Worst Car......Part 2

[gairo1]

Todays Telegraph have the results of "iMotormag" poll on the worst cars in Britain.

The TR7 came in at a credible tenth spot![:D]

[img][IMG]http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q73/roadstone/TR012.jpg[/img][/IMG]

[Maxwell]

... to be beaten to top slot by another infamous BL offering, the Allegro!

Maxwell [8D]

[trphil]

Nothing wrong with either car...[:D]

[Chunk]

Did Harris Mann design both of these?
I know he did the Princess.
The Allegro, sometimes known as the "all agro".

1979 TR7V8 FHC 3.9 Litre
19 years of tinkering and tuning...... So Far!
Better to burn out than fade away.

[mitchelltjohn]

I learnt to drive in an Austin Allegro, so go easy!. On the positive side it was very roomy and comfortable riding little car that looked different! On down side it was not a sporty drive and had no motorsport associations unlike its Ford and Vauxhall cousins, so had a low street-cred score with spotty schoolboys and motoring magazine journalists (same folk really

One simailarity between TR7 and Allego, apart from Harris Mann design, was those wonderful thumb-operated door handles - funny how they never caught on...

standard 1981 DHC

[mitchelltjohn]

memories are now flooding back...
I remember a great debate in our house as my Mum and Dad debated over which colour they should choose for their new 1300 Super Allegro. Thankfully Tahiti Blue won over Russet Brown, or I would have had to be home-schooled...!

standard 1981 DHC

[gordon kerr]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">One simailarity between TR7 and Allego, apart from Harris Mann design, was those wonderful thumb-operated door handles - funny how they never caught on...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<font color="green">I assume that you mean never caught on with other manufacturers - the conglomerate that was Leyland certainly made use of them all over! Not sure which was first but I can think of

TR7/8 - Allegro - Marina - Maestro - Montego - LR Discovery

So they kept on using the same design for years from 70's right up to the end of production of the Discovery 300 Tdi [:)]

Wheter it was a good design or not is another question altogether [;)]</font id="green">

<font color="green">Gordon
GRD 1980 Brooklands Green 2l FHC
OVC 1980 Platinum Silver 3.9l V8 FHC
Bedford, UK.
</font id="green">

[busheytrader]

My geography teacher had an Allegro in some hideous brown colour complete with Quartic steering wheel.

http://www.belmontvillage.org.uk/images/BAD-2.2.gif

The estate versions were a common sight in North West London until a few years back. BL must have decided to concentrate all their antirust protection on this one model and they hung around for years, lasting much longer than the saloon.

I read that Harris Mann designed the Allegro as well. He had to design it around a range of upright engines, hence no wedgie influence.

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & Solid Bushes, Anti- Dive, Granada Vented Discs & Calipers, Green Stuff, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AllyCat 5 Spokes. No Door Stickers.

[simon hubbard]

I read from our friend Jeremy Clarkson in his page in the comic we call the The Sun yesterday that he thought the Allegro was not the worst car as it used inovations such as hyragas suspension and something else that i cant remember He reckoned the worst car was the Lamborgini, because it was not designed to accomodate people - the driver i assume.


TRR676R Speke Built 2.0L Tahiti Blue TR7
1969 Mk2 Vitesse Convertible
1997 Rover 800 Vitesse Coupe

[gairo1]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by gordon kerr</i>

[quote]One simailarity between TR7 and Allego, apart from Harris Mann design, was those wonderful thumb-operated door handles - funny how they never caught on...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<font color="green">I assume that you mean never caught on with other manufacturers - the conglomerate that was Leyland certainly made use of them all over! Not sure which was first but I can think of

TR7/8 - Allegro - Marina - Maestro - Montego - LR Discovery

So they kept on using the same design for years from 70's right up to the end of production of the Discovery 300 Tdi [:)]

Wheter it was a good design or not is another question altogether [;)]</font id="green">

The Lotus Esprit had them too up until the mid 90's.

<font color="green">Gordon
GRD 1980 Brooklands Green 2l FHC
OVC 1980 Platinum Silver 3.9l V8 FHC
Bedford, UK.
</font id="green">
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

[Maxwell]

The Harris Mann Allegro looked nothing like the final result: thank the engineers and bean-counters at BL for that. The dash and bonnet line needed to be lifted to accomodate the large heater that BL had paid thousands to develp and produce. They needed to be used up, apparantly.... otherwise, wedge-shaped it would have been: a sort of scaled-down Princess. Fitting big, thick seats didn't help much, either.. Check out the design on AROnline!

Maxwell [:)]

[Chunk]

The Maestro and Montego had there own door handles.
Have worked on a few at SU.

Lotus Esprit - correct.

So that door handle was in a James Bond movie, Octopusy i think.
The under water sequence.

1979 TR7V8 FHC 3.9 Litre
19 years of tinkering and tuning...... So Far!
Better to burn out than fade away.

[john 215]

Hi,
The Allegro, the memory's come flooding back!! When i started my apprenticeship at the local BL dealer we worked on loads of them, the Vanden Plas had leather and wood inside and a huge chrome grille on the front!!! The 1750 Equipe was a flying machine! How many Fords or Vauxhalls had 5 speed gearboxs [?] The fact that you never knew 100% for sure which gear you would get is neither here or there!!Power unit from another great BL car the Maxi. The front calipers were supposed to slide but always seized up! the rear wheel cylinders slid as well but also seized!! If you jacked up one corner the doors would not open!! If you left the door open them a big chance of the screen popping out!! Safe to say not BL finnest hour!! Happy days!!!
Phil you were lucky you didn't get involed in the twin webers they nailed onto the 'R' and 'S' series 1600 MG maestro engines [V]
Cheers John

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6 WILL BE ON THE ROAD VERY SOON!
Read My Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/ ... hp/John215

[Chunk]

Hi John,
We did have a play with the Webers. Took ages to set up and then just made a lot of noise and used lots of fuel.
Weber claimed the engines would make 105bhp with their carbs on, but they never produced more than 95bhp, the same as the SUs. Another foul up.
But then the 2 litre EFI MG engine came along. That was good.
But not as good as the 2 litre turbo in a Maestro with the orignal 10psi boost. Torque steer? - it would change lanes !!
They dropped it to 7psi to save the gearbox.
Cheers
Phil

1979 TR7V8 FHC 3.9 Litre
19 years of tinkering and tuning...... So Far!
Better to burn out than fade away.

[john 215]

Hi Phil,
Great fun was had by all!! We use to get new rec jets and emulsion tube every other week! They put a fan on them with cold air ducted onto the float chamber if i remember correctly.I bet there is not many of them left on the road!!
Sorry didn't know SU got that involed in other A/R things, you guys must have been busy enough with stepper motors and those silly vac pull off valves,with the 3 pipes on them [V]
Cheers John

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6 WILL BE ON THE ROAD VERY SOON!
Read My Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/ ... hp/John215