RE: Project Retirement Rocket PART 1

[gadgeroonie]

It needs to be turbocharged

180 bhp will not be enough

[oagent]

gadgeroonie said:

It needs to be turbocharged

180 bhp will not be enough

180bhp would be more than enough. The floorpan has been rusting nicely since 1976.. much more power could pull the drivetrain straight out through the radiator in a cloud of brown dust.

The woody with the s/c V8 looks very fun.. even the wheels look standard at first glance.

[dinkel]

Excellent color too

[austin]

oagent said:

gadgeroonie said:

It needs to be turbocharged

180 bhp will not be enough

180bhp would be more than enough. The floorpan has been rusting nicely since 1976.. much more power could pull the drivetrain straight out through the radiator in a cloud of brown dust.

The woody with the s/c V8 looks very fun.. even the wheels look standard at first glance.

The "woody" is fact a Morris Minor, designed by the same chap who designed the Allegro, (and the Mini).

[PJR]

I always wanted to see something like this done to an old London Taxi cab. If it has been done before, then I certainly never saw it. Must be plenty of room in those for V8's and turbo's and what-not!
Good luck with the All-Agro.

P,

[Tonto]

Jonny,
Is this project likely to get onto 5th Gear?

[Pied Piper]

PJR said:

I always wanted to see something like this done to an old London Taxi cab. If it has been done before, then I certainly never saw it. Must be plenty of room in those for V8's and turbo's and what-not!
Good luck with the All-Agro.

P,

This has been done, Bez from the Happy Mondays had it done.

[red_rover]

austin said:

oagent said:

gadgeroonie said:

It needs to be turbocharged

180 bhp will not be enough

180bhp would be more than enough. The floorpan has been rusting nicely since 1976.. much more power could pull the drivetrain straight out through the radiator in a cloud of brown dust.

The woody with the s/c V8 looks very fun.. even the wheels look standard at first glance.

The "woody" is fact a Morris Minor, designed by the same chap who designed the Allegro, (and the Mini).

Erm - Issignosis did not design the Allegro!

[annodomini2]

jeremyc said:

Fantastic. And in a similar vein ....

Not the same one, but along the same lines, love these ultimate sleeper.

Close second are mid engined mini pickups running V8's under a cover.

Although no more minis please there's few enough pickups as is!

[AdeV]

Brilliant project, goood luck with it!

Jonny Smith said:

2-door models are one of those things that are scarce but not particularly desirable. A bit like adult measles.

[bigmartinbarnsle]

upmost respect to you I love q cars and descretion is the future!!! I have just removed thebrabus wheels of my my old s calss merc and put 8 holes back on to diguise what is under the bonnet and make it look a little more standard, loving the colour scheme keep up the good work

[cowellsj]

had a big smile on my face reading the article. best of luck with it all, would love hear how it turns out. bet you can't wait to see the looks of disbelief on the faces of your victims.

always wanted to do something like this myself, but was thinking more along the lines of puting a big turbo on my clio 172 that could be fun.

[thinfourth2]

in a similar note my fav street sleeper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XKETJV3oQ0

the 400Bhp micra

[LuS1fer]

red_rover said:

austin said:

oagent said:

gadgeroonie said:

It needs to be turbocharged

180 bhp will not be enough

180bhp would be more than enough. The floorpan has been rusting nicely since 1976.. much more power could pull the drivetrain straight out through the radiator in a cloud of brown dust.

The woody with the s/c V8 looks very fun.. even the wheels look standard at first glance.

The "woody" is fact a Morris Minor, designed by the same chap who designed the Allegro, (and the Mini).

Erm - Issignosis did not design the Allegro!

Nope. Allegro was designed by Spen King, also responsible for the SD1, TR7 and Princess.

[JonRB]

You should let the chaps at Practical Performance Car magazine know about this - it's exactly their type of thing and they'd almost certainly run a feature on you in the Reader's Cars section at the very least.

[JonRB]

tomTVR said:

Chris71 said:

.....think someone on here has a Morris Minor body on a cut and shut 200 SX chassis, that could be fun too!

The standard has been set http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=219069

I've just skim read the whole of that thread (took around an hour) - what a great build!

There was a very small piece in Practical Performance Car about it which completely failed to convey just how much work has been put into it so far. Great stuff though.

Edited by JonRB on Sunday 23 September 12:07

[RTH]

I was on car sales at a north London Austin Morris distributor during the Allegro launch in May 1973.

We had 200 new Allegros on the premises on launch day and did a great many promotions. Boxer Henry Cooper opened our showroom to the public the morning the car was announced ( these things were kept secret in those days ! )

In many ways technically the car was superior to the outgoing Austin 1100/1300 it replaced. However the' boiled egg' body styling lack of a tailgate and truly awful interior with its 'Ford Transit' dash and ludicrous square steering wheel ( it was a no cost recall for a round one for anyone who wanted it ) which only lasted a few months anyway caused sales resistance on sight and it was a very poor retail seller. Majority of sales were to fleets at big discounts.

The very top model the 2 door Allegro 1750 SS ( which had the twin carb OHC 1750 engine from the Maxi HiLine ) was actually a good drive only spoiled by the bouncy hydragas suspension ( though it dealt well with potholes)

But driving an Allegro even from day one was never a good look . rather than drive my demonstrator I took a 3 litre Capri out of used car stock and smoked that as a daily driver.

You have taken on a big challenge there that is a big power train to fit in an Allegro . Now you have told us about it ...........you have to get it done !!!

[MB Motorsport]

What on earth have i let myself in for !!!!!

When i was first approached by Jonny about this project it seemed very interesting , a perfect street sleeper . The car had to remain totally standard looking from the exterior but have something more interesting under the bonnet to win the traffic light drag race against the local neon glowing vauxhall powered boom box on wheels.

an allegro ...hmmm well a challenge certainly but something to get the old grey matter working

[Ballistic Banana]

Supperb stuff I remember this guy asking Q's in the Griffith Section a while back.

A TVR V8 5 litre into a Mark 1 Cortina http://www.mk1cortinav8.co.uk/


Think he has now moved to Oz and taken it with him.

BB

[rallycross]

sold a few of these back in the day, what awfull crap they were / are.

We used to refer to them as Allergy's, as could never get rid of them!