Practically Classics Forum

hi everyone,

i'm new to the site and i would like to share my project with you.........

This is my latest project, a 1975 austin allegro 1300 sdl estate.
unfortunately most of the history has been lost but I am told, and the story has been backed up by a member from allegro international club who researched the car, that it was an ex press car but i'm yet to find any press photos.
it's in a bit of a sorry state and needs quite a bit of welding, so far it looks like it needs front wings and front panel, 2 possibly 4 floor pans and a few patches on the rear inner arches. it is also missing an inner door pull and a rear wiper motor.
but first things first, it needs a damn good clean.

Looks like you have your work cut out with it, but it's nice to see BL tin getting restored rather than recycled these days Might be worth having a look on http://www.aronline.co.uk in case there are any press photos etc on there if you've not done so already.

I'm sure OCO will be along shortly now you've mentioned Allegro

Already well aware of it due to club discussions, Rob

updates and more photos.....

here are a few pictures from last week after the first big clean.





I spent an hour down the garage today and started the strip down removing the front bumper,indicators,grill,front panel vents and number plate. there was unfortunately 2 casualty's, the bumper has came away from the o/s bracket probably caused by the bump it had years ago and the o/s indicator has 2 studs missing and was screwed in sideways to the wing with a self tapper, again probably as a consequence of the bump and its sods law that the spare I have is for the n/s!


engine bay, largely original except for the heavy duty battery



here are a few pictures of the worst of the rot
firstly the n/s inner wing, sorry about the finger!



n/s inner rear arch, the o/s is similar but smaller



I read somewhere that series 1 estates were only fitted with rear mud flaps, were these added after sales?
n/s front wing



o/s wing/sill



o/s front floor pan underneath rear seat mount



o/s front floor pan/inner step




the car came with a few random bags and boxes of bits, here they are.....







the original hub caps in the above photo are quite bent and rusty, are new old stock ones available?

and finally here is a photoshop image that a friend of mine quickly knocked up to try and convince me to keep it stock but lower it, I must say it does look good and is very tempting

last week I removed the n/s wing so that I could get to the rot behind it easier, here are the pictures.....
wing removed

inner sill holes

inner wing holes

i'll hopefully get the holes welded up this week and either repair or replace the wing.

today i've been to the reading room at the heritage motor museum at gaydon, the build records confirm that it was built 11/03/75 and despatched on 18/4/75.
the interesting thing on the records is the dist code (distribution?) is 9037 which according to a leyland document shown to me is the code for A-M (austin morris) publicity department the rest of the codes and numbers aren't well documented so maybe someone can help...... one section of the record had the following,

week/colour/item build
23 / 85 / 01

week 23 is the week starting 02 june (1975) the week the allegro estate was released
colour 85, is this the code for citroen yellow? I guess it must be!
item build 01, does this mean this was the very first citroen yellow estate built?

other than that it's guess work at the moment, i've found some press interior shots that might be my car but I can't be sure.

however... colin corke left me a little gem in the office, an unused press photo taken outside studley castle (which leyland owned at the time) of all the press estates and mine is in there!
i'm waiting now for a copy of the photo but for now the search continues

this could be my car, unfortunately the press images are black and white, the interior is dark enough to be navy and the paintwork is bright enough to be citroen but at this stage it is still guesswork.





and I thought I would share what little history I have with you all, I have crudely edited the previous owners home address even though I have found out that he died in 2002 which sadly means I can't write to him and ask for more information

this is the most interesting item I have



as this previous owner was an employee of leyland I also have this, the image shows both front and rear



the second log book (the first being leylands)



the 1st mot pass sheet




and thats about it apart from a few sorn papers and 2 more recent pass/fail mot sheets

I received some thumbnails yesterday from the heritage museum of the estate launch photo outside studley castle which has my estate in it.
i'll check with them if it's ok before I post a picture of it. i'm just waiting for a price then i'm going to order a decent sized copy which will clearly show my registration.

tonight's progress...



the rot behind the bottom of the n/s wing, where the inner sill,door step, floor and inner wing all meet together has now been chopped out and i've fabricated and welded new parts in.
i'm quite pleased with the result it just needs another going over with the angle grinder and a few pinholes in the welds re-welding. i've covered most of the inner wing, a post and the repair sections with waxoil/underseal just to protect it for now but once all the body work is done i'll take it back and paint it as it was originaly.

today's progress

the plan was to remove the o/s wing, remove the edges of the front panel, patch up the inner wings and get the new (old) wings on.
unfortunately the front panel needed a lot more taken off than I first thought and for a rusty panel it was held on really well!
Plus the drivers side inner wing was worse than the n/s, the scuttle ends needed a repair or two and the inner wing lip was 80% rotten.

pictures.....

O/s wing removed, looks like a mini clubman now



o/s inner wing before the grinding and chopping started



front panel chopped up



rot



scuttle repair 1 ready for a new lip



all patched up



i'm pleased with the way the inner wing looks now, I just need to clean it up a bit better and I can move on to the front panel.


I received a copy of the allegro estate launch photo today thanks to the heritage museum.

and here it is....




Close up you can clearly see it's my car

I had a few hours down the garage this week and got a fair bit of welding done to the front panel. The bottom grill/fog light areas have now been welded and ground back and just need a small skim of filler. The bottom if the panel is welded but not finished and half of the o/s light mounting panel has been chopped out repaired and replaced.
I also mocked up the o/s wing and everything lines up so I've done something right

I made a small amount of progress last night but sadly the battery on my phone was flat so no pictures sorry.

i've wire wheeled the inner wing area and repaired on the o/s and chopped out the 3 rusty areas - front end of the sill where it meets the wing, the area next to this on the inside of the arch/floor and at the very front where the chassis bolts on. I have a repair panel for that part but as the n/s is worse I decided to keep it and just copy the part I needed with mild steel.
i've just got to finish grinding back the welds, paint it with the black stuff and I can finally get the new wing on.

were the cars painted with an under seal on the underneath and inside the wings before being sprayed? it certainly seamed that way as it was flicking off the wheel onto my face!