The WORST Car Ever Made? | Allegro vs Marina | Clarkson's Car Years | Top Gear 

I had a Marina and it was probably the most exciting car I ever owned. Some days the indicator stalk fell off and other days the gear stick came off in my hand. I finally said goodbye to this engineering marvel one cold January morning when, late for work I pushed a bit too hard down a particularly icy hill, I turned the steering wheel left and the car shot right like a scalded cat. My life literally passed before me as the car hit a low wall and cartwheeled through the air…..it never ran again which is why I am alive to tell this tale.

My parents owned an orange marina for a time in my youth. There was an incident when another orange marina parked in a car park outside a shop and my mother mistakenly went to the wrong one. Opened the door with her key, started the engine & drove away, short distance down the road realised that it wasn't her marina & returned it to the carpark. Quality 🚙 😀

"The Allegro bundled the combined expertise of the British automotive industry in the 70's. Despite this, it actually ran" - AutoBild Klassik nr.8/August 2020 German car magazine

"IT'S FOUL!" "IT'S WONDERFUL!" "IT'S HORRID!" "I LOVE IT!"

Those chaps he talked to were at least very cheerful and stood their ground.

"It's not a particularly bad car... It's just an outstandingly adequate car with mistakes made in it!" Clarkson himself couldn't describe the irony more humorously than this man explained it unironically

I drove both in the 80's. The allegro was the only car that managed to get through thick snow on the motorways to get me home from Telford to Sussex. All other cars were on the hard shoulder or abandoned. The Marina on the other hand ended up going through my neighbours front wall in the wet.

Anyone remember an article about a Marina with a disc brake one side, and a drum on the other? It was reported in the AA drive magazine (I think) in the mid seventies but was only diagnosed after the second visit to the dealer. This apparently happened when production switched drums for discs on the production line!

Moral of the story : everything is someone's beloved

I had an Allegro and loved it. Sure overtaking something had to be planned 5 miles beforehand but it was actually a comfortable car to drive. One day I put it into reverse and the front wheels went backwards but the car didn't - the front wheels buried themselves beneath the bulkhead. Rust had won!

2:13 Can't stop laughing at his comically huge head inside these tiny cars

I owned a Morris Marina for 27 years! Started driving it in 1982, it let me down twice in 27 years! After having it restored and showing it around the country -and at the NEC in Birmingham- I sold it to a very keen buyer- no, it wasn't a fast car, but, it had a real character and I loved driving it. I had it restored on the Isle of Wight and when i bought it back on the ferry, i had lots of people positively commenting on the car. I drove it to London a few times and had lots of positive beeps and comments wherever i went. Even at the NEC, the Morris Marina stand was very popular- I joined the Morris marinas owners club and learnt a lot more about the cars than I ever knew, also they had a thriving community and excellent parts service etc- Jeremy Clarkson can put down cars on television, but he came to our stand at the NEC and was most complementary. Sometimes what you see on TV is not always the truth......

I expected a piano to fall on the Marina at the end.

My mum used to drive around in a morris Ital, which was remembered because it used to use more oil than petrol, but there were no leaks or smoke, the oil would magically disappear....

"Its reliable" "No Its Not!!" "Its easy to work on."

As an American I strongly believe that the Allegro isn’t that bad. It was surely more innovative that we were putting out state side. I mean they were at least trying to make the car not look like anything else on the road. The Allegro is kind of like the AMC Pacer in that sense.

square wheel? so that's basically an aston martin vulcan, only some 50 years earlier... so ahead of its time

Had a white allegro estate which i bought in Brixton Hill garages IN 1982. if i put the heater fan on full - the windscreen wipers wouldnt work. The petrol guage packed in after two months. Then the cotta pin that held the gear stick in place wore out. I f i put in reverse gear stick came out of floor. Also had to press inner circle of ignition key housing before pushing key in and turn clockwise. To start in winter hot water over inlett mannifold . I eventuallly abandoned it at Leyton tube car park. Went back a month later and a house next to car park had collapsed on th he Allegro. Still have the keys though. ..

I think the Marina is the closest they got to mass producing that one car we all drew as kids 😅

Damn Myrtle, we found us our square wheel….totally changes the carrrrrr

I don't know why people say the Marina looked shit. That's a pretty sharp looking car for the 1970's. How I miss being driven around by my parents in their Marinas! I could watch the road go by through the holes that had rusted through the foot-wells!

Brilliant video, my Morris Marina claim to fame was in my home town of Morecambe with my mum back in about 1980 - 81'ish, like every aspiring young lad back then we had a punk band and my mum was dropping us off at a gig (seem to remember the old girl did have a big boot, thats the car not my mum 😉) as we crested West end road bridge (heading towards the promenade) theres a gentle curve, i was in the front and felt the car shudder slightly and my mum let out some expletives as the steering wheel wobbled furiously, something then caught my eye to the left and it was a wheel rolling down the road parallel to us complete with tyre and part of the axle, i realised it was our wheel (front nearside), instead of negotiating the gentle curve we went straight into this chaps garden knocking down his wall and the wheel ended up in another garden a couple of doors down, as young lads we thought this whole experience was brilliant. This wasnt the end of mums maroon Marina she got it repaired and it soldiered on for a few more years before something went terminally wrong with the engine (cant remember what) and it ended its days in the local scrap yard (Ken Allens), happy days.

