The old car thread

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Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
The actual 'point' of the central dash is it's apparently 'easier' to glance across, than to glance down - less eye strain .
KneesUp is right. Morris were the first to do it with the Minor, it reduced tooling costs for left and right hand drive versions. They did the same with the Mini.
 

gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
Oh aye. Remember the Allegro Vanden Plas? A very shiny turd indeed.
A million opinions cant be wrong but I had an Allegro 1750HL i think it was, twin carbs. TBF it was comfortable, accelerated really well, did what it needed to do as a typical banger I'd buy at that time.
 

stephec

Squire
Location
Bolton
There is a 2006 Mazda 6 at a neighbours for £800......

I had one of those as a company car on a 52 plate when they first came out, it had a 2L petrol engine.

Used to go round corners really well, my boss used it once and came back most impressed, mind you he did have a Honda Accord.
 

Salar

A fish out of water
Location
Gorllewin Cymru
In the mid 90's I was changing jobs and needed a car quickly for a few months.

I acquired my father's old Volvo 340, the small eurobox thing, not a proper Volvo. Terrible car, it would cut out going downhill and would only re start if you depressed the clutch.

Anyway I soon got rid of it, traded it in for a Citroen Volcane sporty number.

A few weeks later on a Sunday evening I had a call from someone with a broad Norfolk accent.

It turned out to be the local constabulary questioning if I owned a Volvo reg number etc ...... I thought this was a wind up.

Apparently it had been used to ram raid a chemist in Norfolk for drugs. I still wonder how it got to be 300 miles away.

Probably bought at an auction.
 
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Drago

Drago

Legendary Member
A million opinions cant be wrong but I had an Allegro 1750HL i think it was, twin carbs. TBF it was comfortable, accelerated really well, did what it needed to do as a typical banger I'd buy at that time.

My first car was an Allaggro 1750HL! It was indeed quite sprightly, sometimes as regularly as 2 orm3 times a week it would run properly. Dreadful design in most other regards though. Problem is, in the 70s people didnt have a lot of choice - the Japanese vehicles hadn't established full marketplace acceptance, so it was be a weirdo with a continental car, buy a British car and a tow rope, or get the bus.
 

Bonefish Blues

Banging donk
Location
52 Festive Road
In the mid 90's I was changing jobs and needed a car quickly for a few months.

I acquired my father's old Volvo 340, the small eurobox thing, not a proper Volvo. Terrible car, it would cut out going downhill and would only re start if you depressed the clutch.

Anyway I soon got rid of it, traded it in for a Citroen Volcane sporty number.

A few weeks later on a Sunday evening I had a call from someone with a broad Norfolk accent.

It turned out to be the local constabulary questioning if I owned a Volvo reg number etc ...... I thought this was a wind up.

Apparently it had been used to ram raid a chemist in Norfolk for drugs. I still wonder how it got to be 300 miles away.

Probably bought at an auction.
340s are now highly coveted by the Drift crowd, AIUI. Funny old World.
 

Bonefish Blues

Banging donk
Location
52 Festive Road
My first car was an Allaggro 1750HL! It was indeed quite sprightly, sometimes as regularly as 2 orm3 times a week it would run properly. Dreadful design in most other regards though. Problem is, in the 70s people didnt have a lot of choice - the Japanese vehicles hadn't established full marketplace acceptance, so it was be a weirdo with a continental car, buy a British car and a tow rope, or get the bus.
I hope it was an Equipe - now there was a car...allegedly.

And just to prove that there is madness amongst us:
http://classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=4906
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
I hope it was an Equipe - now there was a car...allegedly.

And just to prove that there is madness amongst us:
http://classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=4906
"this Equipe was fully restored by the vendor in 2010-2011 at a cost of over £10,000" - you're not kidding.
 

Bonefish Blues

Banging donk
Location
52 Festive Road
"this Equipe was fully restored by the vendor in 2010-2011 at a cost of over £10,000" - you're not kidding.
It does defy any sort of logic. If it was something like an Alfasud I could sort of get it, but it had no merit, it still has no merit - but hey, someone wanted it, and I assume they got satisfaction from it, so there you go.

It does show how much of a classic car bubble there is (to an extent was, as I think values have softened) when utter carp was being advertised for sums way beyond any sensible assessment of their value.
 
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Drago

Drago

Legendary Member
And that definitely raises a valid point. Just because a car is old, does not automatically make it a classic. It needs some redeeming features or characteristics to make it so.
 
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gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
And that definitely raises a valid point. Just because a car is old, does not automatically make it a classic. It needs some redeeming features or characteristics to make it so.
And the reason is, beauty is In the eye of the beholder.
I was always a BL, Leyland Austin Morris fan, its was just what I was brought up with. Fan might be the wrong word, I was quite comfortable with them.
3 minis, one short lived Ausgin 1100, A Marina coupe, an Allegro, a Maestrro and maybe something else I've forgotten.
None of them were classics but for the liimited money I had at that time, all (barring the 1100 which was a shed) lasted me well, were generally reliable workhorses and did what I asked of them.
Classics at the time...no.
Classics 30 years on, hardly, but they can be fondly remembered.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Oh aye. Remember the Allegro Vanden Plas? A very shiny turd indeed.
My Uncle had one, the 1750 version. That certainly went like one off a shiny shovel compared to other cars at the time.

EDIT I ought to point out he bought it new, certainly not an old banger although it might have been when he traded it in for a new Grenada, Uncle Jack had one criteria for cars, they had to have big engines for their bodysize.
 
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