Austin Allegro: The Car's the Star Part One

Quentin Willson takes a look at the controversial Austin Allegro in this 1994 programme. This is in two parts.

[@mystic4fred]

I had an Allegro in 1978 with a square steering wheel - great car, I did a lot of travelling up and down the country and it never broke down!

[@touraneindanke]

In the sixties Chrysler did put a square steering wheel in one of their models. My dad bought a cheep second hands one. Metallic brown with an bleached fly popo beige vinyl roof. I made the vinyl black resprayd the paint were needed and..... The steel wheels and grill i did beige metallic.... I loved the special looks and was never interested in a faster car.

[@nygelmiller5293]

I had an Allegro, belonged to the owners club, and DID have a video of this programme. I lost the video along with most most of my worldly possessions when I got homeless for a time. Correspondingly I watched this video in tears, remembering what had happened to me. But things are alright now, and I was really pleased that you put this film on the internet, and I could see it again!Thanks, Nygel Miller, Allegro fan

[@Haffschlappe]

Here in Germany we had the unloved but technically brilliant VW 411 / 412 I also love this car! I love unloved cars because they are special and never boring.

[@chrisbowlz812]

Great to see my uncle, Gordon Wilkins, in this programme. I remember watching it at home back in the 70s when it went out!

[@nygelmiller5293]

To Chris Bowls from Nygel Miller. I'm glad for YOU that you could see your uncle, Gordon Wilkins on the video, of course. (See my comment about him a bit above where your comment is). My complaint is not about yourself, of course, but HIM.

[@mrspivvy]

Rust wise, these were actually a LOT better than most other '70s cars

[@squarielman]

People ( leyland knockers ) conveniently forget that Fords of the 60s/70s were the worst Rotboxes on british roads !! I know, I owned a few, the mk1 Escort was the worst car I ever owned needing severe welding after only 3 YEARS from new, !!!!!!

[@sameyers2670]

My stepdad had an Allegro, one of the early ones, he says he never had a problem with it

[@sameyers2670]

it replaced an Austin 1300 that got written off by a Transit van

[@liverush24]

They say that jackets reflect their times, Quentin.

[@ColinMill1]

3:40 - seeing that clip of an interview with the BL chairman of the time reminds me of the spoof BL advert in "Private Eye" with the strap line "buy now while Stokes lasts"

[@allyisfunny]

I Watched This Programme From An Old Vhs Tape I Found In My Dads Collection, And I Loved It! I Went Onto Ebay And Bought An 1979 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas In Moonraker Blue,After Watching This! Just Like The One In This Show!!! Super Little Cars!!! LONG LIVE THE ALLEGRO!!!

[@simoncatt95]

Looking at the Golf Mk VI, new Lambo & Audi's 2018 steering wheels, it looks like the squared off wheel has come full circle after 4 decades...

[@austinallegropresents.7850]

best car ever made....my parents even named me after it..thats how awesome it was! ;)

[@riopugh8220]

What your name is Austin Allegro 😂🤣

[@EdgyNumber1]

The Quartic steering wheel.... irony is that manufacturers are coming up with lots of other designs, other than round, to fit in their cars...

[@mrsneaky2010]

I was around in the 70's and considering it was supposed to be such a bad car, there was an awful lot of them around!!

[@DavidWDirector]

Many people clearly loved these cars! Had fun making this film.

[@davesclassicgaragetours]

I'm researching footage to put together an online tribute documentary about Harris Mann and well remember this episode at the time along with the rest of the series. Those titles and Quentin's delivery were a mainstay of any car loving viewer of the 90s. Thanks David

[@AgathaAndAnything]

You either love or loathe them, i love mine so i'm biased! at least they have character and are fun to drive.

[@stevehale4712]

Learnt to drive in one of these with its “square” steering wheel

[@CortinasAndClassics]

I miss this program.

[@MrMrliamo]

i just bought a 1977 1100cc this evening! its very clean! i want it 4 going to vintage shows on sundays! i very happy with it, its an unusual car to have in ireland coz there wernt many sold over here

[@jakekaywell5972]

Honestly, I quite like the Allegro for the precise reason that everyone else hates it. I'd absolutely like to buy myself a Vanden Plas version.

[@Allegromk2]

I have two! one waiting patiently for me to put it back together!

[@wblakesx]

had one in 80 and quite liked it

[@eastwood978]

I had one as my first car. It was reliable as it had tried & tested Mini engine & gearbox, it was comfortable to. Most who slate it have never been in one or owned one. It was no worse than the competition at the time!

[@keegan773]

eastwood978 It was shite. When it broke down you couldn't have a front suspended tow as it bent in the middle. The wheels were prone to coming loose and overtaking the vehicle. It signalled the death knell of the British car industry. I remember the unveiling at my local garage....people said oh, and walked away.

