(first posted 12/29/2013) The Morris 1100 of 1962 was one of the most innovative and significant cars of its type and of its generation, but its replacement, the 1973 Austin Allegro, showed BLMC at its worst. With the Allegro, BL had a unique opportunity – to replace the UK’s best selling car with a better one. The business funding it was financially stronger than it been for many years; there were some modern engines available; the presence of other BLMC products meant it did not have to appeal to the conservative part of the market, and BMC’s record of technical innovation was still valid. Yet with the Allegro, BL managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The 1100 (known as ADO16 in BMC jargon) was Alec Issigonis’s next new car after the Mini, and with its Pininfarina styling, hydrolastic suspension, front wheel drive and spacious but compact body, it was an absolute hit, Britain’s best seller from 1964 to 1970, taking over 12% of the market alone on occasions. Its principal competitor was the Ford Cortina, which also appeared for the first time in 1962 and offered a more conventional option in the price range.
The Morris 1100 (the Austin version arrived one year later – this is BMC remember) offered innovation, comfort and space efficiency; the Cortina offered a different style, more car for the money and bigger boot but also a poorer driving experience. The Cortina went into its mark 2 in 1966 and then the larger Mark 3 in 1970, by which time BLMC had nothing competing directly with it. The 1100, now also available as the 1300, was now in a class of its own and competing against the Escort.
After the BMC/Leyland merger in 1968, it was identified that the Morris brand would be used for Ford-chasing with very conventional RWD cars and Austin would be BLMC’s high technology brand, taking over the front wheel drive, hydrolastic suspension concepts of the ADO series of Issigonis cars. Hence, the ADO16 replacement was to be a high technology product, to be sold below the Marina but hopefully to build on the following the ADO16 had had. The Marina was to be targeted directly at the Cortina, even if the aim did prove to be a bit off in the event. The Allegro was supposed to be a more timeless design than the Marina, with its modernity evident. It was expected to complete with cars like the Citroen GS, Alfasud, Fiat 128, Simca 1100, Renault 12 and Peugeot 304.
picture from www.aronline.co.uk
But what did we get? A car that in its original design conception had been a lot more stylish than the product that actually appeared in 1973. Being avant-garde, it was expected not to follow fashion, but to lead it. The style of the car was defined by 1969 by Harris Mann, who also styled the Marina, TR7 and Princess. And then stuff started happening to the Allegro – the E series engine from the Austin Maxi had to go in, and it was taller than the A series, so the bonnet was raised, a big and bulky heater (common to other BL products) had to be fitted, more thickly padded seats were added, it was decided to add some barrel like shaping to the sides to create more space.
All this happened on a car that had a similar wheelbase to the ADO16 but more length at the front and back for engine access and boot space respectively. The latest development of Hydrolastic, called Hydragas, was fitted. Engines were carried over from the ADO16, in 1100 and 1300 forms, or from the Austin Maxi in 1500 and 1750 with the same 5 speed gearbox and the associated issues in managing to actually change gear as well.
The end result was a dull, dumpy looking car, with one fundamental drawback – despite its profile it had no hatchback. Quite how BLMC had managed to omit this is still a mystery, though it is known that Issigonis was no fan of hatches, and although he had by now retired his legacy was there still, and would be evident again later in BL’s history. But any thorough assessment of the marketplace and trends should have identified it – it had been such a success in cars like the Renault 16 and Simca 1100 for example. The car ended up weighing 10% more than the ADO16 but having the same engine and a more cramped interior.
And then there was the square steering wheel, officially known as the quartic wheel. This was the idea of a David Bache, who was Rover’s chief stylist for the 2000 and later the Rover SD1. Austin-Morris MD George Turnbull saw the idea and insisted it go into the Allegro, as part of the high tech avant-garde image., even though British motoring journalists shown the car in 1972 recommended him to change it, as well addressing the frontal styling as well, to remove the “sunken eye” and “swollen cheek” look the car had. The idea of the wheel was that it combined the benefits of a larger wheel, for lighter steering with the space gains of using a smaller one. Sound ideal, until you turn the wheel. The crucial point, though, is that one prominent and polarising idea coloured potential customers’ views of the car before they looked at it in detail.
Just weeks before the UK launch of the Allegro in May 1973, John Barber, the Ford trained BLMC Managing Director, instructed confused marketing teams to raise the proposed pricing by around £100, or 7-8%, a car. The flummoxed BL sales teams, who had spent a lot of time and effort working out exactly how much to charge for an Allegro in amongst the rest of the BL range, then responded by presenting Barber with a lineup of cars that the Allegro would now be competing with in the Austin-Morris showrooms, to persuade him to change his direction. This exercise highlighted the Allegro 1500 4dr at £1164 alongside the Maxi 1500 at £1182 (1.5% more), Allegro 1750 SS at £1367 against the Maxi 1750HL £1355, which was larger and much more commodious and had the same engine and transmission, and the significantly larger Austin 1800 at £1279.
Incidentally, can you imagine that process being needed at Ford, or even being possible? Barber didn’t change his mind, and the Allegro went on sale with the higher pricing. Why did Barber do this? Because he had recognised that BL had not controlled the cost of the car properly and was attempting to recover some profit from the Allegro.
BL had expected and hoped Allegro production to match the volumes seen for the ADO16, of up to 4000 cars a week. The fact that this was a commercially important car for BL was made very clear, but within a year it was apparent that the volume was not there for the Allegro – production was never more 125,000 a year compared to the ADO16 which did 200,000 or more for 8 years from 1964. To get someone to buy an ugly car that was more expensive, no bigger inside and came with the square steering wheel, in place of their Austin 1300, was proving to be a big ask.
