Vintage Thing No.23.3 - Allegro Equipe

Here's what an Allegro Equipe should look like. If you see one, take a look. They are incredibly rare.( Photo : Neal Carpenter)

This is a heart warming tale. Since I posted about the Allegro Equipe restoration project that appeared on Ebay back in late 2008 (VT No.23.1), this car has been restored to full working order. I didn't think it would happen but Neal Carpenter stepped up to the plate and did the deed.

"I bought it on eBay with a £800.00 starting price. I got it from a classic car journalist from Hayling Island near Portsmouth. It’s only a 3 owner car with 60k miles on the clock and good history with it. The last owner owned a garage and it was ready for the paint shop with new wings and rear quarters fitted then it stood for 15 years under cover I can only think that the owner died as I cannot find any more out.

"Me and my son Ryan (11 at the time) started stripping it down we took 2 months of sat/Sundays and ended up with just the shell left. We got some garden trolleys and moved the shell out of the garage and put it under the cover outside to give us room to work on refurbishing everything."

Neal had bought some panels that were surplus to requirements and through selling these on met John, a car restorer from Shrewsbury. As a result, John was commissioned to restore the shell while Neal and Ryan stripped and painted the running gear in Smoothrite. 

"By the time John was finished, I was just about ready for him. Every nut and bolt was replaced with HT zinc plated fasteners throughout with stainless suspension pipes, copper brake pipes etc.etc.etc.

"All the interior including the seat material was excellent after cleaning all the 15 year old sanding dust and grime off it.

When the body came back it took around 6 months to rebuild with help from a good friend as well on Saturday morning." 

In total the rebuild took just short of 3 years. One of the last jobs was to apply some unused 3M decals dating back at least to 1980. John took great care over this operation using a little heat in places. Having applied a coach strip to my Allegro many years ago in a very wobbly manner I'm pleased they turned out so well.

Once MOTed and on the road the car developed an annoying knocking noise,  which turned out to be the allegedly refurbished rack. It took another two racks to get this sorted.

"The few steering racks available anywhere are refurbished items and don’t seem to be up to any sort of standard i.e. internal bushes/collar crimped to make them tight again and then new boots and painted. All look good but probably not as good as the one you’re taking off. Mine was refurbed in the end by an independent and is perfect now."

So how does it go?

"It goes great! It's fast even by today’s standard. It surprised my 3 kids especially the near 17 year old. Our memories do forget all the standard things our 1970/80s cars came with. rattles, wind noise, etc. I used it a couple of times during last summer for work (50 mile round trip)and it drives in modern traffic as good as my modern car in a mix of single/dual track roads."

Neal went to say that last summer he didn't use it much and I can't blame him. 

"A guy from the club inspected the car and it's insured for £12000. He also said it’s the best one left in the world. Those are his words - not mine - but it made me smile for a long time."