(Updated 2/22/2026) In terms of well-known concept cars from the Big Three, the 1967 Ford Allegro II doesn’t loom that large; however, it might have been more influential than it’s generally given credit for. And I happened upon it by reading a book by an author who wrote about cars for young people.
My mother is a retired first-grade teacher who still takes pride in how many people she has taught to read. She’s equally proud that she had to teach me very little, as my precocious appetite for letters and words led to one of my lifetime hobbies, reading. When combined with my natural love of cars, it is therefore predictable that holidays involving presents quickly lead to unwrapped car books in my pile. One Christmas, one of those books was an out of print title meant for young readers, and the 1967 Ford Allegro II pictured above was on page 54. The book, which is pictured above, was written by an author I’m familiar with: Henry B. Lent was a retired advertising man who went on to write, according to his New York Times obituary, over 60 books for young readers, and one of those books sat on the shelf of my elementary school.
That book was titled What Car Is That?, and it was filled with drawings and short histories of dozens of cars, ranging from the dawn of internal combustion to the then-newest offerings from Detroit. The fact that it was published in the late-1960s made it all the more interesting to me, an elementary student of the late 1980s.
Since my mom was a teacher at my elementary school, I was able to snag the same book I read as a kid when my old school cleaned out its library. The school was later converted to an old folks home – They say you can’t go back, but maybe I will someday. Nevertheless, it’s obvious what I spent most of my 5th grade year reading in class. (By comparison, the books on sports that my classmates were reading bored me out of my mind.)
At any rate, Mr. Lent was a writer with a passion for cars, but he unfortunately passed away in 1973 at 72 years of age. The cause? He drowned while on a fishing trip. I discovered that while researching his life for this article, and it cast a pall over my evening. Life is a series of small events that add up to a whole person, and while Mr. Lent didn’t directly create or maintain my love of cars, his influence over my youth was such that I’ve come to think of him as a sage old friend.
That is why I was so pleased when my mom reintroduced me to him, with this book called The X Cars – Detroit’s One-of-a-Kind Autos.
Not those X Cars.
In The X Cars, Mr. Lent wrote about the many factory experimental cars from the Big Three, mostly dating from the 1950s to the early 1970s (Chrysler got short shrift; Mr. Lent was apparently not a Mopar man). The Allegro II pictured above, as good experimental cars do, made me think of future Detroit production models.
This is one.
And this is the other. Did an obscure Ford show car from 1967 really influence two well-known and attractive offerings from crosstown rival Chevrolet, or is this one of those happy accidents in a world where everyone was copying the Italians to some extent?
Either way, Ford was actually copying itself; the Allegro II itself was the same car as the Allegro I pictured above, which was a Ford show car from 1963. Regardless of its effect on later Chevrolets, one must admit that Ford’s design department did an effective job of updating the Allegro for a more modern design ethos.
By chopping off the jet-age greenhouse and adding some racing stripes and a racy tire and wheel package, nobody would have to know that this was the same kind of car that may have been a star at the New York World’s Fair just a few years earlier. Times and tastes changed quickly in the mid-1960s.
I hope this isn’t too much of a rabbit hole I’ve fallen into. Because of Mr. Lent’s book, I’ve been reminded of how many of my interests are directly or indirectly owed to my mother, how much I enjoyed the late Mr. Lent’s tastes in subject matter, and how much I love automotive design minutiae. Now it might be time to figure out what ever happened to that Allegro.
As a postscript, it seems that there were two original Allegro I models, the yellow one that became the Allegro II, and a red fiberglass one that made the rounds at the car shows. Hemmings discussed the Allegro II back in 2011, coming to the same conclusions I did when I looked at its picture in my book.
They chopped off the best part of the Allegro I, and replaced it with something hideous.
…my thoughts exactly.
There does not seem to be a decent rear view image available on the interwebz, but the original tail lights were also worlds better:
There still don’t seem to be any contemporary or newer pics of it out there. I did find an old Ford film about their styling process, and it jad a shot of it on a turntable. I was able to get a screenshot of the back, but sadly it’s pretty low res.
