GIANT TEST
Family wagons on steroids. Team PC chooses the hot versions of five anniversary motors
These compact family cars all celebrate a significant anniversary in 2023. Okay, not quite the ZS, but since it's the hot version of the now 25 year old Rover 45, the ZS represents the very ethos of our gathering. Rather than source the original version of each model, we 've gone for the spicier option. These sporty versions of the Imp, Allegro, Maestro, 306 and Rover 45 would have sent neighbours’ curtains twitching furiously.
There’s a decade (or so) between the launch date of each motor, but the manufacturer’s intention was still the same. ‘What can we do to add some glamour and excitement to cars that would otherwise be classified as merely functional?’ So, don’t sit back and relax. Instead, sit forward and take note at the varying levels of investment and ingenuity exerted by design teams and project managers to turn their mutton into lamb.
AUSTIN ALLEGRO SPORT SPECIAL
In 1973 the barriers to creating a reasonably competitive sporting version of the Allegro were significant. The car was simply not designed for it. As development had proceeded Leyland accountants, keen to control costs, instructed engineers to install the existing E-Series engine, a long stroker better suited to a van or large car, and the low bonnet line as originally envisaged by designer, Harris Mann and his team was ditched – not the best template. It was chunky and practical, not rakish or slick, there was no hiding the shape. Today though, when I take in Mark Robinson’s Blaze 1974 SS I get it. It doesn’t lack excitement in the visual department with a vinyl roof and sill trim breaking up the flanks, and those futuristic wheels. Yes, it looks like a ‘clever package’ a ‘Practical Classic’ even, but it also looks like a car with attitude, the years have been kind and I can sense what the stylists were trying to achieve. It’s punchy.
Inside the SS I settle in behind a dash full