[@oldmutt1427]

Ray Turner...yeah If the BL transverse engines didn't have the weather protector over the electrics they did stop in the rain. The Minis in the UK had a plastic cover in front the distributor. The UK 1100/Allegros a larger one covering the plugs as well. Sometimes these were removed by backyard mechanics and not replaced. In Australia the covers were an optional extra. Unbelieveable. But Leyland Australia decided they didn't need them in the hot weather in the Minis and Morris 1100's and later 1500's they produced there. Even though they did frequently when it poured down. My British uncle taught people to fix it by placing a rubber glove over the distributor on his Morris 1100 there. Everyone began to do the same. Anyway after returning to England my dad..who had been in the RAAF in Australia..bought an Allegro. It was fine never stopped in the rain and was no worse than many seventies cars. I had a Mini in the seventies. They were all rust collectors then. I think UK Fords were even worse for rust and I was a huge Ford fan in Australia. Just forty years of jokes and propaganda. Now the Austin Montego. I had one of those and it broke down a lot. Yet others say they didn't have a problem. There was the old joke about Friday cars at BL Austin Rover. These were the worst built. The workers in a rush to finish and get to the pub.

[@blackvulcan100]

I had a 1975 Hillman Avenger,my newest car at the time. I loved it,lovely ride,powerfull, reliable only problem was that the paint was put on a body that already had rust so the car developed these scabs.So the design was good but the build quality very poor,in my opnion the british car industry shot it self in the foot.

[@norbertpecheq3427]

I had one ten years and still him missing!!Cannot complain!

[@DRDFOX]

I know a guy who was in the motor industry who attended a launch of this car for major dealers at a French chateau. The car was unvelied by parting curtains to a fanfare. One of the dealers had an immediate heart attack. He doen't know whether this was an unfortunate coincidence or reaction to the awful design, but he saw it as a sign!

[@Stephan74]

My first car and I loved it.

[@superadio1]

The British car industry died. This car was produced during the worst period. It was strike after strike, and when we got into the 80;s people start to notice how serious the rust problem was with British cars

[@spearmint123456]

I love this car!

[@EA-58]

Beautiful

[@BrateTebra123]

Why are everyone hating this car so much? I am not from UK but I actually think the car looks just fine for that time

[@rushy0157]

I think the austin allegro is perfect for being a driving school car, especially back in the 70s and 80s, because of its price, running costs, size, layout, drivetrain, safety and to me even the styling expresses that of a functional, quirky but unfashionable but not over the top vehicle and the rear pannel is the perfect place to stick an L plate.

[@mikmik20099]

An old man over the street from me had one of these he had a tool box in the engine bay. :)

[@raymondfunnel6856]

There was a pub in Abingdon called the Lord Stokes but was renamed the Magic Midget in later years because of the MG factory in the town

[@paulwlynch]

Does anyone know where you can get hold of the Car's The Star series?

[@mrspivvy]

Rover sd1 had a quartic type wheel as well.

[@CycolacFan]

Surprisngly comfortable little cars, room for 4 and easy to drive. getting rare now too, save one now before they become hugely valuable!

[@TheKenjoje]

I wonder why willson didn't call his programme 'anti-hero car'....

[@eggman0291]

So basically the Allegro was kinda like the AMC Pacer in the USA: Too expensive to develop, too radical for it´s era and both cars were eaten alive by the German and Japanese cars.

[@astrazenica7783]

I remember my mum nearly bought one, very close shave

[@rareblues78daddy]

5:44 Who looks at that and says "Yes. We should make this!"

[@Haffschlappe]

I like the design of the allegro, most people moaning about the Allegros shape happily drive around in their Smart telephone boxes or one of Chris Bangles shit bananas from Munich;-))))

[@TheKenjoje]

couldn't agree more than I do. bmw's design is sooooo cocky and kitsch....

[@sheilapearce5885]

Haffschlappe

[@blackvulcan100]

I liked the odd shaped steering wheel when I drove one.

[@BritishCommentWriter]

7:22 "the vertical bounce has disappeared". 7:24 - 07:38 the car bounces around multiple corners, each one worse than the one before it.

[@Mitch-Hendren]

I've a Morris 1100 estate the one it replaced.... the bounce on that allegro is timid compared to the hysrolastic 1100 /1300 which really can leap in the air trampoline style if conditions are right

[@leeenglandland2978]

Swimming pool in the boot was an optional extra but only after rain !!