Many tales were told about the Allegro – it was more aerodynamic going backwards, it twisted and the windows broke if you jacked it, (but only if a hydraulic jack was used in the wrong place), the wheels dropped off, (but only if they hubs were over tightened by mechanics who thought they were the same as the ADO16s, which they weren’t). But, bad rumours stick, and the damage can be done very quickly.
It is true the production staff could look at an Allegro on the road and accurately declare it a day shift or night shift car by judging the panel gap around the bootlid – the bootlid was positioned in the aperture from the left during the day and from the right during the night. (That sounds trivial and even mildly amusing, until you consider what else that couldn’t be seen might have been done in the same way.) Anecdotally, it is said that BL managers were entitled to an Allegro, and would arrange to receive a car assembled by the company’s plant at Seneffe in Belgium, rather Longbridge
This is not quite what Donald Stokes, BL’s Chairman, had hoped for when he said “This is the beginning of a very exciting era for British Leyland, and I think our designers, engineers and production men are going to provide you with a British motor industry of which you will be very proud.” One thing the Allegro did not do was rot away – carefully designed box sections and some decent rust proofing and paint preparation prevented that.
Even the Police using Allegros didn’t help, as their cars had round steering wheels. The explanations about a different style of driving didn’t really wash and with the arrival of the estate, which was exceptionally, er, distinctive, the square wheel faded away. But the rot had started, with the new national sport of BL bashing and its favourite target, the Allegro. It went downhill from there. The industrial strife, the corporate collapse and the economic situation of 1973-6 did the Allegro no favours of course, but had BL really done the best they could with this car? A compare and contrast with the VW Golf of 1974 would suggest perhaps not.
Sales figures for the Allegro were disappointing, compared with the ADO16. Partly this was due to the car itself, the actual conceptual weaknesses (no hatchback, not that spacious after the ADO16), poor image but also the stronger competition than that car faced 10 years, with the influx of Japanese cars building.
And BL actually made it worse, by offering the Vanden Plas 1500 – an even uglier Allegro with a pretentious radiator grille, a leather interior with a real wooden dash board and folding picnic tables. Without considering why a company that offered us the Triumph 1500 and Dolomite felt the need to produce such a car, it is still a strong candidate for the worst car BL, maybe post war Britain, ever made. There were two significant revisions, in 1975 and 1979, with the expected revisions to grilles, wheels and interiors, and it is fair to say that the Allegro did mature into a reasonably capable, if always slightly off-beat car, principally limited by its old (the 1.1 and 1.3 litres), and disappointing (the 1.5 and 1.75 litres) engines, the lack of a hatchback and the soft suspension and its effect on the handling. And the styling, and what was possibly worst image of any car then on the market. The featured mustard colour car is a 1975 Allegro 1300 Super – probably the most popular Allegro specification of its time. The featured Vanden Plas is a 1978 series 2 car.
There was one last hurrah for the Allegro in the UK – the 1979 Equipe model, complete with a 1750cc engine, 5 speed gearbox, sports trim, some prominent stripes and alloy wheels. It was BL’s best effort to match the Golf GTi and the like, and if your immediate reaction is Starsky and Hutch, it’s probably worked. But, many examples of the alloy wheels proved to be porous in use, with owners being greeted by 4 flat tyres in the morning. And that is almost a metaphor for the entire Allegro story – apparently contemporary and consistent with the competition in many ways, with a modern and technical twist and some distinctive and high tech features, but ultimately a disappointment, technically, commercially and, crucially for BL, as an ownership experience as well.
I find it so strange (and not acceptable for 1975), that the Allegro was not introduced as a hatchback. It would have been one of the few bright spots about this model.
Thank you Roger for presenting many of these models from the UK, that I have not been that familiar with. I thought mid 70s North American cars left a lot to be desired. I’m seeing that the UK motor industry sure offered up some little beasts to the UK consumers.
In style, the design concept could be compared favorably to a Ford Fiesta.
Think yourself lucky you didn’t get them Daniel.Another dud from BL which on paper looked a winner.Dad bought one in hearing aid beige when the 73 Arab/Israeli war sparked fuel rises and he got a lemon of the first order.Leaking window seals,orange peel paint,boiling radiator,split seat seems and electrical gremlins meant this was his first and last BL car.He’s still kicking himself for selling his Dodge Dart to buy this POS
The 1750 Equipe was another could have been,a GTI fighter before hot hatches became popular but I only recall seeing a battered white one in the early 80s.I’d also forgotten how strange the estate looked,no wonder I hardly ever saw any.
The Vanden Plas is proof you can’t polish a turd!Awful pretentious I’m not surprised my social climbing snob of a headmaster bought one for his wife to match his big Vanden Plas 3 litre
Thank you for this insight Gem. The UK auto industry culture seemed very political. I remember reading about all of the UK auto industry labor unrest as a youngster. An assembly line worker probably could’ve told the planners some time around 1972, this auto would fail. That’s if they would listen! Plus the UK seemed burdened by so much larger politics… both in the workplace and culturally. Really unfortunate to see. Likely killed their native car industry.
I can’t see this Allegra competing in North America, except based upon Yugo-like pricing. It makes the Chevrolet Chevette seem like a Toyota Corolla. IMO, the Vanden Plus is what the base model should’ve been… at the very least.
More than anything, I can’t understand why the remaining auto industry based in the UK, didn’t aim for producing ‘world cars’. Aiming specifically for the North American market. They didn’t produce the cars they had too, in order to gain credibility in North America. I’m guessing Ford intentionally kept the 70s Escorts out of North America, to justify the Pinto? How else would they survive designing niche cars for the UK and parts of Western Europe?
Sir Alec reminds me of ol’ Henry – the right man at the right time perhaps, but let down by his idiosyncrasies.
My grandfather (in Hull) had that exact same car! Same weird caramel pudding color too. I was a wee lad at the time but do recall it well.
