HMC NEW Carlton CDX warning: CONTAINS VELOUR

[sharley17194]

On 18/06/2025 at 19:07, SiC said:

Plumbing copper pipe works well iirc

Our resident hydrolastic experts will know more 

@BeEP @sharley17194

late to the party but can confirm

[HMC]

A man of taste? 😂 Although depending on location, i could recreate this scene. Fancy dress optional

[N Dentressangle]

I'm going to say that's part of the old Westhill College of Education:

https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XWC

which would fit with locations local to Longbridge too.

BL seemed fond of bold modernist designs and architecture as a backdrop to their, er, very similar cars. Doesn't look like it's still standing from what I can see on Streetview, but maybe someone local to Selly Oak would be able to confirm.

[grogee]

Given that it was within spitting distance of my sofa, I took some pics of the '78 Allegro VPlah in case there's any exciting detail differences. 

And last night I watched this, I love all this old industry bile. Very much in @motorpunk' s wheelhouse as well, I bet he's already seen it though. 

 

 

[HMC]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Given that it was within spitting distance of my sofa, I took some pics of the '78 Allegro VPlah in case there's any exciting detail differences. 

And last night I watched this, I love all this old industry bile. Very much in @motorpunk' s wheelhouse as well, I bet he's already seen it though. 

 

 

Great, thanks!

Also is there the footprint of a tracing of an allegro just below the main vp1500 photos?

[Schaefft]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

A man of taste? 😂 Although depending on location, i could recreate this scene. Fancy dress optional

Having read the brochure text, how much does it really feel like a luxury car? You can throw plenty of tree on the dash but how supple is the ride or low are the noise levels?

[HMC]

3 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Having read the brochure text, how much does it really feel like a luxury car? You can throw plenty of tree on the dash but how supple is the ride or low are the noise levels?

Just feels like an allegro really 😂

Although a fresh set of refurbished displacers is supposed to help with the ride- which to be fair feels quite supple by modern standards, but the nitrogen escapes amd reduces the ride  quality over time, apparently.

But the interior does feel a bit special compared to a normal allegro which is basically mid 70s ecomomy car furnishings, exposed metal etc.

[HMC]

Fleet news- sold the nissan navara as it wasnt really me. 

Have a new front line vehicle… (it came with the air freshener BTW)

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Fleet news- sold the nissan navara as it wasnt really me. 

Have a new front line vehicle… (it came with the air freshener BTW)

Rover 45, but what engine? I guess the V6 doesn't have a redline that high up?

[HMC]

31 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Rover 45, but what engine? I guess the V6 doesn't have a redline that high up?

Its a 1.8, saloon. 

[bramz7]

It's amazing how much difference an actual colour, alloys, lashings of (tasteful) chrome, leather and the saloon shape make to the 45.

A silver, bare steel wheeled hatchback just isn't the same. 

[HMC]

19 hours ago, bramz7 said:

It's amazing how much difference an actual colour, alloys, lashings of (tasteful) chrome, leather and the saloon shape make to the 45.

A silver, bare steel wheeled hatchback just isn't the same. 

Agreed. The 45 tends to be the least well liked of the last gen models 99<

Im only really a fan of the saloon, that seems to have happier proportions, and the connoisseur has tasteful wheels and (iirc) leather front seats lifted out of the 75. The aircon works too.

I was pondering the products of THE FIRM earlier, and as the poshest, smallest saloon on the books, a VDP1500 and a 45 connoisseur saloon share some things in common.

 

Meanwhile the white vdp is proving a very reliable little runabout. Pottering locally at leisure in a small town probably hides most of the shortcomings of the AP 4 speed auto. 

Meanwhile the blue VDP awaits recommissioning. One former lady keeper, and far more original. I should get some pics of it up at some stage.

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, HMC said:

Pottering locally at leisure in a small town probably hides most of the shortcomings of the AP 4 speed auto. 

That box was in my old Lancia Trevi. Wasn’t brilliant, but wasn’t trouble either, unlike the Renault chocolatebox as fitted to the talking Safrane.  Which says more about Renault than AP. The Trevi is very much still about and has visited the NEC carpet, no less.

[Lord Sterling]

On 02/07/2025 at 18:21, N Dentressangle said:

I'm going to say that's part of the old Westhill College of Education:

https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XWC

which would fit with locations local to Longbridge too.

BL seemed fond of bold modernist designs and architecture as a backdrop to their, er, very similar cars. Doesn't look like it's still standing from what I can see on Streetview, but maybe someone local to Selly Oak would be able to confirm.

Local to Selly Oak here. Ma_Sterling lives in Selly Oak as did I for rather too long.

The Westhill building in the link does still exist and is just off Bristol Road nearer the City Centre of Birmingham. The building below, called the 'Frank Price Building' is further out near Weoley Castle abd thus closer to Longbridge....

On 02/07/2025 at 17:59, HMC said:

A man of taste? 😂 Although depending on location, i could recreate this scene. Fancy dress optional

I know of the building. The actual building no longer exists, it was demolished around 2013:

I actually took a picture of blue Micra in this very carpark albeit right by the sign. I may have a photo of building itself as around that time I did a lot of going out and photoing places just to pass the time.

This is the current view from roughly the same place.

It is pretty much a straight road from there to Longbridge, only difference being there being an added bypass by Northfield.

[N Dentressangle]

Top local knowledge - thanks.

