Austin Allegro
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| Missing image Austin.allegro.1979.750pix.jpg 1979 Austin Allegro | |
| Austin Allegro 1100/1300/1500/1750 | |
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| Manufacturer: | BMC |
| Production: | 1973–1983 642,350 produced |
| Predecessor: | Austin 1100/1300 |
| Successor: | Austin Maestro |
| Similar: | Innocenti Regent |
| Class: | FF compact car |
| Body Styles: | 4-door saloon 2-door saloon 2-door estate |
| Engines: | 1.0 L A-Series I4 1.1 L A-Series I4 1.3 L A-Series I4 1.5 L E-Series I4 1.7 L E-Series I4 |
The Austin Allegro was a model of car manufactured by British Leyland under the Austin name from 1973 to 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti in 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent.
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Design
The Allegro was designed as the replacement for the popular and innovative 1960s design, the Austin 1100/1300, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, who also penned the radical Mini and Morris Minor. In comparison to the 1100/1300, a generally well-received design, the Allegro is widely regarded as a poor design in almost every significant respect. As with the Morris Marina, the car can be seen with hindsight as symptomatic of the enormous difficulties facing BL during that period. The key factor that BL appear to have missed is that a much more useful and popular form of car, the hatchback, was emerging in Europe, with designs such as the VW Golf. These cars would go on to dominate the market for small family cars in the space of a very few years, yet BL doggedly stuck to the more traditional and less versatile booted design when they launched the Allegro. This was because of internal company politics; it had been decided that the Austin Maxi should have a hatchback as its unique selling point and that no other car was allowed one. This short-sighted decision hamstrung both the Allegro and the Leyland Princess, both designs naturally suited to a hatchback yet not given one.
The Allegro followed the engineering convention of front wheel drive, using the familiar A-Series engine with sump-mounted gearbox. The higher-specification models used the overhead camshaft E-Series engine (from the Maxi), in 1.5 and 1.75 litre editions. The two-box saloon bodyshell was suspended using the new Hydragas suspension system (derived from the previous Hydrolastic system used on the 1100/1300).
Stylistically, it went against the sharp-edged styling cues that were becoming fashionable (largely led by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro), and featured rounded panel work. The original styling proposal, by Harris Mann, had the same sleek, wedge-like shape of the Princess, but because BL management wanted to install the bulky E-Series engine, and the heating system from the Marina, the bodyshell began to look more and more bloated and tubby, and eventually bore little resemblance to Mann's original concept—originally thought up as an Austin 1100 reskin. This appearance—as well as BL's faith in it as a model that would help turn the company around—led to it earning the early nickname of the "flying pig". The car was offered in the usual drab range of BL colours—notably beige, brown and green.
The early models also featured a curious "quartic" steering wheel—that is, nominally a rounded square. This was touted as a sales feature though its merits were questionable—some felt that it was introduced because insufficient room had been allowed between the driver's legs and the base of the wheel.
Reputation
The Allegro gained a reputation for unreliability and poor build quality—another unfortunate nickname applied to it was the "All-Aggro". The car was somewhat underdeveloped at the time of its launch; a litany of design flaws plagued the early cars, and some well-publicised Allegro failings (some apocryphal, but widely believed) were:
- The rear windscreen could pop out if the car was jacked up in the wrong place with a trolley jack - symptomatic of poor torsional rigidity.
- Urban legend has it that Allegros were banned from the Mersey Tunnels as they could not be towed back out in the event of breakdown without bending in the middle.
- One of the launch cars snapped in half whilst being filmed doing stunts in a quarry for a television commercial.
- Wheel bearings were prone to premature failure, and rear wheels could (and did...) fly off.
- The Allegro has an allegedly better drag coefficient going backwards rather than forwards.
- The 1750cc E-Series engine lifted from the Austin Maxi was prone to cylinder head gasket failure, and its five speed transmission had an truly awful gearchange linkage (a problem which also plagued the Maxi itself).
While many of these stories were greatly exaggerated; the national sport of "Allegro-bashing" was a popular pastime of the British tabloid press, and did the car no favours at all, despite frantic behind-the-scenes efforts by BL to iron out the numerous gremlins.
Most of these were fixed in the "Series 2" edition of the car, launched in 1975, which saw the introduction of the 3-door estate car version. The infamous Quartic steering wheel was also dropped at this stage, along with some other detail changes. The Series 3, introduced in 1980 used the "A-Plus" version of the A-Series engine (developed for the Metro), and featured some cosmetic alterations in an attempt to keep the momentum going. But by then the Allegro was outdated, now competing against the relatively high-tech Ford Escort Mk III and Vauxhall Astra.
Few tears were shed when the axe finally fell in 1982, the Allegro went out of production to make way for the Austin Maestro. Remarkably however, the car has enjoyed something of a renaissance, and is now becoming quite sought after, particularly the early models.
Engines
- 1973–1975 - 1098 cc A-Series I4, 49 hp (37 kW) at 5250 rpm and 60 ft·lbf (81 Nm) at 2450 rpm
- 1975–1980 - 1098 cc A-Series I4, 45 hp (34 kW) at 5250 rpm and 55 ft·lbf (75 Nm) at 2900 rpm
- 1973–1980 - 1275 cc A-Series I4, 59 hp (44 kW) at 5300 rpm and 69 ft·lbf (94 Nm) at 3000 rpm
- 1980–1982 - 998 A+ cc A-Plus I4, 44 hp (33 kW) at 5250 rpm and 52 ft·lbf (71 Nm) at 3000 rpm
- 1980–1982 - 1275 cc A-Plus I4, 62 hp (46 kW) at 5600 rpm and 72 ft·lbf (98 Nm) at 3200 rpm
External Links
- Allegro Club International (http://members.aol.com/acicars/acihome.htm)