Excellent writeup about a less than excellent car. Yes, the lack of a hatch was a deadly sin alone. And the styling was really mediocre, with that chipmunk front end, for starters. They should have called back Pininfarina. I didn’t even know about the “quadratic” steering wheel. Poor thing….
Quartic control copied from Chrysler very weird to drive.
The quartic wheel was also featured on the Rover SD1, so evidently someone at British Leyland really liked it. Every British road test of the SD1 from 1976 to the end of the line complains about the steering wheel, which I think even survived the interior makeover.
God, did those journalists go on about the wheel – not so much because of what it felt to use but because steering wheels are supposed to be round. Time moves on, and my new Toyota and many other modern cars have squared off wheels, and no one even seems to notice… 😉
Went to a British car show in Holland with a mate.
Upon entering hte premises, first car for sale was an Allegro.
Had to stop him vomiting over the car, “caressing” it with a hammer or writing Blah on the bonnet with black paint
Had its successor for a brief period, the Maestro, which actually was a good car you’d buy used for a fart and three nickles.
That thing just kept on going and going.
Thing is, the Brits can and could make cars, proof is in the present Japanese factories in the UK, problem was that nobody actually wanted British Leyland, sworn enemies in one big auto group is a recipe for disaster.
Most of the 205 and other GTI Peugeots were built in the UK.
I’ll agree that the Brits actually could (and can) make great cars . . . but much like the animosity between some UAW locals and management, in this case, it appears it was a three way tie between the BL workers, their management AND the Government. A pissing match that really showed in the output of their vehicles. This may have been excusable in low-priced, mass market cars, but it showed in their higher priced offerings (Jaguar in the USA, for example) . . . .
The epitome of mission creep. This is what happens when people demand more of the same but bigger and roomier and cheaper but with the same engines and supposed fuel consumtion. The story of the rise and fall of the British car making empire is indeed a very sad one. In the fifties, they were the biggest exporter in the world, with close to fifty percent of the world export market. Just because the industry really wasn’t that globalized, and most car makers catered for a domestic market. To go from there to indifference in less then twenty years is a truly remarkable effort.
And the Allegro is and forever will be the posterchild of everything gone wrong with BL. The british Vega, so to speak…
The British P76 would be a more correct analogy, thats the car that closed Leyland Australia
Whattayatalkinbout, Bryce? The P76 was 1973 Wheels COTY! 40 gallon drum boot, what every Australian household needed. Force 7 coupe looking like it was designed on the other side of the iron curtain. To be honest, if they made a P76 wagon, one would have passed through my hands.
They made three P76 wagons! Well, kind of, if hand-built prototypes count! The one Peter Robinson drove and discusses in the attachment below still exists.
I likes. Thanks Scott.
A 44/55 gallon drum will fit in the boot of a 55 Morris Isis so that claim is hardly a revelation
I’d say it was Leyland that closed Leyland Australia, and orphaned the P76. The failing of the rest of BL sucked all investment away from Leyland Aus.
If they’d actually had the capital and the ambition to build themselves into a credible competitor to Ford and Holden back when they were making the P6 3500, I reckon they’d have done rather well.
The P76 was never a pretty thing, but from what I understand it was never a bad car.
Also, though BMC was spearheading r&d on some levels in the 60’s and 70’s, they were also a very conservative company. Neither the Mini, the 1100, the Allegro, or the Princess had a hatchback, though they all could have had one. And all been better for it. The thought was, if you wanted a BMC hatch, there was always the Maxi to cater for all needs, one size fits all. And that car didn’t have so much else going for it, perhaps they thought nobody would buy it at all if there were other hatches up and down the range. Which is a ludicrous thougt, because the Maxi was such an also-ran management thought of canning it even before it was introduced.
Check out the AMC door handles.
If I recall the Austin 1100 was first sold in the US as the MG 1100, then, with the 1300, as the Austin America.
A shirttail relation of mine worked for BL in New Jersey at the time, and he offered me the employee discount. Reading the test report of the America in R&T, where they went from one end of the car to the other with a wrench tightening nearly every nut and bolt in the thing, persuaded me to pass on the offer. BL products, whether the America, Stag or Marina, seemed to be the ones where the writers at R&T and MT really vented, in spite of the BL adverts in the mag.
Marina door handles and porous wheels like BMW used to supply with their cars, No hatchback was a mistake the Princess didnt have one either and the local dealer where I bought gas each week had huge sheets of cardboard under new cars to keep oil leaks out of the showroom carpet not a good look when trying to sell cars, My Dads outfit couldnt get enough Vivas fast enough during this period and Escorts sold like beer at a barbeque at the local Ford agent.
BLs problems can be traced directly back to the Mini its build was awful it gave trouble it was hard to work on engine in and lots of people hated them the 1800 compounded that perception and the Allegro was simply De Ja Poo more of the same crap the intended buyers here were still driving their 1100/1300s and had few intentions of replacing them.
There was a Princess hatchback here the Ambassador for the last year before the Maestro abomination made it into the showrooms.Once again too little to late there were few takers for a warmed over not very good 8 year old design that was due to be dropped soon.Another dud you’re lucky not to have!
By that time I was living in OZ which despite designing the awful O serires engine does not have many BL cars they gave up after the P76 debacle.
Ah…the Austin Morris Corporation. Explains the door handles! lol
British Leyland-a synonym for ‘shoot thyself in the foot’…
Minor nit, ADO 16 wasnt a Cortina competitor it sold against the Ford Anglia but did well beacause it had 4 doors. Fords Cortina competed with Vauxhalls Victor along with the larger A55/A60 for sales, they were the same size/price
The ADO16s came in so many flavours its confusing in itself Ive found a dead Wolseley 1300 3 actually one is live though stands unused. I’ll get some shots of it next trip to that parts hoard.
