Original Irish Reg'd Allegro - what's it worth?

The Express

Came across a real 'abandoned classic' recently.

1979 brown Allegro 1.1.

Irish car with two owners. Starts but has plenty of the old tin worm and god knows what else needs doing on it. Body generally tidy enough though.

Would be a nice little project but am finding it hard to price - owners shrugs and I'm hesitant to throw an offer.

Could any of you guys put an approximate value on it?

rugbyman

I love to see irish cars saved.
Car toffs will regard an allegro as worthless.
I say that car is worth as little as 100 euro, but up to 500.
there were one or two on here in the last year or so, blue ones as I recall

Rugbyman

shawnee

Would agree with Rugbyman's estimate but here's something to help you. A restored driveable Allegro in reasonable condition (not mint) would probably be worth at most 1500 at most. Restoration costs are very high so what do you think it would cost to bring this car up to scratch. This will give you an idea of it's present value.

Blue Punto

yeah i agree

it will be worth 1500 max and thats if its in great condition

Check out this very tidy Vanden Plas
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1976-Austin-allegro-vanden-plas-/190390936216?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2c542f2298

Blue850

Is that car in Co Galway? I know where theres a brown irish one parked up.

sid131

if you can do the work needed on the car your self & dont have to pay someone then go for it as for the purchase price its not worth a lot but got to be around €100 no more

carchaeologist

Any photos?:)

The Express

Thanks folks, had an idea it would be worth no more than a couple of hundred in it's current condition.

Might need deep pockets for a proper resto. And I don't have 'em.

Will upload picks shortly.

carchaeologist

These ones arent so fecal...

johnos1984

Thats just made me stain my trousers in a good way.

Nice one carchaeologist

Can you give more detail on the Allegros in question

unkel

@dutchcat - please do not spoil the thread with inappropriate pictures

dutchcat

get a sense of humor ,fcukin dry ****es:rolleyes:

johnos1984

dutchcat wrote: »

get a sense of humor ,fcukin dry ****es:rolleyes:

You could of put an NSFW warning on it as I opened it in work :mad:

If I wanted to see a steaming pile of dog **** I'd go for a walk and look at the ground.

Otherwise I'd rather open it on my personal internet connection rather than being asked at work tomorrow why I felt the need to view piles of dog **** on company bandwidth

unkel

dutchcat wrote: »

get a sense of humor ,fcukin dry ****es:rolleyes:

You were warned twice and choose to ignore it. Banned for a month. Not your first ban here either. Don't do it again or the ban will be permanent.

carchaeologist

johnos1984 wrote: »

Thats just made me stain my trousers in a good way.
Nice one carchaeologist
Can you give more detail on the Allegros in question

As much as id like to i cant unfortunatly. Nor can i be responsible for the dry cleaning bill.

I am of the opinion that putting Martini stickers on old cars normally makes them look much better.

I am in complete agreement with you. The blue one looks great on those wheels too. Not bad for an old All-aggro;)

Everyone has an opinion on what cars are crap and what cars arent,but theres an enthusiast for everything, particularly on this forum it seems. Isnt that what makes it interesting?

carchaeologist

This 2 door June 1979 Dublin City reg'd one was up for sale on DoneDeal recently.

geespot

seriously they where a nightmare back in the day better of to buy a good one in england prob around 500 and 300 to bring it home

johnos1984

carchaeologist wrote: »

This 2 door June 1979 Dublin City reg'd one was up for sale on DoneDeal recently.

Wish I'd seen it :mad:

I'm starting to get the itch for another BL car. Its my dirty little secret that I love them

Run_to_da_hills

My aunt in London had three of these cars in succession, she wrote the last one which was a Van den Plas model and couldn't replace it as they stopped production.

Hermy

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I am of the opinion that putting Martini stickers on old cars normally makes them look much better.

Especially if said car is a Delta.

bijapos

Hermy wrote: »

Especially if said car is a Delta.

Call me old fashioned but Martini colours only look right on Lancia or Porsche.

carchaeologist

Retro rally livery so...





