the worst body style the weird estate. Thankfully they never combined the two.
In retrospect the lack of a hatchback version seems odd, but when they first appeared in 1973 the popularity of the style wasn’t fully established (even early Fiat 127s lacked a hatch). On the other hand the Maxi had been around since 1969, though perhaps it was the disappointing sales of that which discouraged the idea.
It is always reading about those things that never showed up in the US. It is also interesting how the rest of the civilized world made do with ordinary chrome bumpers all through the 1970s. Funny how the British “nanny state” of the 70s left its citizens alone on car bumpers, while we “land of the free” Americans got stuck with those awful bash beams. starting in 1973.
while we “land of the free” Americans got stuck with those awful bash beams. starting in 1973.
Not surprisingly, I have a theory about that :^)
Most cars sold in the US are financed. The lender requires the car be heavily insured until it is paid off. Insurance companies don’t like paying claims. I remember the media in the early 70s being full of reports on the exorbitant cost of repairs from even low speed collisions. With the populace thus primed, the insurance companies made their wishes known to the people with the levers in DC, and the crash bumper was born.
Not wishing to deal with any government regulation, the automakers contrived the worst possible means of compliance with the crash bumper standard in the hope that consumer outcry would persuade the people with the levers in DC to back off. iirc, the bumper standard was weakened, about 10 years later, but not completely eliminated….the insurance companies can be very persuasive.
Meanwhile, the cost of collision repair has skyrocketed. Everything that makes a car safer (or has made the environment cleaner) also makes repair after a crash more of a nightmare. It is a rare bump that can be fixed for under the low 4 figures anymore.
It is a rare bump that can be fixed for under the low 4 figures anymore.
I remember some of those reports on how fragile late 60s, early 70s models were. One model that came in for particular criticism was the 69 Impy with it’s big, but weak, loop bumper that was so easily damaged and exorbitant to replace. And with no room for the bumper to absorb impact, a slight displacement of the bumper meant a buckled body panel.
Bumpers were not at a uniform height either. For some reason, rear bumpers on a lot of cars were higher than front bumpers. Add the usual front end dive and rear end jacking from a hard stop and there were a lot of smashed grills.
One Christmas, my boss took several of us out for lunch in his 72ish Ford station wagon. Backing out of his parking spot at work, he tapped the back end of another honcho’s 71ish Dodge Monaco. The Dodge’s back bumper caught Bill’s wagon in the middle of a taillight. The result was a broken taillight lens, a broken chromed pot metal taillight bezel, and a tiny wrinkle in the rear fender. I rolled my eyes when I saw that slight wrinkle in the fender and told Bill to be ready for a big repair bill. About a week later, he came down to my desk and told me I was right. iirc, the bill was over $500. According to the BLS’s CPI calculator, those $500 Carterbux would be over $1,800 today. Tap another car that slightly today, and there would be zero damage.
My Aunt’s 98 Civic was hit, at a walking pace, by a city bus. Total damage was the bumper skin and the plastic shock absorbing structure underneath. Zero damage to sheetmetal, grill or lights.
Aren’t you glad you got me going on crash bumpers ;^)
Though not a fan of the 5mph bumper in general, I rear-ended a similarly-equipped VW Rabbit at low speed; no damage or injuries so we amicably parted ways with no consequences.
Reason? A borrowed shoe, with slippery sole, slipped off my Escort’s brake pedal. Naturally I was livid.
Plastic front and rear facias absorb most minor hits these days so nothing other than paint damage occurs, however having said that to repair the rr door on my Citroen cost $861.00 paint was most of that quote just to pay for the booth running was $400
Plastic front and rear facias absorb most minor hits these days so nothing other than paint damage occurs,
My Escort was bunted in the rear hard enough to flex the body structure enough that I heard all the interior plastic trim go “crack” as it moved. Not a scratch on the bumper. No buckled body panels.
My Aunt’s 98 Civic, the same one that was hit in the front by a city bus, was hit in the rear by a pickup. The pickup had two tow rings projecting forward from the underside of the bumper. The tow rings punched through the rear bumper skin of the Civic. No damage to sheet metal or taillights.
I’m willing to call the crash bumpers a success. Especially since the industry decided to do a decent job of integrating them in the styling.
Same experience here. Someone backed into my minivan in a parking lot to the tune of $900+ in paint scrapes and parking sensor replacement.
Steve, there was also an unintentional consequence of those battering ram bumpers. Not only the added cost, but when they did need to be repaired, the cost was far greater than before the change.
This was covered in the rags at the time, even CR.
Still wondering what protects all those ugly new grilles we’re seeing today.
Best of the day to ya
Must all be the fault of lawyers, JPC. We have far fewer of you per head of population.
I’m not sure what you mean by “nanny state of the 70s”, I’d be willing to bet the UK was less regulated than the US in many regards at that time, and also today. It’s too easy to be sucked into the lazy media portrayal of “socialist Europe” and “free” USA.
Even today I sometimes take American tourists past a playpark in Glasgow and more than a few jaws have dropped, followed by a comment like “You could never get away with that in the US, you’d be sued.”