[@what-uc]

4:28 He momentarily lapses into Miss Jean Brodie

[@romeosdog5846]

My father was involved in the development of this lump of 'loveliness'.in his capacity as an R&D engineer at GKN.It tried to kill him on numerous occasions.Just prior to its release he was unfortunate enough to have to drive one for the day and he brought it home.We had a steep-ish drive.He parked it up,applied the handbrake and left it.Sometime later he was looking for something in our garage,its handbrake failed,it rolled down the drive and somehow pinned him to the wall.Unfortunately,nobody was in to come to his rescue so he had to wait in no small amount of discomfort until I arrived home from school and summoned some neighbourly assistance.Funny how he (and I) always referred to it as the Austin All-Aggro

[@unigateman]

you have to remember what it replaced, the BMC 1100

[@kernals12]

I read that the designer wanted the Allegro to be a hatchback (same thing with the Princess), but then BL decided that only the Maxi would have a hatchback as it's unique selling point. That is the tip of the iceberg of the Stupidity of BL's management.

[@theactualnic]

VRF144L IS THE REAL VERSION OF THE HARVEST GOLD VANGUARD MODEL FROM YR 2000 WITH SAME REG PLATE

[@05gtdriver]

Glad to see you have a sense of humor, was just poking fun. Being a front driver, the 1750 sport did have traction and other advantages from a stand still. Car lovers are all the same, too bad we tend to forget that by bashing others on their choices.

[@80sfordman]

I've always wondered what concept cars would have rolled-off the production line at Ford had Harris Mann not left Ford to join Roy Haynes at British Leyland?

[@chubbychubbs5552]

‘The Shirtlifter’….. couldn’t say that today…🤭

[@joodhirabheeshek3726]

dad's first car

[@allegroblm2406]

i have a allegro 1100 from 74 great cars!!

[@laurataylor824]

ok if this car was supposed to be a bad car ,how come i see some very good ones about today that are 40 years old and on original sills and panels and still running well on its original engine ,

[@matt8220]

Wasn't that Colin Corke bloke also in the Clarkson's Car Years program ? See the BBC: Which One is Worse? Allegro vs Marina clip

[@finno123456]

The original sketch was was beautiful. The original design would have sold

[@mrkipling2201]

My dad had one when I was a kid and we used to drive around in it all the time. It was dreadful!! Yet he swapped it for a triumph Toledo!!

[@paulmcgee1867]

Thing is that is looks good today

[@pcno2832]

9:00 Many of the 1960-63 full sized Chrysler cars, from the 1960 Plymouth Fury to the 1963 Chrysler New Yorker had square steering wheels and I think the reactions to them were similar. I can see the advantages for driver entrance and egress, but having a square wheel rolling in your hands would be damn annoying. Maybe, for cars with power steering, a wheel rounded on the top with a flat segment on the bottom would be the best of both worlds, since the steering ratios on cars with power assist don't usually require to wheel to turn more than 180 degrees while the car is underway.

[@kernals12]

What that guy said at 9:00, something similar happened with the Nash Metropolitan or as you Brits call it, Austin Metropolitan, the front fender skirts limited how far the wheels could turn, remove fender skirts to fix problem? No, too expensive, they just put in a short steering rack that limited how far the wheels could turn, which gave the car a ridiculous turning circle.

[@dubster8086]

Who doesn’t love a shirtlifter?? 😮

[@stewartw.9151]

Better known as the "All Aggro"

[@kernals12]

@Samthebam4044 well BMC did come up with smart things like the Mini, the Minor, and the 1100, and not to mention, they didn't run out of money so much, and by the way I wouldn't really know about BMC's problems by heart because I'm American

[@bobeden5027]

It's a beautiful car.

[@notsocialatall]

I never said anything against the Maxi or DS, but I don't think the 411/12 was particularly well engineered. It was underengined (1.7l flat 4 with 68hp), not that spacious, ugly, it didn't handle very well and its engine layout was already outdated when it was new. On the plus side it had solid built quality and fairly sophisticated suspension, but it couldn't really keep up with its inhouse competition: the original Audi 100 and the VW (NSU) K70, which were both much more modern cars.

[@scaleop4]

i remember when my dad had a white one with a stripe down the side.

[@Theagchm]

I agree that would normally be the case (and I did occasionally lose out to the odd parked car) but the vehicles I overtook at the time didn't get above 50mph which was probably just as well :) I still maintain the 1750 sport was really quick. Unbeaten from the lights in the time I owned one, seeing off far more illustrious marques (RS2000 etc). Despite its detractors I still like the square steering wheel!

[@paddy9i99]

The Austin Shirt Lifter . . . . whadda car!

[@MultiBandWagon]

The beige colour Austin Allegro was the ultimate 'peanut on wheels'... They were all different coloured peanuts on wheels... Lol.

[@RoadCone411]

Harris Mann was so appalled by the Allegro's final styling that he decided to get BL back by designing the TR7 for them.

[@nygelmiller5293]

People all have different tastes, of course, and that's the problem! Personally, I think the design by Harris Mann was slick, but anonymous. At least you can't say the eventual design was anonymous - it's one of the most distinctive and recognisable cars ever.But like with HATS, it's all a matter of taste what designs we each like!