I still couldn’t find a single still image clearly showing the back end, but I found an old movie short about Ford’s styling development, and it had a turntable shot that showed it. Grabbed a screenshot, but sadly pretty low res.
I wonder what happened to it. If it was in a museum somewhere there would have to be more recent pics, so I suspect it eventually went to the crusher.
The last sign of it that I found was from a 1966 movie called The Way… Way Out
Aaron, this post made me smile from ear-to-ear. Like you, I devoured every car book I either purchased or was gifted with, and I also spent untold hours at the library, Xeroxing old car ads and road test articles from magazines on the second floor of the Flint Public Library. Thank you for this Monday morning post!
We should make a commercial, Joe. Mid-Michigan public libraries are for car guys, too! What can they do for you? 🙂
I’m in.
I also had (& still have) a love of car books/magazines at a young age. At 13 years old, i purchased my 1st car magazine which I still have. It was the November 1965 issue of Motor Trend magazine. It is a buyers guide for all the 1966 models. It looks like the one pictured below except the cover turned to dust long ago. I also have buyers guides for every year through 2020.
Second that, though not in Flint.
I had “What Car is That?” as well, the pencil drawings were outstanding and inspired me to draw more.
The Allegro II looks good until you put a person in it..
I remember the car spotting books of Tad Burgess that were done by Scholastic Books. I also remember waiting for them every month at school.
I’ve collected several huge volumes of car, truck, and bus spotters guide that he put together. If I ever have a question about an annual model change, they’re usually my first stop…good stuff!
I had a couple of the Tad Burgess books when I was a kid as well.
Tad Burness, not Burgess. I contributed to one of his “Auto Albums” with details of the 1930’s Australian Southern Cross, which never made it into proper production.
Seeing the cover of “What Car Is That?” immediately brought back memories that I didn’t know I had. This was also my go-to book in my elementary school library. I don’t recall checking it out (not even sure if our library checked out books), but I definitely remember reading it at the library. I would, of course, go straight to that little shelf that held the handful of car books. Of course, I never knew about Mr. Lent and his background, and your post here persuaded me to look up some information about him and his other books. Very interesting stuff… thank you for rekindling this memory!
And regarding the Allegro II, I’m not positive about this, but I think it was first shown to the public at the Oklahoma State Fair, which is a might odd venue for a concept car introduction… if that in fact is true, there must be an interesting story about how that came to be.
The Allegro I and II clearly were influences for the Vega and the Gen-II Camaro—which may explain why Ford went with a similar headlight and grille treatment for the 1974-78 Mustang II—but made it clunkier. Their rounded, sleeker design was already in use across the street.
A modernized Allegro I would have made a much more convincing Mustang II.
I also saw some Mustang II in the face of the Allegro II.
The influence of its front end on the Vega is quite remarkable. And Camaro. And of course the MII. It’s har to go wrong with the classic Ferrari face. 🙂
Well, I would have killed to get that book into my school’s library. It would have been a fairly current book during my elementary school years, and I am sure I would have monopolized it to the maximum extent possible. Sigh.
I had to make do with bound copies of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics from roughly 1963-68. Not a bad consolation prize, though.
I remember reading Henry B Lent and C.B. Colby books up until middle school. I definitely agree with the Allegro II inspiring the 2nd gen Camaro and Vega front ends, Perhaps a Ford stylist changed jobs. That was certainly the case with the Ford Five Hundred, whick looked like an Audi 100 because J Mays did both cars.
The Allegro I has a very Thunderbird feel to it (disregarding the bubble style roof). The front looks like a ’64 T-bird with the quad headlights swapped for those from a ’57. Interestingly it also has some resemblance to the 70s Matador coupe.
Very true. The taillights are TBird of the era, big round ones, while the Allegro II used a totally different version. Like any design, minor changes can and will make huge differences in how the overall effect works.