By the time the ALLegro was released the Vauxhall Viva had grown to Marina proportions and the Chevette was coming in the future to be the small Vauxhall to compete with the Allegro, BL with its usual stupidity had 2 cars competeing for the same customer differentiated by drivetrain RWD/FWD, unfortunately neither was a particularly good car though I see more Marinas still on the road here than Alleggros and more Marinas than Vauxhall Vivas too, so just maybe the quality wasnt as bad as the Clarksons of this world claim.
That said Morris Minors outnumber all of them for BMCs still in service it was a better car than the rest of the smaller car efforts from BMC/BL and the survivors are plentiful, I parked next to this recently to shoot something else and only noticed it walking back to my car the little Citroen so what the hey the car I gained my licence in next my a current ride.
Actually, ADO16 did start out as BMC’s default Cortina competitor, but the Cortina progressively grew and improved (from an aspirational consumer standpoint) through three generations while the 1100/1300 stood stock still, despite a minor reworking of the tail-light design in about 1968.
Every UK manufacturer had a mish-mash of overlapping designs and big range gaps at the start of the 60s – Ford had nothing between the small Anglias and Pops, and the big Consul/Zephyrs, Rootes had a big mess of Audaxes, but nothing smaller; Vauxhall didn’t know whether it was making shrunken “Yank-tanks” (Cresta, Victor), or little runabouts (the original Viva), etc…
BMC probably did the best job of covering all the bases, heritage from both Austin and Morris of producing scaled-up variants of their cold-porridge cars, so the Minor swelled up into the Major which grew to become an Oxford which was tarted-up into a Wolseley… etc.
What Ford did in the 1960s was pure consumer-orientated brilliance, and BMC/BLMC (in which accountants fought engineers overseen by poor management and underpinned by a disgruntled workforce) never stood a chance. Ford was product/range and marketing led – Vauxhall aspired to this, but until it let go of its pride and copied Ford’s range in the 1970s, it was an also-ran.
It sounds so simple in retrospect. Ford created a four car range: small (Escort), medium (Cortina), large (Consul/ZZ, then Granada), sporty (Capri). Through offering multiple finishes (Deluxe, E, L/XL/GXL, Ghia), it created a model for every pocket, with brightwork to clearly label each vehicle in the status-conscious car park. Model five, the Fiesta, was added at the base after VW and others had proved the market.
Ford tried and dumped other “foot in two camps” models – eg the Classic (aarrgghh), the Corsair – but whittled their offer down to one that the market understood with absolute clarity, so that very quickly competitors’ cars were described as “Escort class” or “Cortina class”.
Vauxhall, as noted above, put their hands up and matched Ford model for model as the 70s rolled into the 80s, with Nova=Fiesta, Astra=Escort, Cavalier=Cortina/Sierra, Carlton=Granada and Calibra=Capri.
Rootes/Chrysler died, as an underfunded Franco-British-American underfunded melange was always going to.
BLMC/Austin Rover never got it right until the day they died. Marina, Allegro, Maestro, Montego, 200/400, all of them tried to compete with Ford obliquely by offering a car that was a bit smaller or a bit less versatile. There were some fine cars (build quality notwithstanding) – the Princess, Dolomite, SD1, R8, 75. But they were stuck with being an oblique alternative to the default Ford; stuck with a 30 year reputation as a failing company, stuck with build issues, and stuck with laughing-stock vehicles like the Allegro and Marina, which cast a long shadow (see Top Gear passim).
Really good summary of the market of the time Philip.
Ford also applied a level of ruthless design cost engineering that neither BMC nor BLMC ever really approached (even after hiring Ford veterans to show them how). Ford’s strategy was to optimize everything for minimal production costs in basic form and then add back cost on the pricier trim levels so that punters got precisely what they paid for.
BMC/BLMC sunk money into the oily bits, which were often also fiddly and expensive to manufacture to boot, so remaining competitively priced with Ford meant poor margins. BLMC management kept hoping they could come up with some winning design that would sell in big enough volumes to make up for the gap, but the only thing selling in those kinds of numbers was the Mini, on which BLMC was making little if any profit.
Later, they tied up with Honda in hopes of cutting their development costs (the Acclaim and the 200/400 were all based on the Honda Ballade/Civic/Concerto/Domani platform), but that didn’t really work out either, for the reasons you describe.
Hi Philip,
I think you’re correct there – the ADO16 and Cortina came out together and competed pretty directly. Ford, being Ford and therefore a bit more clued up, carefully moved the Cortina upmarket with the Mk2 in 1966 and (even more so) with the Mk 3 in 1970, absorbing the lower volume Corsair range. BL didn’t – the ADO16 got next to no development in 10 years but the Cortina was replaced twice.
BL tried to take on the Cortina in 1971 with the Marina but missed – it was a aimed at the MK 2 Cortina and was beaten to market by the larger Mk3 by a year and was used some very old engineering in an effort to get to market quickly and cheaply (leaf springs, Morris Minor front suspension….). It ended being trapped between the Cortina and the Escort. But that’s another CC for another day…..
I never disliked the front end styling on these, there is a little Bill Mitchell early Riviera/ early 60’s Buick Skylark-esque front end.
there is a little Bill Mitchell early Riviera/ early 60′s Buick Skylark-esque front end.
Then Mitchell was copying the 55 Nash
Why do people think Edsels are ugly when this eyesore was also made? Don’t see many Nash cars at UK shows or in magazines apart from the Anglo American Metropolitan.
It was that original puckered grill on the Edsel, Gem. It made it timelessly ugly. You don’t often see cars with such a poorly integrated design element. No question though, the Nash was no looker either.
I’m a long time Edsel fan and think it’s a better looker than the 58 Lincoln.I’m also one of the few who likes the 70 Dodge Coronet/Superbee and the Mk4 Ford Zodiac
Timelessly ugly and unintegrated it may, but I still want one!
