From Club Hoax to Classic Star Austin Allegro celebrated and driven
The Allegro was seriously underrated – derided, even – back in 1990. Thirty years later, there’s now plenty of love for British Leyland’s most lovably infamous creation
When Classic Car Weekly debuted in 1990, one of its first news stories was about the formation of Allegro Club International, in response to a previous hoax pretending that a club was being set up. At the time, the Allegro was regarded as something of a national joke; a whipping boy for all that was wrong with the British car industry during the 1970s and early 1980s. Having only been out of production for eight years, few might have considered that the ‘All-Aggro’ would ever be regarded as a classic, let alone inspire enthusiasts to band together to save survivors.
But with age comes maturity, and the Allegro now, in all its various forms – from basic family runaround to capacious estate, remarkably enjoyable hot um, non-hatch and pocket prestige Vanden Plas (as being sampled here) – is more widely appreciated. It’s a fun reminder of a simpler motoring time.
A MINI ROLLER
Let’s lay one fallacy to rest right from the start – the steering wheel is not square. It’s probably the most frequently asked question about any Allegro, but Vanden Plas models were never blessed with the infamous ‘Quartic’ helm.
What does make this posh version of the otherwise humble Austin stand out, however, is its nose. The skin graft of an oversized formal grille isn’t exactly elegant – it’s a bit like a Gerald Scarfe caricature, in fact – but it would have appealed to those who might have bought the car new; somewhat more mature customers who once owned a larger, plusher machine, but wanted something smaller yet just as traditional in their dotage. You know the kind – ‘It’s pronounced “Bouquet”, not “Bucket”.’
For similar reasons, you won’t find references to this being an Allegro. And once you get inside, it’s quite easy to forget that it is one. The standard car’s cheap multi-coloured plastics and garish cloth or vinyl is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there’s quality beige Connolly leather throughout, pile carpeting and a welcoming slab of high-class burr walnut veneer dashboard punctuated by instrumentation and controls that wouldn’t look too out of place in a RollsRoyce. Granted, however, this car does have appear to have an auxiliary comedy horn panel installed – whatever would our Hyacinth think?.
Arguably, it’s classier than the contemporary Jaguar XJ6 Series 2; there’s no unsightly black plastic central fascia storage tray or Letraset-esque instrument labelling. It’s all very swish and unexpectedly spacious for a small car. But front-wheel drive British Leyland cars were always superb at making the most of limited cabin space, so this should come as no surprise.
NO TABLES?
Intriguingly, there’s no rev counter in this car – the second big gauge mirroring the speedometer here is actually occupied by readouts for fuel, temperature and volts – nor does it have the wooden rear seat picnic tables that were fitted to later models. Having been such a staple of earlier VdPs, one can only imagine the letters from ‘Disgusted of Royal Tunbridge Wells’ bemoaning their disappearance from this latest iteration.
It’s easy to imagine that you’re in something a lot bigger and more
powerful from behind the wheel, but there’s no growl of a big-six or V8 when you turn the key – just the cheerful chatter of a four-cylinder overhead-cam E-series. It’s more muted than it would be in a standard Allegro, too, thanks to additional layers of soundproofing.
The four-speed AP transmission is another nod to this small car’s lofty aspirations, although it does somewhat blunt performance – there’s only 68bhp to play with. It’s not so much lethargic as leisurely, and you can always use manual hold for the first three ratios if you want to improve progress. Plus it does kickdown, although you’re more likely to notice a rise in engine noise rather than a dramatic increase in pace by engaging this. The self-shifts are on the jerky side, but that seems to an AP auto characteristic, whatever they’re fitted to.
FLUID & GAS
However, once you’re up to a decent pace, the Vanden Plas bowls along quietly and quite nicely. And this is where this Allegro in top hat and tails really comes into its own. The Hydragas suspension gives a silky ride, the fluid and gas system soaking up knocks from even rough roads far more competently than conventional metal and rubber. While it’s not quite to Citroën standards, it certainly beats most other compact cars of the era.
It can get bouncy if left unsettled for an extended period, but soon calms down on smoother surfaces. The ride is matched by the assurance of predictable and tight front-wheel drive handling. There’s some understeer, but the general sense is of Mini-like levels of precision with just a tad more wallow.
Best of all, though, these cars have an innate ability to make people smile. And that’s why we love them.