James May

[bmcecosse]

Just watched the James May programme on BBC2 - he gives the poor old Allegro a real hammering - but honestly - I though the Marina was much worse ! Worth watching on catch-Up if you missed it earlier.

[philthehill]

Yes it was a good programme.
I like James May's style of presentation.
Pity the poor old Allegro designer not getting his way.
Having owned both a Marina 1.8 estate and an Ital 1.7 estate I did not find either of them that bad. The 1.8 was the better of the two though.

[bmcecosse]

Harris Mann famously designed the TR7. Which I think looks great in my convertible version , but terrible in the coupe. I suspect he designed the Conv first - and then was forced to add a roof for the USA sales. I was once fog-bound in Birmingham and decided to hire a car and drive home - they only had a 1.8 Marina left - it was the worst car I have ever driven. When I arrived back at Glasgow Airport and was able to dump it and pick up my Capri - it was like getting in to an Aston Martin by comparison!

[philthehill]

Well you must have had a bad one is all I can say - the 1.8 Marina Estate (with the 5 bearing crankshaft) I had gave good service and was used and abused and never let me down and was totally reliable; and because the body had Ziebart injected into the body cavity from new it never showed any signs of rust whilst in my ownership.
Phil

[olderisbetter]

The original design they showed of the allegro was quite a good looking car , Reminds me alot of Alfa Romeo coupe models, As for the marina models my uncle used to work at British Leyland and when i asked him what job he did he told me he was in charge of painting the rust on and loosening bolts, but i have had the pleasure of driving the Marina TC version that was tuned in Birmingham straight from the factory, They used to take the car appart and rebuild it with better parts, I am sure someone from around birmingham will rememeber the name of the company.

[les]

The so called original drawing of the allegro, looked very much like the Princess, i think the actual allegro was a good car but once the label 'all agro' was thought of, it was like the Emperors new clothes, no one had the courage to deny it. I had two 1300 estate versions, they served me well.

[bmcecosse]

I agree - what we saw of the 'artwork' looked remarkably like the Princess. Another Leyland disaster of course....

[liammonty]

Harris Mann designed the Princess too, so likely not a coincidence that the design is similar to the Allegro

How reassuring to see that nobody was desperately offended by James May in this thread, unlike in the other one on this subject

[bmcecosse]

Certainly not me - I LIKE May's style and delivery.

[liammonty]

Me too. I'm looking forward to seeing the new 'Top Gear' with him, Clarkson and Hammond.

[bmcecosse]

From what I saw of that clown Evans on TV last night - the 'old' Top Gear is going to be dire......