The ’58 Lincoln was indeed a brutish, heavy-handed design. Even by late 50s flamboyance standards.
I would not say no to a reasonably-priced 1958 Edsel.
A 1955 Nash, however…
And as for the subject car….
Edsel fan here too. And I don’t just appreciate it “ironically”, either, but have genuine affection for it. A much more handsome piece of metallic sculpture than that embarrassing, ungainly Nash, which looks like it was drawn by Pixar.
…And as long as we’re making comparisons, I’ll add that from the rear that day-old-butterscotch-colored Allegro in photo #3 looks a little like an Avanti. A little. Although to see the similarity it helps if you’re wearing your drunk-goggles.
Believe it or not, the early ’50s big Nashes were credited, if you can call it that, to Pinin Farina, whom they’d hired as a consultant. In fact, most of the design was done in house, as they deemed most of Farina’s suggestions impractical, but the cars have Pinin Farina badges and Nash advertising publicized the Farina connection quite heavily. (Pinin Farina designed and also built the bodies for the later Nash-Healey, which except perhaps for the grille is a much more attractive car.)
As a Pinin Farina fan — and the former owner of two Fiat Spyders — I am dismayed to learn that.
…the cars have Pinin Farina badges and Nash advertising publicized the Farina connection quite heavily.
Given a free hand, Farina drew up the Nash XP-55. Still had the chipmunk front end, but from the rear, looked more like a 56 Chrysler.
We know what happens when an automaker gives a free hand to a stylist though. Recall the Bob Bourke 53 Studebaker Starliner, which Lowey tried to take credit for. Looked great. No trunk room. No headroom. Engine hard to reach for service. I have read some of the original 53 test reports: absolutely blistering, especially combined with a too heavy engine, too slow steering and too weak chassis. One tester said it “cornered like a mechanic’s creeper” because it drifted so far sideways.
But is sure looked great!
Nice PASX Friary estate in the background of the lead picture the backgrounds have much more interesting cars.
Now that’s a car you don’t see at shows or in magazines very often
See at all very often
And a Scimitar too! Now that would make an interesting CC…
Overdue, I think…
If it’s good enough for Princess Anne it’s good enough for CC.
There’s a black ’76ish Scimitar here in town – for the first 3/4 of this year I used to follow it to work (in the city 25km away) in the mornings. Belongs to a librarian, is a bit tired (the car, not the lady!), but I always appreciated seeing it in daily use. I’ll grab pics next time I see it.
I don’t think the lack of a hatchback was a big issue. The Allegro was poorly built, looked like a pudding, came in a range of vomit-inducing colours, and had no obvious redeeming features, except that the suspension couldn’t leak hydrolastic fluid. ( there was no sadder sight than a hydrolastic car with a leak )
I still wonder if the door panels and/or glass were shared with the slightly less awful Marina.
Realistically , quite apart from poor management and union unrest, the British motor industry was cursed from 1945 onwards by political interference. (eg, the Hillman Imp was not built in Coventry , where Rootes wanted to build it, but in Scotland, where the government wanted them to build it.)
Okay- I have owned three of these within the last 10 years. Two series 3 1300s both in Russet (Mr Hanky) Brown, and one series 2 1500 estate in Sandglow (baby poo yellow). All of them were good cars, and very rust resistant. Rust in an Allegro is mainly due to poor assembly (and poor steel on Belgian examples) rather than any design flaws. I cannot think of another ’70s car that resists rust so well. The smaller engine variants were very reliable and capable of high miles. The 1500 was a bit more of a pig to work on and were a bit more hit or miss with both occasional gearbox and engine maladies. Similarly, most of the flaws were related to the first two years of production, the greatest of which was the miscalculation of the rear bulkhead/ seatback placement that made the rear seat nearly unusable- inexcusable for a car whose sole reason for existence is its space efficiency. Later models with this rectified were very roomy indeed, and handling was quite tidy too in 1300 models.
For a front wheel drive car, these were very easy to work on, with excellent access and only a few jobs requiring special tools.
I would say these were not the British Vega- the engineering was actually quite sound (E-series gearboxes aside). The better analogy would be to think of it as the British X/A body. Early models were indeed dreadful, but over time, BL got it right with a combination of fixing design flaws of early models and generally improving build quality into the later 70s and early 80s. Anybody who has had to delve into a ‘smogged’ ’70s carburettor will appreciate the simplicity and reliability of the good old Allegro’s SU.
Further, it is important to consider that build quality was terrible everywhere in Europe in the 70s. Ford and Vauxhall were very hit or miss, and mk2 Escorts were often rusted out in 5 years, as were Vivas. Rootes/Chrysler was even worse. Most Allegro faults were due to ancillary equipment (think Lucas) or poor build.
By the late 70s, everyone knew that the Allegro’s main competition were rot-boxes both domestic as above and foreign (Citroen GS, Renault 12, Fiat anything, Alfasud as well as the very crude early Japanese cars of that era). Allegros conversely improved with every passing year, becoming a very well sorted car by the series 3’s. An ’80s Allegro is very similar to a ’90s Ciera or Century, with a very similar buying demographic- it is not surprising that most Allegros were painted colours to match the hearing aids of their owners.
As a classic, these are great cars. The ones left are all the good’uns, and they have real character- from their flumpy face, to the lovely A-series gear whine, you know you’re in an Allegro.
I’m afraid I’ll have to believe you, my father owned 2 Princess 2200 HLs’s which were pigs so to speak.
He then bought (well, he got it almost for free) a far less nicely equipped 2.0 litre with the all new alloy ‘O’ series 4 cylinder engine, this car did two hundred thousand Kilometers on LPG , all the 2200 Gremlins were gone, no leaking power steering unit, no overheating engine, no brake problems, no hydragas leaks really and the “O’ series was a much better performer.