I agree that the US ceased to be “the land of the free” a long, long time ago. You are right that there has been a perception of a more socialistic system in Europe and the UK than in the US. Although I was just making a lighthearted observation, you offer a good reminder that the “conventional wisdom” isn’t always right.
the US ceased to be “the land of the free” a long, long time ago.
A long, long time ago only straight white males in the US were “free”. 🙂
Sorry, but I can never resist when I hear that. The price of one person’s unimpinged freedom is usually another’s impinged freedom. And that works both directions. Hence we see why straight white men are feeling so unfree these days, and other demographic groups are reveling in their more recently acquired freedoms. Or still fighting for theirs.
On another note, being somewhat bi-continental, it is always fascinating to observe how some areas of life or regulated more or less on either side of the Atlantic. In terms of driving, Europe is much less regulated, with vastly fewer signs, warnings, etc. as my experience last summer on the Stelvio Pass made clear: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/european-vacation-outtake-1-thanks-brendan-and-william-and-the-showdown-on-stelvio-pass/
And yet other aspects of life are more regulated/controlled in Europe. There’s no simple generalized formula. Different traditions and societal attitudes have shaped different outcomes.
Interesting article, but the car in the top photo looks almost identical to an Opel Kadett!
I think that’s probably its most flattering angle. Compared to a Kadett, the Allegro comes across as taller and a lot “puffier”, perhaps bordering on Rubinesque. I always think of the 70’s Kadett as being more svelte with the body looking tighter.
It really doesn’t.
It’s always enjoyable to see what the families of others drove – it adds another dimension to the car itself.
Kudos to your mother’s family for actually taking pictures of their cars.
I bought British Cars of the 1960s…a reprint of Doug Nye’s reviews and reports, etc. Half Price Books had it for something like $10…lots of b&w and color photos too. Great read about a whole bunch of obscure cars I’d never heard of, before the British car industry fell on its face.
The 70s were not a real stellar time for US and British automakers…even the paint and interior colors were horrendous.
Reminds my a bit of my relative’s cars in Austria in the 70s. My uncle drove the lowest trim level of a Fiat 131. The other still had an oval-window VW. And my aunt was just getting ready to get rid of her Steyr-Puch 650.
I rather like the looks of the Allegro. It almost looks like the spawn of a 56 Rambler. If AMC had had the product development money, they could have produced a car like this and scooped the US industry, again. The Allegro even has 70s AMC style flapper door handles.
What the heck is it with BL styling tho? Both the Allegro and Princess start out very attractively with the front end, but everything falls apart when they get to the back. Harris Mann gets the credit for the Princess, but supposedly his design was set aside for the Allegro in favor of Giugiaro’s work. The car looks to me more like a front clip from Giugiaro’s pinch from Farina’s work for Nash a generation earlier, with a Harris Mann back end.
That front end really works for me, especially the round headlight version.
Never heard of the link between the Allegro and Giugiaro before!.
The story Harris Mann tells is that it was supposed to look like this, but then the engineers and accountants decided to use the tall E series engine and a large heater shared with other BL products, so it ended looking like it did.
The Allegro was supposed to be BL’s (and the UK’s) answer to the Citroen GS, Alfasud, Renault 12, SImca 1100, Fiat 128 and Peugoet 204 and maybe even the Golf, whilst the Marina was supposed to tackle the Escort and Cortina. It didn’t though.
You may thinking about the Marina, which BL let us believe (wrongly) was transformed into the Ital by Ital Design.
Never heard of the link between the Allegro and Giugiaro before!.
My apologies, I misremembered the Wiki entry, which says the Allegro’s styling went against the trend set by Giugiaro.. As you said, Mann’s original design was nixed because the engine and heater would not fit, though, I can see by the sketch that Mann had as much trouble with the back end as he did with the Princess.
Comparing the sketch to this pic, it does look like it is Mann’s back end married to the Farina/Nash front. Even the little grill Mann had on the C pillar is carried over.
Thanks for a lovely piece Jim, and welcome to honorary membership of the CC Club of Northern England (or t’club!).
They say confession is good for the soul, and to do so may need help,. I think you’re in the right place at CC.
One thing you didn’t mention is the square (TV screen shape really) Quartic steering wheel on the Allegro, for which it was roundly panned from day one, as well as the lack of a hatchback, the odd styling, the funny foreign sounding name, having less space than the ADO16, being more expensive than the ADO16 and bumping awkwardly into the Marina in the market place. It was at this time that the British market truly adopted foreign (European and Japanese) cars…..just sayin’….
Your Grandfather’s car was an 1100cc version, was first registered in June 1977 and last taxed for the road to July 1992; there are about 500 Allegros left out of a UK population of around 600,000 or so.
The Metro had a much happier life, being Britain’s best seller at times in the early 1980s. It actually had a 17 year, not 30 year life, which was still much longer than its contemporaries, and ended its life as a Rover, not an Austin. I had 2, including one very similar (series 2, 5 door, modest spec) to the Grandmother’s car.
