So the Allegro is now 40 years old.
It's a car I have a relationship with as I actually used to own one - a gift from my grandmother when she quit driving. I don't miss it, but in many respects it is such a 'nearly' car.
Compared to a Golf from the same period - a very successful car, it was more spacious, more comfortable and had a much better ride.
So what was wrong with it?
Let's deal with the factual things first.
Austin thought only a saloon would be acceptable to a large part of their market, so they designed it to look like a hatchback but not have a hatchback. Like the Mini. One of those sub-optimal catch-22 decisions that alienates both the markets you're trying to reach. This owner was so frustrated he reversed into a wall. Or another Allegro.
The earlier ones had a square steering wheel. I don't need to explain why this is bad but you do wonder why the designers didn't follow this logic to conclusion and give it square road wheels too.
The rear seat didn't have rounded corners so getting in and out of the back was not the most elegant exercise.
It was made by British Leyland, so broke down, fell apart and corroded. Red Robbo quality control.
Visually, it didn't work at all. It looked like a bad design that had then been melted a little. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are limits.
Austin consistently made lame, sitcom cars. Actually, sitcom's really highlight where it all went wrong. Austin never capitalised on the coolness of the Mini, or its rally successes. They were content to wallow in mustard coloured, chrome radiator-ed, vinyl roofed, cheap velour-ed, retired bank manager territory.
Sexy advertising couldn't conceal a very undesireable product.
It was an Austin/Morris thing, not a BL thing. Triumph and Rover cars were mostly cool, and maybe XJS aside, Jaguar also. You do wonder why the Austin/Morris people succeeded in bringing down the company rather than the Triumph/Rover/Jaguar people rescuing it, but the Allegro was succeeded by the Maestro, and the last car they designed was the Rover 75, which was still very much in retired bank manager territory, although I quite like it.
I sold mine to a retired couple. The woman test drove it but didn't want to try 5th gear as she'd never used one before and found the concept scary. That's the kind of market you shouldn't cater for, and sums it up really.
