1980 Allegro Equipe - Another All-Aggro project.

[Lankytim]

Just tonked from Lanky acres in Stoke on Trent down to Haywards heath near Gatwick Airport and back to collect another piece of prize BL tat. 450 odd miles in total (M25 and weather major FAIL). Anyway the star car in question is an Allegro equipe. For those that don't know the equipe was BLs answer to the Golf GTI and the fast escorts of the time. Its basically a 3 door agg with a twin carb 1750 motor and uprated cam. A swanky sports interior, alloy wheels, uprated instruments, nice steering wheel and front spoiler all added to the effect and no doubt struck fear into every GTI driver at the traffic lights drag race.

Not a huge amount were made as they didn't sell well (Golf GTI or Allegro equipe, your call ) and BL had problems with the silver paint all equipes came in, meaning they rotted out very quickly. As a result only 7 are known to exist according to the club. This is a "new" discovery so that makes 8 left!

The Agg had been stuck in a garage since 1987 after it suffered minor damage to the OSF wing, it was going to be repaired straight way but for whatever reason it was just forgotten about. The elderly occupier of the house the garage was attached to was moving out so her son was given the task of getting rid. After being untouched for over 20 years I was surprised to see the hydragas suspension was still up and the tyres held air. The handbrake had been left on for all those years but with a few good pushes and pulls the rear drums cracked off and the little agg was pushed onto my trailer. Ive found that its got FSH up to its current mileage of 50,000 miles.

I haven't had much time to check the Agg over thoroughly but theres quite a bit of tin worm, especially at the front end. It will need a new front valence and O/S inner and outer wing and thats after 2 Min's of looking. Its bound to be much more moth eaten. A normal allegro would simply be stripped and scrapped but given its rarity I think its worth the effort and expense of saving.

I haven't been able to get the bonnet up as the cable has jammed and I don't know if the engine is seized or not. Given how easy it was to free off the brakes theres a good chance that the engine can be revived, it must have been a pretty dry environment. After 20 years the clutch and hydraulics will all need renewing as a matter of course!

Anyway, heres some pics "as found"




in 10 minutes she was ready to go!




Its currently stuck on my long suffering in-laws drive awaiting my attention. Ill get the bonnet up and have a good poke around for more rust. No doubt theres going to be loads, Ill then inspect the engine and see if I can get it to turn over or even run!

[Samage]

An immense find! Good luck with it!

[Deleted]

intresting like to see pics of the interior

[Lankytim]

The interior looks in great shape but resembles something from an Egyptian tomb with all the dust and dead spiders. I havent got any pics but as soon as I do ill stick em up!

[MiniDan]

Fantastic find Tim!

Looking forward to seing more of this!

[dollywobbler]

OOOF! Awful BL Tin in super-rare "sporty" mode FTW!! Good luck with it.

[skinley]

I can't say that I like these cars but that is a great find, I didn't even know there was a 'sporty' Allegro until now.
Does anyone know any facts and figures? (bhp, 0-60 etc).

[GeezerGarage]

i so wanna do one of these, was in one with a friend once when the front struts tore off, giving it a one time only lowrider move.

[Deleted]

bin looking for something bl lately anyone have a princess sitting around

[ChasR]

I'll have to show my friend this who quite liked his Allegro (a very tidy 1981 998cc HLE , as I'm sure he'll probably like it.

I hope it isn't too crusty for you mind you .

[alex]

Didn't know such a model existed!

[Nathan]

were the tyres out of Air by the time you got it back, they were buggers for that LOL.

Looks sweet though.

[xbo11ox]

A few years ago I found a brand new genuine BL front wing for an Allegro just lying in the back lane behind my house! What a find. I carefully stored it away along with some other obscure panels that I had turned up whilst crawling along the M6 contraflow that was my late teenage/early twenties years.... only for my then GF's dad to bin the lot when he was having a tidy up, how gutting.

[captainwow]

Awesome find!

Have never seen an Equipe on the road,remember wanting one ever since I saw one on "The Car's the Star" with good old Quentin!

NICE!!

[Lankytim]

I don't know if the tyres have gone flat yet, they were ok 5 hours after I picked it up but thats all I know. Makes no odds anyway, all the rimmz need a good refurb and the tyres definitely need binning and new rubber whacked on instead. I don't need to learn the "old tyre" lesson again!

Stephen, the "strut" that collapsed you mentioned was probably one of the front tie bars ripping out (Allegros don't have struts) The inner wing/chassis area where the tie bar mounts are located are notorious for rotting from the inside and allowing the tie bars to pull out under heavy braking/cornering/trip to Woolworths leading to embarrassment and p!ss taking. I don't want to jinx myself but both the tie bar mountings on this particular agg seem to be very good. They haven't had the screwdriver test yet though....

Mr B, NOS allegro wings are said to be £200+ a piece now with the drivers wing being almost extinct! Ive got a pair of good used panels in my garage though, complete with about 6 inches of inner wing. Maybe I should have cut 12 inches?

Heres a BL pic from the equipe brochure, as you can see it was so quick pedestrians found it difficult to get out of the way.


And one of the clubs equipes, I think this is the best one in the world.



You can see the distinctive side stripes and bonnet logo which my example is lacking. Many equipes were resprayed under warranty due to the cack paint and loads ended up losing out on the garish decals. Shame!

Ive just been told by someone in the club that theres 9 complete examples remaining, plus this "new" one and Kyle from this very forum has just won an equipe in bits on ebay for £49. They're multiplying!

[qwerty]

WOWZERS! That is truly fantabulous! I love it! It has to be revived and the side stripes re done!

[ajchopper]

Heres a pic of my dads,back in 84.Thats me in the pic with my grandad...Yes i know the shorts are dodgy... ;D

[Anglevan]

I remember going to Bingley show in West Yorks in 1980 with my dad and the local BL dealer had a stand. An Equipe was pride of place on the stand and my dad was having a good nose round the BL tat. Suffice to say we didn't get a BL he bought a chevette instead.

Keep those pictures coming and be good to see those lovely stripes back on it ... Good luck with the project

[Lankytim]

Interesting to see the black areas, I thought mine was covered in dodgy rust proofing but looks like its meant to be like that.

Great pic ajchopper! I recon your Dads must have been resprayed too as its minus the bright decals.

[ajchopper]

Oct 27, 2008 20:20:13 GMT Lankytim said:

Interesting to see the black areas, I thought mine was covered in dodgy rust proofing but looks like its meant to be like that.

Great pic ajchopper! I recon your Dads must have been resprayed too as its minus the bright decals.

He said they were availible with or without the stripes.I asked him that a while back.I do know that at three years old it had rust bubbles...I got excited when i saw yours and dug out the old photos just to find it.lol.... ;D