The British Motor Museum hold several free weekends, in which you can use the ample parking areas to hold club events, which along with the unique content housed within the two buildings, offers a petrolhead one of the best car-themed days in the UK.
Last Sunday saw a celebration of 50 years of the much-maligned Austin Allegro. Organised by the Allegro Club International, 81, yes! 81 cars turned up and proved to be a genuinely fascinating day. Survival rates of the Allegro are considerably higher than other BL models of the period, partly due to their reasonably rust-resistant design – no doubt a major consideration by BL to counterbalance its predecessor’s woeful reputation for corrosion and its slightly older demographic who tended to garage and look after their cars.
Amongst the receptive and friendly attendees was Victoria and her 1975 1300 Super Deluxe. She admitted buying it after the well-known lethal mix of wine and eBay, she found herself the proud owner of the car and now uses it as an occasional runabout. Its reliability was positively tested on the day, as she drove from the South West to Birmingham and then down to Warwickshire and home again with no problems. The car might be a crossover quartic/circular steering wheel model but the errant ways of the Longbridge workforce make it difficult to confirm whether this early 1975 car had it from the factory or whether it has been retrofitted. Either way, Victoria wasn’t phased by the chin-stroking debate about the wheel’s authenticity and enjoys the retro car experience and the goodwill it attracts.
