Keith Moody
An Austin Allegro Equipe that had been fully restored made £3600 when the hammer went down at auction on Wednesday, 26 November, reports AROnline’s sister site, Honest John Classics. The 1980-registered car, which went under the hammer at Brightwells in Leominster, was treated to £10,000 worth of work so, although that’s top money for an Allegro, it’s still something of a bargain.
A trio of BL’s finest took the honours for cheapest cars of the day. A 1982 Austin Maxi 2 1750HL made £200, while a 1979 Allegro 1100DL went for £350 and a 1987 Mini Metro L fetched £250. That meant you could have come home with three cars and still had change from a grand.
That said, none was in as good nick as the Equipe – and at £3,600 for such a rare piece of late Seventies/early Eighties automotive kitsch, we reckon this was rollicking good value…
You can find out more from the Brightwell’s Auction here.
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What a ‘show stopper’ this car would be! Could you possibly leave it in the works car park for the first time without receiving comments all day ?!
Hard to believe some years ago that a restored Allegro Equipe would even exist in 2014. Today, however, £3,600 does not seem unreasonable.
It is beautiful. I have always wanted one.
I hope they have not restored the alloys to original condition. IIRC, they used to leak all the time and due to the metal being porous.
Kitsch of the highest order. Really deserves to be in a museum.
Would actually look quite smart if the hideous stripes were taken off it, (which alot of original Equipe owners thankfully did…)
An exception was a particular immaculate example I used to see most workdays on my drive home many years ago, piloted rather slowly by an older chap – rather too slowly one day, when I came across what was left of it just after it had been T-boned by some forgettable modern at a notorious junction.
I had witnessed before that said Equipe driver was also notoriously slow in pulling-out, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before it was going to happen.
Thankfully no-one seemed physicaly hurt, but that All-agro was surely dead.
Did anyone know what condition the Maxi was in for £ 200? I wonder if it falls into the category that used to be known as spares or repair. If it is one that can be fixed, this is a classic bargain as for all I’m not a huge Maxi fan, this is a practical classic, boasting a huge boot, space for five adults and a five speed gearbox/