Still though,the quartic steering wheel fitted to some erlier cars is a bit puzzling...

johnos1984

It was designed to make the steering lighter as there was no PAS. It was actually very effective however it just looked strange. Then again if that was the strangest thing people found about the Allegro they were doing pretty well.

Still love 'em though

bijapos

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Funny that alot of single seaters race cars use a slightly squared off wheel, were Austin onto something all those years ago

This is the Voisin C6 from 1923, it also had a square wheel which was something the designer Andre Lefebvre (Traction Avant, 2CV, DS) tried to introduce into pre production models of some of his other cars but it was always voted down.



See any resemblance? Lefebvre worked with Voisin before Citroen, Voisin was an aeroplane engineer.




Btw if you look carefully at the front of the C6 you can see a small propellor on top of the radiator. It turns with the wind when the car is moving and this turns the water pump. Typical Lefebvre solution. ;-)

mgbgt1978

Only the brightest sparks were employed at Austin....
.....Who else would fit the clock on the floor of the car.

Max_Damage

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Only the brightest sparks were employed at Austin....
.....Who else would fit the clock on the floor of the car.

Nissan done that on the higher spec. Micra K10's back in the day.

mgbgt1978

Max_Damage wrote: »

Nissan done that on the higher spec. Micra K10's back in the day.

That makes sense.
Didn't Datsun start out in the car game by making Austin Seven copies back in the 1930's.
Still copying Austin in the 80's.:D

carchaeologist

Max_Damage wrote: »

Nissan done that on the higher spec. Micra K10's back in the day.

Higher spec MK3 Capris had the clock in the same place too. Its not that unusual.
A 1978 MGB isnt too far away from a 1978 Austin Allegro either...;):)

johnos1984

Out of interest I spotted this rather detailed ad on donedeal and was wondering if anyone here knew of the car or seller

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/1569915

unkel

johnos1984 wrote: »

I spotted this rather detailed ad

bijapos

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Interesting solution, is that prop running straight to the pump or does it run through any gearing? Because it wouldnt do much at low speeds but would at high speeds.

I doubt it had gearing, the C6 was a race car and would be driven at high speed anyway. The car was underpowered compared to its rivals and the propellor saved power loss to a water pump.

The low power was one of the reasons for the attention to aerodynamics,

• note that the rear axle is narrower than the front (75cm vs 145cm) the car is very narrow anyway to reduce drag,
• the drivers sat very low so that their heads would not be above the rear part of the body, thus reducing drag,
• the rear wheels are within the body of the car,
• the wheels are not spokes but smooth discs. These wheel discs were later dropped due to problems with brake cooling.
• The underside of the car is almost completely flat as well.

Incidentally the C6 was the first ever race car with a monocoque body.

Voisin and Lefebvres attention to aerodynamics heavily influenced Ettore Bugatti in developing his race cars.

This pic might give you an idea of some of these things.

bijapos

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Interesting design, I have a interest in Aviation and Motorsport so this is a combination of both. That car reminds me of the early work Mercedes did to reduce drah in the 50`s. Id say that C6 was interesting to drive to say the least, having a narrow rear track would have made cornering fun. What powerplant was in her?

The engine was a 6 cylinder, 1984cc with sleeve valves, two Zenith 36 HK carburettors which gave 80 bhp at 4800rpm. In races they drove at 4000 rpm giving about 75bhp and a top speed of 175kmh.

At the same time Bugattis had 90bhp, Sunbeams 103bhp and Fiats 130bhp, thus the need for the aerodynamics. The car covered the Circuit de Touraine race of 799km in an average speed of 105kmh.

bijapos

There is a fairly comprehensive list of Voisins cars here, along with photos.

I got most of my info from this book which I can highly recommend.

Anan1

bijapos wrote: »

I doubt it had gearing, the C6 was a race car and would be driven at high speed anyway. The car was underpowered compared to its rivals and the propellor saved power loss to a water pump.

Presumably at the expense of aerodynamic drag though, there's no such thing as a free lunch! Still a nice idea, though.