First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (or Arse)

[Drum]

Ewan MacColl, Kirtsy's dad, wrote that song for Peggy Seeger. Peggy sings a version of it which i prefer to the Roberta Flack one.

On topic: in the 70s, the shooting lodge down the road form our house used to be occupied for the months of August to October by a shooting party from England. The main man was Nelson Dance and he would arrive with his entourage including his butler. His loader would be sent ahead in the range rover while he came up in his car. One year it was a Jensen Interceptor. I had only ever seen one on a Trump card before and was blown away to see one in the flesh.

[LynehamHerc]

I remember seeing a new 7 series in the hall of Frankfurt Terminal 1 before they were released in the UK. It was just after 9/11 if remember correctly.
The other thing that I remember about that day is that there was a suspicious package in another part of the terminal. It was just cordoned off by black and yellow striped tape. Presumably the German tape had a special blast nullifying feature.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Anyone that’s driven through Milton Keynes on the A421 from Buckingham to the M1 at J13 will have noticed a roundabout too many , yes in MK, who’d a thunk it?
Anyway up until 1987 that was where the A421 finished, there was supposed to be a J13a that never happened, there was a big layby /carpark thing where Sam used to park his Commer Walk Thru Kebab van from 10pm until about 3am.
In 1985 you would find a group of Brummies there, most nights. Drinking coffee and having a cheeky midnight lunch break. There was usually at least one SD1 there, plus

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a few of these in various levels of disguise, usually LHD and always with 4 plastic headless torsos strapped into the seat belts.
A misspent youth going to the pub then to Sam’s for a kebab meant me , my brother and a couple of mates, got to know the drivers and chatted about the cars. We didn’t believe them when they said the 2.0 ones were faster than 2600’s or that the V6 could keep up with a Vitesse , Although the smoking brakes and smells coming off the cars pointed to the fact they were giving them a good workout.

[mercrocker]

Ewan MacColl, Kirtsy's dad, wrote that song for Peggy Seeger. Peggy sings a version of it which i prefer to the Roberta Flack one.

On topic: in the 70s, the shooting lodge down the road form our house used to be occupied for the months of August to October by a shooting party from England. The main man was Nelson Dance and he would arrive with his entourage including his butler. His loader would be sent ahead in the range rover while he came up in his car. One year it was a Jensen Interceptor. I had only ever seen one on a Trump card before and was blown away to see one in the flesh.

I didn't know the song was written by Kirsty's Dad.....every day is indeed a schoolday.

Shooting parties around where I grew up attracted a similar entourage of money and its otherwise seldom-seen carriages. I saw my first Aston Martin DB6 Shooting Brake and Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman in one particular Sixties pheasant season.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

It's amazing how the Alfasud looks so much better than the Allegro with such similar lines and proportions. The same could be said of the Mk1 Rover 800 and Alfa 164.

The exception, I always thought was the estate.
The Alfa wasjust a box whereas the Austin had a bit more design flair, maybe that’s why we didn’t get the Sud wagon. BL missed a trick ( quelle surprise!) by not making a plush trimmed 1750 estate as a sort of cut price Scimitar GTE.

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[mercrocker]

There was a Giardinetta on the Alfa Stand at the 1975 Motor Show in Earls Court - maybe as a test gauge for the UK market. I remember my mate's Dad looking at it. Yes, the Allegro Estate was far nicer and attractive enough to have appealed more widely than it did particularly with the twin headlamp Series III front end.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You can't compare an Alfasud with an Allegro, sorry. The Aggro might be interesting now but it was just porridge back then. BL pissing about with HyDragAss and the heavy long stroke cement mixer E Series, the Sud running rings around it with 1300 cc whilst having a much better ride. On coil springs.

It was exactly the car BL should have replaced the 1100 with and they could have made 2 million of them.

[Hooli]

All you can say for the Agro estate is it's better looking than the saloon/hatch (I can't even recall what it is).

[mercrocker]

Apologies. I like porridge! In any case the Allegro had the decency not to dissolve back into razor blades after 3 winters. The Alfasud was certainly a far better drive but build quality suffered as a result of similar socio-political expediency to that which blighted our own industry - just in a different country.

Rev is right though - the Allegro should have been engineered to be a world-beater.

[LynehamHerc]

If I remember correctly the Sud was a completely stand alone clean sheet design whereas the Allegro used carry over and shared parts. BL trying to cover all bases by having both Fwd and Rwd saloons just meant that any investment or development was diluted. A mate of mine had a 1750 Sport which replaced an Austin 1300 and seemed to be a good car.