1976 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas, 1485 cc. Registration numbe...

Hammer

£2,700

1976 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas, 1485 cc. Registration number PYB 99P. Chassis number VF4SJ 255200A. Engine number 43048.
Produced between 1974 and 1979, the Vanden Plas 1500 and 1750 models were upmarket versions of the Austin Allegro which had first appeared in 1973.
Allegros manufactured at the British Leyland factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, were sent to the Vanden Plas factory in Kingsbury, North London, to be fitted with a luxurious interior featuring leather seats, wall to wall carpeting, a walnut dashboard and walnut picnic tables. They also featured a new bonnet panel allowing for a prominent chrome grille. As with the Allegro, the body shell was suspended using the new Hydragas suspension system (derived from the previous Hydrolastic system used on the 1100/1300) which endowed the car with an outstanding ride.
BL's marketing men went to great lengths to distinguish the Vanden Plas models from the rest of the Allegro range, never badging or referring to them as Allegros. "Luxurious yet unostentatious, powerful yet economical, the Vanden Plas 1500 is truly a car for the discriminating motorist," claimed the sales brochure. "A car you can take anywhere - to a point-to-point or to the Hilton - its simple elegance puts cars twice its size to shame and its delightful practicality means it can happily go where the monsters fear to tread. Totally international in concept, it is equally at home in Rome or Paris or Vienna - yet its distinctive air of good breeding is unmistakably British."
PYB, in Sandglow with a tan interior was first registered to Mr Sidney Pritchard of Lee on Solent on the 18th May 1976; he paid Wadham Stringer of Taunton £2,709.52 for it, part exchanging his 1972 Vanden Plas 1300; extras were Cadulac corrosion protection and front mud flaps. It was serviced by them every six months seventeen times until at 42,839 miles in April 1983 when Fine Cars took over the servicing, at 46,889, 56,806, 79,611, 83,974, 86,334 and 87,870 miles in 1995. During this time it had two visits to the body shop for repairs to the front nearside wing. It then began to change hands and 2013 it was in Pontefract with John Meads, and then Alan Garbett of the same town before it went south to Jamie Cornwall for his partner Kirsty Dave of Callington in 2016 when the mileage was 90,549. Our vendor bought it from them in August 2017.
He has replaced the gearbox with a reconditioned unit from the Owners Club, taken the engine out, detailing it and the engine bay and rebuilt the front suspension and brakes, dealing with the MOT advisories of 2016, along with a general tidy up. It is now being sold as he has a new project and the car is surplus to requirements.
Rarely do we see a car with such a comprehensive service history, all of the service details, most of the MOT's, most of the tax discs, the original invoice and order form. The photographs are testament to Mr Pritchard's carefully and cosseting ownership.
Sold with the V5C and a large history folder.