Wasn’t the sedan hatchback-less (and the wagon a two-door) to “protect” the Maxi? It’s amazing how many opportunites automakers miss to avoid internal competition with a successful model.
How long did the “Quartic” steering wheel last? Only the first model year?
I think BL either just considered a hatchback as unnecessary (there was an estate as you note) or maybe never thought about.
Quartic steering wheels for 2 years, until the estate came out.
This is an excellent site for BMC/BL/MG-rover history http://www.aronline.co.uk
And check the CC archive through the search option 😉
I’d also heard – from Wikipedia, probably – that BL tried to reserve hatchbacks for only certain lines, even when one would’ve made more sense than a trunk. Given BL’s Byzantine internal workings that seems plausible, but not sure if it’s the strict truth.
Blimey, I have no idea where I got the 30-year thing from, I corrected it, thank you! We’ll have to down a pint (or two or…) when I get back over there. In celebration of my honorary membership of course. Thanks for the info on Granddad’s car, I suppose it’s a washing machine now. Perhaps several times over at that.
“Honey, why is our new washing machine such a hideous beige color? And on fire?”
“It used to be an Allegro, dear.”
The All Aggro as they were called in the day was the British version of the Ford Torino. It replaced the good Austin 1300?America. A 4 wheeled joke from launch. Cops replace the Qaartic steering wheel with a proper round one as it cached hands when turning on to lock.
I remember in the 90s when owner’s clubs were started for both the Allegro and Marina – some classic car journalists considered the very idea to be heinous, and stated that they could never be considered classics – and there was far more hate for the Allegro than the Marina.
I really can’t remember the last time I saw an Allegro, I’m sure they’d be popular with hipsters if they could get their hands on them – especially the estate. Now that I think about it, I’d like one of those myself.
My grandfather had both a Marina and an Allegro as a company car – the wheel fell off the Allegro with my mum at the (quartic) wheel.
Tonito, there are some YouTube videos of Allegro meets that I’ve watched. The owners seem to be quite over the moon about them.
The club people at the time seemed to be full of fun, and revelled in the fact that the car was so ridiculed.
The author here: I sent the link to this post to my mom and she responded with a somewhat awkward (for me) comment: “What a lovely piece, Dad especially was so proud of his car, by the way bought after I’d left home!! I do have to mention one thing and you absolutely don’t need to tell anyone, but his name was Mark. You are mixing up the names with your grandmother’s father called Georg!
It amazes me how many and how detailed all the comments are on everything you write. You do a grand job! M”
Anyway, it is a bit embarrassing that I misnamed my own grandfather but he did sort of look like a George. I think I will let the post stand as is. At least she likes all of you guys’ commentary.
Spoken like a mom!! I love it.
An old school friend of mine bought an Allegro even after the disaster his parent’s Austin Kimberly had been but their farm featured several Leyland tractors and I suspect he got a nicely discounted price, personally free would have been too expensive.
Except for the Austin Marina and Plymouth Cricket (Hillman Avenger), perhaps it’s merciful that we didn’t get more of Britain’s smaller cars here by the Mid ’70s. Seeing British Leyland’s cheap and unattractive solutions to American safety and emission regulations, especially what they did to the MGB, with it’s jacked-up ride height and hideous black rubber nose-job, is just tragic!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Loved this write-up, Jim. That Allegro really speaks to me, “hearing-aid” beige color, and all. Since discovering this site, I’ve been borderline-obsessed with Great Britain’s malaise-era machines, including the aforementioned Austin Marina and the Princess. What a treasure to have these photos.
My Dad immigrated from Britain in the early ’70’s as a young man.
For the rest of his life, with the exception of 3 60’s Camaros he drove Fords exclusively. I asked him about British cars when I was an 8 year old kid, even then being a gearhead. My American Uncle owned/owns a GT6, so I was curious. His words were wholly negative and not appropriate to repeat. He elaborated about poor quality and electrical gremlins
My uncle’s Triumph hasn’t moved under its own power since 1985. I think Dad might have been right to a degree.
Yet strangely I have a slight desire to own an XJ6. I just remind myself of what I was told all those years ago.
Many people used to describe Lucas electrics as “Lucas,Lord of Darkness”,because they failed.XJ6,well as a teenager I drove the multi millionaire owner of our British Leyland chain to the airport to fly from Tasmanian back to Sydney in a one year old XJ6.He was a decent bloke ,he and his wife sat in the back.I didn’t smoke cigarettes in those early years but the smell of petrol fumes in that near new Jaguar was overpowering.I was shocked and bloody scared when I heard the sound of a match striking and looked in the rearview mirror and he was lighting his large cigar.I thought immolation was imminent.I was damned glad when we reached the airport and they exited the Jag.
Yes, Lucas, Lord of Darkness. Motto: “A gentleman does not motor about after dark.”
A GT6 is actually a relatively simple car to maintain, and these days there’s a very developed aftermarket if you need any bits:)
Lucas electrics are let down by the stupid connectors they use which tend to collect moisture and corrode, but other than that there is nothing mysterious about them.
Jim nice pics and story,thanks.I laughed re cutting off the pics.We didnt get the Allegro in Australia but I like the shape.