And because LPG burns much cleaner he hardly ever needed to change oil, the service intervalls were highly ignored by him.
I’m afraid I’ll have to believe you, my father owned 2 Princess 2200 HLs’
By any chance, did any of his Princesses have an automatic? I have often wondered how happy that Borg Warner Type 35 was being stuck in sideways and bolted into the engine sump.
The automatic was not connected to the engine sump ( if that is what you mean), his first 2200 HLS was indeed an automatic and the automatic was one of the few things that never went wrong on that car.
The automatic was not connected to the engine sump ( if that is what you mean),
As I understand it, the Princess followed the usual front drive Austin practice of mounting the transmission directly under the engine, where the oil sump (oil pan in Americanese) would normally be, driven by chain. In the case of the manual box, the gears were running in the engine oil. In the case of the automatic, the gears had their own oil supply, but the trans was again bolted to the underside of the engine, so that is what I mean.
The SAAB 99 had a simular set up, mounted longitudinally, though diverged by not having the manual share the engine oil.
Hi Brian,
your loyalty tot he Allegro is interesting – there were many Allegro loyalists on the UK in 70s and early 80s who repeatedly purchased them. Similarly, the Maxi, Marina and Princess had loyal followings too, of varying size.
Some of this was almost certainly loyalty to the dealer as much as to BL (not everyone is as keen cars as you and I, strangely), and I often wonder if we underestimate the importance of dealer loyalty to many people, who are basically buying a household appliance, possibly in that special shade that can only be described as dried up German mustard and don’t consider many, or any, alternatives.
You are probably right about the dealers. I think alot of getting a ‘good’ Allegro has to do with the dealer prep as much as anything. This is also why Comecon cars that have a typically bad reputation have a good following amongst their owners here in the UK. There were many good Lada, Skoda and Yugo dealers here that got repeat buyers- mostly because they were in small towns and had an old fashioned business model based on service. Lada in particular had a very tight dealer network and spares were so cheap that dealers often replaced bits long after warranty as a goodwill gesture.
The same was also true in the malaise era in the states. My parents got their Dodge Aries from a ‘cowboy hat and glitter’ suburban dealer and the car was a pig, while my uncle’s Reliant-K from a small country dealer was a really good car. That was because the small dealer apparently re-engineered the feedback carb (probably illegally) before selling them, in addition to an actual Pre-delivery inspection to tighten the loose bolts and install missing bits. Like BL and Comecon cars, most ’70s and ’80s Mopars were only approximately assembled and painted when they came off the truck, with final assembly the responsibility of the dealer. Before moving to the UK, I owned five Mopars and all were excellent. My parents never owned another Chrysler, while my Uncle is on his 8th or so from the same dealer. I bet many of the bad vs good BL stories are similar.
A friend’s dad who bought many new Mopars always insisted on buying a car off the lot, and never ordered one. That way, you could see what you were getting. Agreed, many 1970s Mopars were more like kits than complete cars.
Brian – my poor (late) Uncle in 1978, traded his very nice ’74 Ford Country Squire in on a ’78 Plymouth Fury Suburban. All the bells and whistles – but – even after ‘dealer inspection’ – felt like the car wasn’t quite fully assembled. He was right! Three days after taking delivery, he went back to said dealer with a litany of complaints – including the rear tailgate that was visibly rattling 5 miles to the dealership driveway (Quincy, Illinois).
He was so pissed, he wanted to trade back to get his Country Squire, but was told “it had been bought the same afternoon he traded it in.” He did solider on with the Plymouth to about 1985 trading it for a B bodied Olds 88 Brougham (which was a very good car). I had the chance to drive both. The Plymouth was awful; took a lot of correcting on the open highway and even after all the discrepancies had been fixed, still had that ’70’s Mopar ‘tin can’ sound when you shut the doors and all the side windows rattled over every bump.
If you had a local BMC dealer in NZ you were ok but most country garages just refused to touch BMC FWDs they got nicknamed Churchhills revenge our nearest dealer was 15 miles not too far on a towtruck but not really handy if that was your only car.
It’d make it more interesting if the BMC dealer had a BMC tow vehicle! The BMC/BL/NZMC dealer Dad worked at used a Morrie Minor van and a SII Landie 90 as their tow vehicles… Oh, and an XB Falcon ute.
The little old lady driven once a week to the shops are the only Allegros to survive here, its common to see them offered on TradeMe in pairs or 3s one runner and two for parts as that enthusiast changes brands entirely. Vivas here didnt rust that fast nor did Escorts and they lasted much longer on the road MK2 Escorts are quite common here still in driving condition boy racers were a bigger hazard to those than anything Ford did to them, Rootes cars lasted quite well too.
I always feel sorry for Harris Mann. His initial designs were interesting, and so much better than the finished article – although I see a bright yellow wagon around town occasionally and it looks quite funky in a 70s way.
It would have been so much more apt if, instead of his ADO16, Basil Fawlty had been giving a “damn good thrashing” to an Allegro with the tree branch…! (“START! Start, you vicious bastard! Come on! Oh my God! I’m warning you – if you don’t start! I’ll count to three! One… two… three – right! That’s it! I’ve had enough! You’ve tried it on just once too often! Right! Well, don’t say I hadn’t warned you! I’ve laid it on the line for you time and time again! Right! Well, this is it! I’m gonna give you a DAMN GOOD THRASHING!”)
There is a series of model cars out of TV series cars including a Morris 1100 wagon with a Basil beating it with a branch.
The car Basil thrashes is an old banger. I don’t think the BBC budget would have stretched to a nearly-new Allegro for comedic effect. Also, I don’t think the hotel would have generated enough income for a newish car! Basil later upgraded (ahem) to a Maxi.
