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My father worked for a company supplying power presses to carmakers. I recall him telling me that the outer layer of the steel coils would be rusty so should be cut off before feeding the clean steel into the presses. He turned up at a BL plant one day to see they were just feeding the rusty end straight into the press. He pointed out that the rusty metal was going into someone's car......i don't believe the rest of conversation was constructive.

In Brum we used to refer to the Agro as a HedgePig.

Great scene in the Grimleys when they were coming out on strike of the some Allegros they got hold of to mock up the Longbridge assembly line.

A taste of the Grimleys is aptly described in this little snippet




I lived that life with my father being what seemed on strike more often than at work. yes from the Longbridge plant.

The sadistic PE teacher in the show was just like ours!

Most have been rebuilt chassis up by now and modern materials will have been used in the process. My own car has had a new chassis and a few new body panels all well protected with cavity wax and other anti rust stuff and a much better finish than the factory ever did. It'll see me out at least. So I wouldn't let memories of rust problems stop anyone from having a classic now, just be certain the restoration has been done well, most have and TR's like Healeys have separate chassis so it's fairly easy to check.

I’ve had a TR3 and a TR3A, loved them. The 3’s and 4’s make great classic rally cars, the 4 a bit more civilised maybe. Don’t go for a TR4A though....and don’t buy one without overdrive although if cheap enough can be converted.
TR’s certainly don’t rust as bad as Morgans of the same era.
As for Allegros a work colleague had a 1750 SS, my 4/4 1600 couldn’t stay with it, most embarrassing......
I know of a nice TR6 for sale not far from Wen’s home if you’re interested. Not expensive....
Good luck in your search!

I think I had one of those once: a Maxi that was rusty under the paintwork. The doors ended up with holes in them in under 5 years despite attempts to treat the rust. This was in the same year that Volvo's were advertising 17 years life expectancy for their 240s. Interestingly, from memory, they were also advertising the fact that the cars were very largely recyclable and that many of their components including steel items, were sourced from the UK.

Oh , Hell , so now we know what caused the rust in those cars from BL in the 70's , idiots !

Thanks 🤓. Wen sends her regards.

Reciprocated! You’ll have to bring your ‘new’ car to the Sportsman’s Arms one weekend !

We will.....I’ll let you know when we do!

And you guys reckon Alfas were bad