My Gran had an Allegro and it was actually nice for the day, granted she hardly drove the thing, but it was quiet, smooth and well furnished but I do remember sitting in the passenger seat as a very young child stopped about 5 cars from a roundabout when the windscreen exploded for no reason, so perhaps some odd structural weaknesses present in the frame.

4:09 "I like princesses" - random British bloke

For the entire Time I was watching this, I was eagerly waiting for the crew to drop a piano on the marina

0:49 If you look closely, you'll see that Marina has two driver side mirrors. That's how much this particular Morris was stuck to the things gone by.

I think the Marina actually looks really damn nice

"It's just an astoundingly adequate car with mistakes made in it." I detect a government employee.

I don't know what's more depressing here, the horrible cars or the gloomy council houses in the background.

The Marina symbolises the slow death of the British car industry, that's why I think it's ugly. It's not necessarily a bad looking car, but whenever you look at it you think of bad quality, incompetent managers, greedy and selfish workers, no care, no innovation and no respect for the customers. That's why this car is hated. These cars are British Leyland on wheels.

This RU-vid channel of old top gear clips is the only thing keeping new top gear alive.

Clarckson driving the Alegro his head is so big it’s hilarious 😆

My Dad had a Marina. He said it handled like a cow on roller skates!

those houses looked liked they belonged to an army base or coal mine

My best friend’s Dad bought a Marina 1800TC new. The big thing that he loved about that car was that it had the MGBGT engine. It was certainly a status thing back then. I got to go on holiday with them in that car and remember the peculiar black vinyl seats that you stuck to on a hot day. I thought the car was a good looking piece back then, I was twelve years old.

I had an Allegro from new in 1997 and found it completely perfect. Some dubbed it the "all aggro"...a tad unfair! Bob, Hove

In their defense, the Chrysler Sebring hadn't been produced yet.

I love the enthusiasm of the owners

They sold the Marina in the States. My dad came home with a used Marina in 1979. "Runs like a little sewin' machine" he opined. My mother was the only person who could keep it running. She used a combination of baling wire, black electrical tape and "talking nice to it." If you insulted it it stopped running. I kid you not.

Haha, such a great video. Jeremy attacking the cars in front of the owners is just hilarious. 😂😂

it's a very intriguing housing estate that he's driving round. There's absolutley no sign of life anywhere. no cars, no people, no TV aeriels, no dustbins, no curtains. Very odd.

I really love this joke: "Look it got a square steering well! And I'd love to have been at the meeting when they decided to do this. Because someone must have stood up and said "I know, let's fit a square steering wheel" and instead of throwing pens at him, everyone else must have gone "square...good idea...""

3:57 My petrolhead friend and I discussing about cars

That particular Marina in that colour doesn’t look terrible in my opinion. Reminds me of an old Ford Escort that’s put a bit of weight on and hasn’t showered in a few days. In regards to the Allegro, I’m really struggling 😂

My first car was a Marina. My second a Beetle. The Beetle made me miss the Marina.

My Dad had a poo brown Marina, at the time I thought it was bloody fantastic.

I had a Marina estate company car, and it was fine. Never let me down and was a good work horse. Top gear has to understand that most of us struggle to purchase any type of car. We have to be grateful for what we can get.

The original concept for the Allegro was stunning.

Marina is not the worst looking car ever made. The Allegro, however!

I had a "Shit Brown" Allegro . I "customised" it by fitting an aftermarket T shifter gear lever , and could not get near it afterwards , because of all the babes pressing themselves against it . That was what Swindon was like in the 70`s . People don`t believe me.

What is the music that plays whenever the Allegro is on screen? 0:05

My first car was the 1.8 liter Marina Coupé, beige with brown vinyl roof. My dad got it from a scrap yard and restored it, mainly rebuilding the supporting chassis a couple of places were it was totally rusted away. Since I didn't have any other cars to compare it to, I thought that handling was jsut fine. OK, it had a very loose back end, but a cement sidewalk tile in the boot saw to that, and a blanket over the nappa back seat prevented passengers from having the skin burnt off their legs in the summer heat. Except from the fuel gauge going bust, the Marina worked fine for the 14 months I had it. It died, however, on a very cold morning when I first rammed a Volvo that had blocked the lane on a left turn, trying first to brake on black ice, then trying to swerwe around it. The left front fender took the hit and blocked the wheel, so I had to leave it there, only to find out a couple of hours later that an old Lada had rammed my Marina on the same spot of black ice. Both cars (well, the car and the Lada) were scrapped after this. Now, for a lad of just 18 years of age, having his own car as the only one in his high school class, I didn't care that it was a Marina. It did it's job and did it more or less without incidences. Since it was the 1.8 liter model, it was quicker than my dad's 1.6 liter Mazda 626, but there was no comparing in built quality. It was also faster than my subsequent 1.6 liter 1982 Ford Taunus (Cortina). Many years later I got myself a well-worn Saab 9000, and today I drive a Saab 93 Sedan. However, I consider "downgrading" to a 9000 if I can find one in mint condition.

