Harris Mann, who has died aged 85, came to prominence with his 1973 design for the Austin Allegro, perhaps the most lampooned British car of recent times. In the four decades since its demise, the unfairly derided Allegro has become a lazy shorthand for everything that was wrong with British Leyland – and even Britain itself – in the 70s, becoming the comic turn of the classic car world.
In truth, the Austin Allegro was much more warmly received than its latter-day critics would have you believe. It sold respectably for 10 years in a market that was much harsher than the one its million-plus selling predecessor had faced. The much-loved Austin 1100 – famously thrashed by John Cleese in Fawlty Towers – was a tough act to follow: when it became common knowledge that early Allegros leaked and would even pop their rear screens out if jacked up in the wrong place, some suggested that Leyland had managed the rare trick of building a new model that was worse than the old one. In fact, many Allegro sales were lost to simple shortages at a time when the Longbridge factory on the outskirts of Birmingham was embroiled in strike action.