Shame an at least slightly distinctive / interesting 60's building was demolished for a blander, modern version of the same thing. Hey ho.

[HMC]

VDP news-

1. the heritage cert has been dispatched from gaydon- so soon we will know a little more about when was built, and where it was dispatched to. I wonder will it detail when the shell was completed at longbridge - then (after being driven with a slave seat down the  m/way to kingsbury in north london) will it have the VDP works dates on it too? 

The Allegro was the last vestige of this practice with the trimming being done at a separate works. A far cry from bespoke bodies being coachbuilt, and the VDP works was wound up entirely by the end of the 70s.

2. I bought some damaged mk2 escort ghia trim rings to replace the missing ones and modified them to fit the allegro wheels- £18 for the 4 seemed better value than £150 for 4 new. (plus they would show the rest of the car up!) after someone painted the wheels black  it was kind of asking for them to be re instated.

[HMC]

Got the heritage cert back today….

It marries up to the suspicion that its this VDP that was spotted on the Isle Of Man in 2003.

I was also interested to read the car was built in Jan 1975, but only dispatched to the vanden plas works some 5 months later. Maybe low demand or possible a sign of the turmoil at the plant around that time?

[HMC]

[HMC]

VDP news-

I have submitted a request to the DVLA to have the white mk1 re registered on an N plate. This all sounds rather rivet countery but it was built in early 1975, and was only registered with the DVLA in 2020 after coming back from the isle of man (on a P suffix) There are very few “N” plate VDPS- and only ever about 3,000 mk1 vdp1500s made- so I wanted to double down on its earlyness by seeing if it can go onto an “N”- i’ve submitted a few things to prove its age- and we will see 🤓

Meanwhile ive started the overhaul of the braking system on the Ilkeston VDP. 

Ugly little thing isnt it!

[Noel Tidybeard]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

 

Ugly little thing isnt it!

don't be mean- it's bee ay oo tiful

[Austin-Rover]

On 10/07/2025 at 13:56, HMC said:

Ooh, the Austin 3 Litre furthest left outside the showroom, please! 😍

[Austin-Rover]

I was on the IoM for my holidays in 2023 - did the TT circuit in the Allegro (as is the rules! 😄) 

 

[N Dentressangle]

20 hours ago, HMC said:

Ugly little thing isnt it!

I wouldn't say many older cars are what I'd call ugly, but the Allegro isn't a shape I've ever liked.

I was born in 1970 so grew up with the things, and could never work out how anyone could draw something that looked so crap. Even the Maxi, whilst no oil painting, has a certain austere functionality to it. Rubbish like the Princess has actually grown on me, although there are still some fucked up bits on them - the wheel arches and rear light panel in particular.

I guess the looks are part of the charm these days, but still not sure whether one will ever join my otherwise catholic collection of BL crap.

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Austin-Rover said:

Ooh, the Austin 3 Litre furthest left outside the showroom, please! 😍

That’s an 1800/2200.

The image is distorted, granted

[Matty]

3 hours ago, Austin-Rover said:

I was on the IoM for my holidays in 2023 - did the TT circuit in the Allegro (as is the rules! 😄) 

 

Love the spotlight covers

[Boycie]

23 hours ago, HMC said:

VDP news-

I have submitted a request to the DVLA to have the white mk1 re registered on an N plate. This all sounds rather rivet countery but it was built in early 1975, and was only registered with the DVLA in 2020 after coming back from the isle of man (on a P suffix) There are very few “N” plate VDPS- and only ever about 3,000 mk1 vdp1500s made- so I wanted to double down on its earlyness by seeing if it can go onto an “N”- i’ve submitted a few things to prove its age- and we will see 🤓

Meanwhile ive started the overhaul of the braking system on the Ilkeston VDP. 

Ugly little thing isnt it!

Beauty is in the eye of the Noddy Holder 

[timolloyd]

5 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

I was born in 1970 so grew up with the things, and could never work out how anyone could draw something that looked so crap.

I think that’s the issue. No-one drew what actually turned up at the end of the production line.

The original drawings show a wider yet leaner design. 

[D.E]

2 minutes ago, timolloyd said:

I think that’s the issue. No-one drew what actually turned up at the end of the production line.

The original drawings show a wider yet leaner design. 

[Austin-Rover]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

Love the spotlight covers

Thanks - made them myself. They're generic Wipac driving lamps with the usual Wipac plastic cover. The plugholes are vinyls from eBay that happened to be the correct size. Genuine BL lamp covers go for megabucks if they ever come up for sale. 

[ETCHY]

On 11/07/2025 at 17:49, HMC said:

VDP news-

I have submitted a request to the DVLA to have the white mk1 re registered on an N plate. This all sounds rather rivet countery but it was built in early 1975, and was only registered with the DVLA in 2020 after coming back from the isle of man (on a P suffix) There are very few “N” plate VDPS- and only ever about 3,000 mk1 vdp1500s made- so I wanted to double down on its earlyness by seeing if it can go onto an “N”- i’ve submitted a few things to prove its age- and we will see 🤓

Meanwhile ive started the overhaul of the braking system on the Ilkeston VDP. 

Ugly little thing isnt it!

I think the head on view is where it works best. 

I do think they look better now than they did then. I always thought some decent wheels or wheel trims would've helped. The ones on the series 2 HL are better.

Oddly the hubcaps on your white one don't look as domed somehow as those I've seen on some & it looks better for it.

They're no beauty but they are different & daft enough to be sort of cool imo.