I have always seen the Allegro I as a very sexy Valiant coupe. The tail winglets, the grill shape and the oddly set back headlights seem like cribs from the original Valiant.
I never liked the Allegro II.
I owned this book at one time (bought it from our local library branch) wish I knew what happened to it. My all time favourite, the Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow is on the cover.
I saw one of the Silver Arrows at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend last March. Great car!
“have always seen the Allegro I as a very sexy Valiant coupe”
They built that and called it the Valiant Barracuda.
I found this very charming–right up my alley and timeline, though decades older than Aaron65.
For posterity’s sake, I just did a Q&D Henry B. Lent Bibliography—roughly chronological, with co-authors and publishers not included:
*****************************************************************
The Waldorf-Astoria: A Brief Chronicle of a Unique Institution, 1934 (privately printed for the hotel)
Full Steam Ahead! Six Days on an Ocean Liner 1933
The Storekeeper 1937
The Farmer 1937
The Captain 1937
The Air Pilot 1937
The Bus Driver 1937
Clear Track Ahead! 1939
The Fire Fighter 1939
Sixty Acres More or Less: The Diary of a Week-End Vermonter 1941
PT Boat: Bob Reed Wins His Command at Melville 1943
Seabee: Bill Scott Builds and Fights for the Navy 1944
Ahoy, Shipmate! Steve Ellis Joins the Merchant Marine 1945
“This is Your Announcer”: Ted Lane Breaks into Radio 1945
Eight Hours to Solo 1947
Aviation Readers ©1944, pub. 1953
I Work on a Newspaper ©1948, pub. 1952
O.K. for Drive-Away: How Automobiles are Built 1951
Here Come the Trucks 1954
Flight Overseas 1957
Jet Pilot 1958
The Helicopter Book ©1956, pub. 1960
Men at Work in the Mid-Atlantic States 1961
Submariner: The Story of Basic Training at The Navy’s Famed Submarine School 1962
Man Alive in Outer Space: Our Space Surgeon’s Greatest Challenge ©1961, pub. 1963
Your Place in America’s Space Program 1964
The Peace Corps, Ambassadors of Goodwill 1966
The Look of Cars: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow 1966
Men at Work in New England 1967
Men at Work on the West Coast 1968
The Automobile—U.S.A.: Its Impact on People’s Live and the National Economy 1968
What Car is That? 1969
Men at Work in the Middle Atlantic States 1970
Car of the Year, 1895-1970: A 75-Year Parade of American Automobiles @1970, pub. 1974
The X Cars: Detroit’s One-of-a-Kind Autos 1971
Men at Work in the Great Lakes States 1971
*********************************
Working in NY and in publishing, HBL would have had certain advantage in gaining access to factory and “stock” photos, but finding such things and getting clearance was a whole different thing pre-Google.
Here’s young-father HBL in 1931, with the book writing for children just over the horizon:
Someone from British Leyland saw it and remembered the name but not the styling unfortunately, their offering under the moniker Allegro wasnt exactly brilliant either mechnically or stylistically.
Great article Aaron! You and I sound like we would have got along well in our youth. I too loved (and still do) car books, and probably read every car book at my school libraries and at our Public Library. I don’t recall reading any of Henry Lent’s books, so this was interesting to see. I was also neat to see the old sign out cards, where you could sign out the book with just a first name and an initial. My grade school was small enough to do that too. Today I have a pretty large personal library and still regularly get car books every Christmas.
The Allegro is not a concept car I recall looking into much before. I find it interesting how much the minor changes to the Allegro II modernized the look, in particular the front end. The earlier car certainly doesn’t seem to be as Camaro like with the grille/bumper design. I definitely see similarities in the Allegro II and the Chevrolet designs, but I tend to be of the school of thought that both the Allegro and the Camaro were influenced by Ferrari and ended up with similar results. Then the Vega was designed to be similar to the Camaro to keep that familial design.
Yep, my school had one class per grade level, so it would have been hard to pull any funny business. 🙂
Vince: Which would have made sense, except the Allegro was shown first in 1963—well before GM began the design work on the Vega and the Gen II Camaro. This wasn’t a case of ending up in the same place as Ford.