[@6643bear]

The steering wheel now would probably work as we have d steering wheel now . The 1750 twin carb car 0-60 similar to the Ford xr3 . Regards mark

[@AlternativeDesign100]

8:28 "that steering wheels should be round"... unless you own or drive a LaFerarri... www.ribbonmag.com/secure/brands/images/ferrari/ct_laferrari_gallery_19_interior_steering_wheel.jpg

[@EXTREME4YEARSTOCOME]

allegro has vroom for four

[@herrgolf]

Doesn't every car get bloated and compromised from sketchpad to production line?

[@Theagchm]

@riotagus I've owned 3 allegros. A 1.1, a 1.5 estate and a very rare 1750 sport. The sport was my first every car and turned me into a boy race: 0-50mph I could match just about anyone. They were always superbly reliable and my overtaking record still goes to my 1.1; 11 cars and 3 vans in one go. the hydragas suspension and tie down straps...Eee gad they were not good. Still they were the cars were good and I loved all that I owned. Oh and the square wheel(like Audi etc) I thought was superb.

[@georgebamber6871]

its sad the allegro wouldve looked great if it wasn't mashed together with odd parts

[@farishanafiah8461]

5:36 My goodness, that is a great looker! How come BL got it SO WRONG?!

[@colinelderfield6964]

Known as the Austin Aggro!

[@ChrisHenniker]

Has anyone noticed the sketch looks like an AMC Pacer, especially at the rear?

[@RSLMecha]

The AMC Pacer was possibly inspired by the Allegro Concept Sketches and the Porsche 928 is inspired the AMC Pacer.. What the hell.

[@dickturpin3115]

Haha, shirtlifter!!

[@Joe90ridesahonda]

@kazimann he still owns it :-)

[@ftorresgamez]

The designer was "disappointed" that the stylish car he drew ended up being the awkward mess it ended up being - talk about understatement. I would have been appalled, outraged, foaming at the mouth, threatening with giving a 2 weeks notice and sending them all to hell. But I guess he also is a practitioner of the British stiff upper lip.

[@mrmagicroundcircle]

my first car a bright yellow allegro my mates would take the piss calling it the banana wasnt really sorry when i wrote it off

[@Samspianopage]

@kernals12 nah! not really, remember BMC already had a reputation for unreliabile motors with the 1800 etc so strikes and all the other stuff would've probably happened anyway, added to which BMC had no real plans for any new models to compete and all they had were aging morris minors, austin cambridges and they didn't really have any direction for creating new shapes and styles. They even proved it the austin 1800 was considered old-fashioned and ppl wanted new styling but they were relentless

[@Fernandwinnie]

I liked the Allegro

[@barryspencer7028]

Beatiful cars. I know, i had three,

[@bluedick321]

allegro is ace totally class competitive

[@lauribricker9439]

The prototype looked like the Austin-Morris 18-22 Series, better known as the Austin (or Leyland) Princess. Now I'm thinking about the commercial for Leyland Princess, the one with "Baa! Baa!" Then the crisp, clean lines had to become rounded, bloated, fat and ugly to accommodate the Maxi 1750cc engine and the Marina heater. Why did the B.L. have to ruin it for everybody? Money, money, and more money.

[@Clacla8888]

La voiture de mon enfance.

[@joodhirabheeshek3726]

moi si la mem

[@MrJezza31]

understeer

[@MrJezza31]

@riotagus hmm om but i like my marina

[@kernals12]

same thing with the Princess, you see, BL only wanted the Maxi to have a hatchback because that would be it's unique selling point, I know it was a stupid idea, British Leyland had lots of them

[@kernals12]

Does anybody think that if BMC hadn't become British Leyland, things would've gone better?

[@antman5474]

also available in poo brown

[@paulhunter123]

how comes british cars took so long to think about how great hatch backs are - untill the metro - super market - hatch back - peoples car hatch back

[@Theagchm]

Well you couldn't have owned an Allegro without a sense of humour and a huge amount of patience. My 1750 had a new head head and twin SU carbs from a Maxi. Not sure why this had such an amazing effect. My 1750 did have 'slicks' over looked by the boys in blue a few times meaning I had maximum traction when I needed it. I am OK at bashing other drivers as I have owned 25+ cars in my 30+ years of driving; with a huge variety in cars. Alfasud to Skoda estelle with Audi, Sabb, ford V6......etc.

[@pcno2832]

4:48 It looks like a 3 day old bar of hand soap.

[@hunghuge12]

@arospeed169 Easy - they don't make them anymore.

[@citroeno]

I actually had that car FOX 866L found it down the side of a body shop and got sprayed hot pot and not very good,later i turned it into a series 3 look it was respayed red with new black fabric roof new grill hls wheel covers and bumpers srayed satin black and boy did that car turn heads,it was used by BL to promote the car a nd you can see it raceing through the sand dunes of Spain.