In 1973 British Leyland got a message from the heavens and created perhaps the greatest British car to roll off the production lines. The Austin Allegro was born. 35 years on the Allegro has a bit of a bad reputation for being quite an unreliable car. This reputation is not entirely unfounded but there are still many Allegros on the road and that speaks for itself!
Here is a television advertisment from way back in 1973 which we feel really shows the adventurous nature of the Allegro!
"Allegro - The new driving force from Austin". Genius!
Austin attempted to compete with Citroen's Hydropneumatic suspension system and do away with conventional suspension springs in favor of their newly developed Hydragas system. The test case for the Hydragas system was of course the Allegro. With a terrible reputation of gas slowly leaking and cars leaning to one side it makes the Allegro the most suitable and unsuitable choice of car for The Mongol Rally!
We aren't the first people to consider taking on such an impossible feat in such a bad choice of car. Take a look at these guys:
London to Tashkent... by Allegro - This is the furthest to our knowledge that an Allegro has ever travelled! Hommage will be paid as we pass through Tashkent and smash their record!
Staples to Naples... by Allegro
Plymouth to Dakar... by Allegro
Allegro Motorsport - These crazy bastards have put a V8 in an Allegro!