Mike, just because the Allegro was designed before the Chevrolets doesn’t mean it directly influenced the Chevrolet stylists. Both sets of stylists could have looked at Ferrari for inspiration and come up with similar results. That said, I am not coming to any concrete conclusions based on my observations alone.
My mum was a teacher too. When her school was decommissioned and turned into a hoity-toity auction house, I missed the library sale.
I prefer the first Allegro I to the II, but this is a nice opportunity for a comparo. Losing the greenhouse was only a part of the effect for upgrading the II – the wheel arch flares were ‘thickened’ out, and those five slotter wheels add quite a bit to the II’s ‘chunkier’ look as well.
My Mum was a teacher too, though the school is still going strong, 2 large fires later….
Thanks for the feature Aaron.
I too used to take out car and truck books from my school library or the Bookmobile when it rolled up every couple of weeks. While classmates were reading the Hardy Boys, my nose was in a hardbound copy of whatever I picked up at the school library or better yet from the selection at public library at the “shopping centre” a couple miles south of my home.
There was a copy of The Car of the Year in the McKeesport Carnegie Library when I was a kid in the early 70s. I was a frequent reader. For some reason, I was thinking about that book last summer and found a copy on abebooks. And I agree Mr. Lent was not a Mopar fan for some reason.
“The school was later converted to an old folks home…”
I’d would appreciate a link or address. My partners and I have been talking about buildings to convert into independent living facilities. Old motels seem the norm, creating one apartment out of two motel rooms, but old, unused elementary schools are more available. I’d like to see what they did.
I don’t know why, but the Allegro in it’s coupe form reminds me of a mid-late 1960s Sunbeam? It’ll bug me at 3 AM!
Were you thinking about the Alpine GT, Chris?
might be a Harrington
PLEASE CONTACT ME
We can share information regarding Henry B. Lent. My wife and I own his ’56 T BIRD
pictured above. He died at Lacotta Trout Club in Barnard Vermont while fly fishing in
a John Boat. He had a heart attack.He was friends of Chuck Yeager who just turned
97 February 13th.His son David Lent lives in Hanover, N.H. His grandson Jeffrey Lent
is an accomplished novelist.
Wayne McCutcheon [email protected]
When I saw the first photo I thought it was based on a Vega. There is such a resemblance.
I have always been a fan and user of libraries but I don’t remember my elementary school schools having libraries, but certainly my high school. Toronto had a very good library system, including bookmobiles, but they did not carry Hardy Boy books. Fortunately we spent a month each summer at our cottage north of the city and the local library in town did carry them so I spent a month reading Hardy Boys. My early automobile reading was the occasional English magazine (mostly Motor or Autocar) that I bought when I got to go downtown to the”foreign” magazine store.
The other reference was the British “Observer’s Book of Automobiles”. Lots of obscure European makes and detailed statistics. I still have mt collection.
Rear view of the Allegro II is much like the rear view of the Lotus Europa, in terms of rear visibility from the interior.
O.K. for Drive-Away: How Automobiles are Built 1951
My Father-In-Law gave me this book. His from childhood, he knows I’m a “car guy”. I didn’t pay attention to the author until now.
I imagine most here are serious readers, that doesn’t seem to be the case with most Auto Enthusiasts .
In grade school I chanced upon a little book “The Red Car” about a teenaged gas jockey who rebuilds a wrecked MG TF with the help of his French boss .
I have never understood why they frowned upon reading at every school I ever attended .
I had to pinch that book, take it home and read it then sneak it back on the shelf in the classroom .
I remember when Tad Burness car spotter was in the news papers, fun little articles .
-Nate
The Red Car had to be one of the most formative books ever for car guys of a certain age. I could remember the story but not the title for years, and then (more years ago than I want to think about) Peter Egan did a column on it, and since then the name has stuck.
When you look at what used copies go for on Amazon, it’s kind of amazing that nobody has ever put it back in print.