VANGUARDS - Austin Allegro

The great white hope for British Leyland, it was a great shame then, that the bean counters got their fingers in the pie and forced designers to make so many changes from the original designs, that this bulbous car was what was left, which, considering the beautiful original designs, was a total let down. It also had to compete with the outgoing Austin.Morris 1100/1300 (ADO16) which was the UK best selling car for many years.

When it was announced by Vanguards that they would be doing their version, VA45000, i was very pleased, as the whole British car industry throughout the Austin/Morris through to MG-Rover era is my favourite, but once i got hold of this model, my first Allegro, I was serious deflated, the oddly fixed grill, the door handles on the squiff, and the weirdly coloured steel wheels, however it was and still is part of my batch of favourites, that said, the other Allegro's I have are better put together, with the odd error or two.