REV COLIN CORKE Allegro owner
WAS there ever a car more reviled than the Austin Allegro? Perhaps its contemporary, the Marina, was just as unloved, but if there’s one machine that you’re guaranteed to see in any list of crap cars, it’s the Austin Allegro.
British Leyland’s saloon celebrated its 50th birthday last month, so we reckoned that this was the perfect chance to see if the car’s terrible reputation is deserved, by trying out the oldest surviving example. This is a 1750SS that topped the range when the car was launched, but it was in production for barely a year, with just 2,000 or so made.
Colin Corke owns this 1750SS, which he bought unseen for £250 in 1998. He says: “Fellow Austin enthusiast Nick Bonthrone restored the Allegro with me, after hisinterior, but most importantly it carried chassis number 11, and it was commission number two. Knowing that the production cars were numbered from 101, that made this a pre-production car, and the second 1750SS ever made.”