Which reminds me. BL always seemed to supply the “losers” cars, particularly in BBC comedies. Fawlty Towers, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Terry & June, Keeping Up Appearances, Alan Partridge, all regularly featured losers driving BL/Rover cars. Whereas Fords were for the Sweeney!
Well, the experience of British TV producers with BL cars in that period is notorious in its own regard, so perhaps it was revenge.
Even Onslow got a Ford Cortina!
Upgrade, Maxi, LOL
+1
+2, lol!
I was newly married to an ‘English Bird’, and visiting her family for, maybe, the first time. We rented an Alegro and tootled around the North. I managed to scrape a door parking next to a stone hedgerow. The deductable was 90 GBP. Otherwise, the car was dismally awful. I remembered seeing all sorts of loose wires hanging under the dashboard, realizing for the first time how bad the English economy really was. We were living in Chicago at the time, and I was driving a 1968 Fury III. The Alegro did not impress, but to be fair, it taught me how to shift with my left hand. A Maxi and an Escort were both better, and they were available as other rentals in other times. Heck, a cousin in law’s1600 Capri was better.. The ‘English Bird ‘ and I are still together. The Plymouth a fond memory. The Alegro, not so much.
Another nice article on a meh car. Thanks Roger. Interesting to see how the sketched design was ‘translated’ to real metal, the sketch actually looks good. A bit like the (apocryphal?) Camargue story. That estate looks like they grafted the rear of the AlfaSud Giardinietta onto the Austin.
We were spared the wagon and the GT the regular one enough trouble attracting buyer without assembling oddballs Though having said that Hillman Avenger Estates and Ford Escort estates are rare in UK and easy to find here there is a MK2 estate parked at the same farm as the purple automatic above and several Avenger estates are about.
We did actually get the wagon, but in tiny numbers.
Never seen one mind they are rare in any form now.
There’s a shiny bright yellow one trundling around Hamilton; brown, blue and white ones have popped up on TM. The yellow on actually looks weirdly cool…!
I have to confess that I’ve always thought these looked pretty cool. The last regular sedan BL sold in the US was the Austin Marina (yes, Austin) and FWIW I think they would have done much better with these.
My ex BIL had a Marina which rusted terminally in 5 years.I imagine it’s life would be less in the rust belt
The last regular sedan BL sold in the US was the Austin Marina (yes, Austin) and FWIW I think they would have done much better with these
The Marina was absolutely savaged by Road& Track. Besides the “agricultural” engine and lever shocks, I recall the author commenting about how the weight of the radio caused the dash panel to visibly flex when the car went over bumps. He even admitted that he stopped at a bar in the hopes that a couple stiff drinks would make the car seem better…it didn’t.
And that test was in the same issue as a BL ad touting the Marina with “a single carburetor version of the engine in the MG-B and the same type of stearing as the Jaguar E-Type”
Despite Bryce’s warnings of how awful it was I have an unhealthy interest in the Australian 6 cylinder Marina built to take on the Aussie big 3 It was a lemon of the brightest yellow.
Actually Gem, it was more like hearing aid yellow.
I received a new Marina in January ’75 as a company car. The electrics never gave trouble, neither did the gearbox or steering rack, or the glass. The cooling system never leaked in the 2.1/2 years I waited to get rid of it. The company that built it deserved to go down the tubes.
Uncle Mellow, you have my deepest sympathy and respect…
Huh? A Marina? Those things were shitboxes! I can count on one hand how many I saw in the flesh on the street in the hands of actual owners. The rest were sitting on the lot of E.F. Sweeney British Cars in San Rafael . . . wouldn’t be surprised if they were sent back to the distributor unsold to be wholesaled off.
…where salesmen Regan and Carter would sell you a Granada with low miles, never driven hard.
A Marina? Those things were shitboxes! I can count on one hand how many I saw in the flesh on the street in the hands of actual owners.
I distinctly recall seeing two: a blue one in a front yard in Kentwood Mi with a for sale sign on it around 85, and one in a combination of orange and rust that I nearly t-boned with my Renault in 80. He tried to pull into my lane blindly. Fortunately, unlike US cars of the era, the Renault’s binders kept it dead straight as the skinny Michelins screamed in protest.
In comparison, I saw three Austin Americas and one in MG 1100 garb.
My BIL had one. My sister learned to drive manual on that car – after that experience, refuses to ever touch a manual again. The shift lever came out of the floor at one point, while in motion. For awhile she road in the back seat, because the front passenger seat snapped off its mountings (little sister was a petite 5’3″ at the time). Our father refused to let Don take her back to Erie (where she was at school) after checking the car over.
He bought it new, not as a shot beater. Although the difference between the two was entirely debatable.
I keep threatening to find him another one.
Had the same thing happen in a MK1 Ford Escort a car people rave about as being great, well first to second it shifted ok but the lever pulled out of the box.
When I was growing up, owning a Marina was a sign that you had completely given up on life. They were almost free, and did keep running, but just oozed dreadfullness through every orifice. My physics teacher had one, in the classic mustard yellow (did they make any other colour?), and the car was a total reflection of his character.
A very unpopular Domestic Science teacher had a pea soup green coloured one.I recall seeing the mustard ones the most here as well as dark blue,maroon and white.They were always such drab colours compared to the other cars.
BL aimed this tradgedy at the below Marina market, I thought that was a shoe store
I remember reading test of the Allegro in German, British and Dansh car magazines, at the time.
None of them, NONE of them had much, if any positive to say about the car…
Still, my grandfather, who hated anything German, bought one.
He had been driving a Morris Cowley up til then.
In the first year, the Allegro chrashed two gearboxes, the seats fell apart and he really hated the stearingwheel, and the electrics was a mess.
After that one year, he then got an Opel Kadett instead.
In the Opel he only complained about the comfort of the seats and that the car was low to get in to.
