Owning an Austin Allegro is a de-facto experiment of sorts to see if a completely hands off owner can run a 1970s car, and a notoriously problematic one at that, or if the whole exercise is economically unfeasible. Money pits have broken many more mechnically minded men than me but, what with it being end times for the almost extinct and yet still keenly priced Allegro, it was a pretty much now-or-never situation in terms of owning one. And no doubt for reasons unfathomable to many, this is the car for me. Having at least got the Allegro home it now urgently needed shelter and a health inspection. I'd bought the 1300 SDL MK 1 during a rare spell of cash flow and my initial TLC budget extended to no more than £500. I hoped that would be enough to make her roadworthy and initiate one or two improvements. It wasn’t long before Covid-19 cast a spell over the land and normal business was suspended. Nonetheless, my local garage was still in action and for all intents and purposes the loc