This chap thinks that British Leyland cars were good!
Discussion
The Allegro was a disgrace.
Roll back to the 70's, a brand new car and the boot used to fill with water, solution under warranty, drill a hole in the bottom of the boot from the main agent, not fix the way the water gets in!
This was the top of the range 1750 SS, so nippy. 70-ish outside lane, M6, bonnet catch fails, WHAM. Windscreen shatters, bonnet folds over the roof. I was 4 at the time, naturally not driving but and remember it surprisingly well. Best of all was the wait for a replacement bonnet, driving around with a piece of wood fastened over the engine bay. The dealer said there was a 8 week wait due to strike action. I remember driving back with my dad, who proceeded to find the bonnet he had rested behind the guard rail and with a hack saw cut out the hinges to bring back to the dealer – and was happy to do so!
Still a dutiful buy British consumer, my father orders a Stag (the kettle). Great. Dealer rings and say we can't get the car for another 6 months, but if you pay an extra £500 – we can pull a few strings!
Having told the BL dealer to f
k off, he under advice from a friend he ordered a BMW 2002tii. Which he said was a complete revelation, reliable and fast even by todays standards. He liked the car so much he ran it for 150,000 miles in 4 years, doing big miles across the UK with work. It never broke down, it did not use any oil or water, not rattle or a squeak and needed nothing other than servicing and tyres. He just had to live with the paranoia of residual WW2 anti-german feelings. He sold the car to a good friend who ran it for another 50,000 miles.
Still he e did buy a brand new Mini Cooper MrkII, unregistered, no number plates from a pub in Longbridge. It was much easier than buying cars from the main agent apparently!
Roll back to the 70's, a brand new car and the boot used to fill with water, solution under warranty, drill a hole in the bottom of the boot from the main agent, not fix the way the water gets in!
This was the top of the range 1750 SS, so nippy. 70-ish outside lane, M6, bonnet catch fails, WHAM. Windscreen shatters, bonnet folds over the roof. I was 4 at the time, naturally not driving but and remember it surprisingly well. Best of all was the wait for a replacement bonnet, driving around with a piece of wood fastened over the engine bay. The dealer said there was a 8 week wait due to strike action. I remember driving back with my dad, who proceeded to find the bonnet he had rested behind the guard rail and with a hack saw cut out the hinges to bring back to the dealer – and was happy to do so!
Still a dutiful buy British consumer, my father orders a Stag (the kettle). Great. Dealer rings and say we can't get the car for another 6 months, but if you pay an extra £500 – we can pull a few strings!
Having told the BL dealer to f
k off, he under advice from a friend he ordered a BMW 2002tii. Which he said was a complete revelation, reliable and fast even by todays standards. He liked the car so much he ran it for 150,000 miles in 4 years, doing big miles across the UK with work. It never broke down, it did not use any oil or water, not rattle or a squeak and needed nothing other than servicing and tyres. He just had to live with the paranoia of residual WW2 anti-german feelings. He sold the car to a good friend who ran it for another 50,000 miles.Still he e did buy a brand new Mini Cooper MrkII, unregistered, no number plates from a pub in Longbridge. It was much easier than buying cars from the main agent apparently!
Bogracer said:
Such a shame really but hey. JLR is going great guns.
Completely.One of the most surprising journey's I've ever made was in an Austin A110 Westminster, 3spd (converted) with over drive. Had pace to stick with modern traffic on the motorway, was as comfortable and quiet as you like, somehow managed to return near 30mpg on a run and by the time we'd arrived at Cranleigh (from Merseyside) we weren't at all fatigued. All this in a car from the 60s.
I had a 2200 HLS Princess 1980 model and although it never had a day without a fault from new, it was a lovely smooth and quiet car with bags of room in it and a good on the road price. The dealer network were morons, and the QA in the factory non-existent. Had Nissan built it the car would have been superb. The styling wasn't to all people's tase, but styling never is.
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