But it never put a wheel in the wrong place for the next ten years…
After that he bought a Golf…
D column on the estate reminds me of another quirky design, profiled by CC here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1992-96-toyota-camry-the-greatest-of-all-time/
I see the interior assembly quality is comparable to most mid-late 70’s American Chrysler products with the uneven gaps and the hodgepodge of wiring hanging down in odd places all up under the dash . . . I gotta admit – if these show cars are original paint – then hats off as the applications appear to be flawless.
Back to BL bashing of the day . . . . EVERY single acquaintance in knew in my youth who had these era’s BL products (friends’ parents and the guys who had the Spitfires, MGB’s, Midgets, TR6’s, TR7’s . . . ) ALL of them had some kind of major malfunctions with these cars (most of them due to Joseph Lucas, the Prince of Darkness turning said vehicles into driveway or shop anchors and/or flame out vehicles). . . .
Pretty sad when an XJ-6 of say, 1976 has a flawless paint job, but uneven panel gaps that make a Friday afternoon Jefferson Avenue Chrysler look like a Benz . . .
By the way . . . the concept car sketch is hot . . . the finished product is ugly as a dog’s ass. Only uglier vehicle from this period is the Datsun F-10.
BL paint jobs varied considerably,Dad’s Allegro had an orange peel effect which was corrected,I’ve seen others which were very thin and chipped easily and some pretty good ones.
Did you Know that British Leyland puppet company, Innocenti licensed the Allegro and called the Regent in Italy, It Failed and Nobody wanted it, plus people wanted it Discontinued so it lasted a bitter 18 Months in production (1974-1975).
Always wondered how North America would have fared with the Austin Allegro and Austin 18-22 “Princess” / Austin Ambassador, especially with an invasion equivalent of the later “Austin Metro: A British car to beat THE WORLD” advert on the shores of the US and Eastern Bloc.
In all seriousness the Allegro should have began as the Austin Allegro 3 from the outset featuring a hatchback, front end four-headlamp version of Opel Kadett C or Reliant Scimitar GTE, sports-focused Hydragas suspension and uprated 106 hp 1750cc Downton engine. The only conceptual weakness being space efficiency via lack of interior space / rear legroom.
Despite the presence of in-house rival the Morris Marina they could have also made the Austin Allegro into a 3-box saloon, which would have at least made the Vanden Plas version halfway decent though the same could be said for a Vanden Plas Marina.
The Rodney Dangerfield of ’70s British cars.
It’s a pretty awful car, no doubt, but I’d still like to take one for a drive sometime. Just to see how far we’ve come, if nothing else.
Assuming you got a good one they were actually ok to drive. Nice soft ride, surprisingly torquey 1300, decent road holding and good economy.
I only sold my Allegro 3 estate because parts were getting too hard to find- replacement suspension units (hydragas) are pretty much extinct.
That caramel beige seems a design job made from a partner of Opel and Renault.
I always love Roger’s well-researched and written pieces, and this one was one of my favorites. Reading about how the Allegro’s story played out is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I like it for its funkiness. At least it had is rust-resistance to its credit.
Another car I actually owned, inherited from my grandfather, consistently in the worst top ten cars ever, absolute nonsense
I do wonder if I have a charmed life because I never experienced any of the issues so publicised on this site that seem to affect British cars , or do I simply know how to do basic maintenance?
I am not saying it was a great car, but in comparison to the Fords and Vauxhalls if rode well, was more economical and just as reliable, definitely had less rust than either makes
Ford Cortinas of the time had crashy live rear axles and the rear axle void bushes needed replacing every year to pass the MOT, had 2 Cortinas, never liked Vauxhalls
A friend bought an Allegro Vanden Plas 1500 for his girlfriend from a auction for £185, daft and pretentious as it was, it felt like a mini Bentley from the inside, we were amazed by the way it held 85mph smoothly and quietly and the seats were dam comfortable
It was rear ended and a write off, I bought it and in a day, pulled the engine and transmission, and converted my Allegro from a 1300 4 speed to a 1500 5 speed.
Popular culture has made the car out to be worse that it actually was, it was simply OK, you cannot call the Ford Cortina or Vauxhall Viva great cars, they were just OK as well
PS Am I correct in thinking that this is a picture of a late 50s early 60s Imperial or Chrysler with a square steering wheel that predates the Allegro ?
I believe that’s a 1961 or 62 (I don’t know how to tell the difference.) American buyers didn’t like that kind of steering wheel any better than British buyers did.
I would imagine it would be a nightmare for anyone with OCD and incorrect tracking
Ah the square steering wheel
Of course Jeremy Clarkson had a bunch to say on these cars
Should anyone enter this section in the future, here’s a more balanced opinion of the Allegro:
F1 cars have rectangular steering wheels nowadays – Allegro influence?
I lived in the UK from 1989 to 2001 so was very familiar with both the Allegro and the Marina (as well as other “usual suspects” made by BL) and agree with all of those who attested to these cars being not quite as bad as loudmouth Clarkson (and others) made them out to be. Yes, they did break down, but anyone with average mechanical skills could repair them and spares in the UK were easily available and inexpensive. They were the perfect cars for anyone needing cheap transport and not afraid to get his or her hands dirty. Uncool but they got you to your destination if you did the maintenance.
The square steering wheel thing has sure caught on since the Allegro’s day, now found on everything from Corvettes to CyberTrucks. (were early ’60s Mopars the ur-square wheeled car?) It’s been showing up on Toyotas even, My VW is squared off on on the bottom, which actually works better than I expected. It eases ingress/egress from the driver’s seat without making end-over-end carpark maneuvers complicated.
Thank you. I think, the Allegro deserves this little bit more of objectivity. A humble car for humble people. In the best sense – both.
Not anybody can – or will – afford a car that brakes your wallet.
(Refering to yohai71 and the Hub Nut video)