I had a Marina in about 1980. It went, it stopped and it kept the rain off. That"s what I wanted it for and that"s what it did. An entirely successful car in my opinion.

I had a neighbor who had a Marina, he was very happy with it, his previous vehicle had been a Reliant Robin.

the Allegro looks better today than it did when it was produced. one of the prettiest cars in estate form ever made too. shame it wasn't a hatchback because the market would have come to it. the Marina was actually a very good car at the time, it was very old school British and did everything a 1970s car needed to.

F1: uses Square steering wheels Allegro: *happy noises*

My Allegro's engine mounts kept snapping, so I ended up using Dexion. That done the trick

Dammit Myrtle! They already invented a square steering wheel!

One simple improvement that could've made the Allegro at least a little more competitive is if BL had gone with a hatch instead of a boot.

My memory of the Marina is pushing my Dad's round a hospital carpark in the snow trying to bump start.

The Marina was basically a Morris Minor, even the same horrible trunnion/upright front suspension. With the 1.8 B series engine they were quite quick (for the time) but they couldn't get around corners! Also note the Marina has wipers for Left Hand Drive, on a Right Hand Drive car!

"21 million pounds designing the Allegro" I had to rewind and play that again to see if I heard it right and unfortunately I had. No one does a car review like J C.

"We want steak and kidney pudding thanks very much and make sure it's cold and lumpy" Nobody can phrase things like Jeremy Clarkson.

Come on, admit it. You saw "Top Gear" and "Marina" in the same sentence and expect a piano to be dropped on it, didn't you? Well, sorry folks!

The Allegro seriously looks like Matt Lucas was transformed into a car.

Ah the good old 1970s when cars like the Austin Allegro & Morris Marina came out! If my memory serves me right the Marina came out in 1971 & the Allegro came out in 1973. In some ways I agree with Jeremy Clarkson regarding these cars because both of them had design faults from the word go considering the Marina derived from the Morris Minor & had the same suspension systems front & rear as per the Minor but at least the Allegro was a completely new car. An old friend of mine once had an old Marina & it never gave him a moments trouble, it was reliable until he sold it on! An old couple who used to live next door to my parents & sadly no longer with us had an old Allegro & again it was reliable & never broke down so everyone else's opinion is different to Jeremy Clarkson!

My parents bought a new Allegro in 1982. It leaked oil onto the driveway from day one! The dealership said it was a design fault, nothing they could do. In winter the heater was so useless it was warmer in the car with it off! Demister...what demister? Wheel bearings going every five mins, new clutch after just 5 months and after a year there was more rust on the body than a North Sea wreck!

When I was in a band in my younger years, our guitarist had a marina with no glove compartment and half the dashboard missing. Driving to gigs on a cold winter evening was an experience. Never broke down though.

I loved my marina. I was young, my first car. It was beige and I felt like a millionaire! I dont remember it being bad it unreliable or anything and I was just proud to own a car! LOL Nostalgia

Marina was a very good car, had one for 15 years, just gave it oil and gas and new tires now and then. Never any problems what so ever. You dont even need to use the gearbox, set it in third and you go from 0 to legal speedlimit. Really miss her. Cheap and easy, a trip to Italy? Just change the oil and off you go. Wouldnt do that in a 15 years old BMW.

1982 i was 17 years old and bought my first car. A 1975 Morris Marina 1.3 Coupe. Loved it! Rear wheel drive. No bloody grip. Sideways was VERY easily achieved, and achieved often... I keep looking back at the hug engine bay and wondering how a modern engine with around 200BHP would feel. Probably great right up until the point of impact! lol

I’d hate to have an argument with Clarkson I’d die laughing.

4:09 “I like princesses” lmao, someone pls isolate that quote.

A friend of mine had an Allegro in the early 90's he decided to change the Beige colour to a much cooler Black by hand painting it with Hammerite, You could see the brush strokes. Total shitbox

I travelled the Nullabor track in the 70s, rough unsealed track with big holes filled with bull dust. I came across a Marina broken down, with the whole right hand wheel and suspension broken off. Felt so sorry for the family, probably never got it repaired. 🇦🇺

I used to have an Austin Marina fast back in the late 70s it was dark Purple. Got it when I was 16. I think it was a 1973 model.

Allegro in actuality has a smaller turning circle compared to Marina but they needed to pull some more laughs from it I guess.

And to think the Ferrari LaFerrari also has a square steering wheel.

This must have been pre ‘Careless Airways’ since no piano was dropped on the Marina at the end of the vid

The British are the only people in the World that are able to laugh of themselves. That's why I love them so much.

Those two owners were AWESOME.

Les Rishton of Faringdon did 300,000 miles in a mustard Allegro. Three-Hundred-frickken-Thousand-Miles! Jesus wept! He took me two miles down the road and it made me sick. No joke.

at the European launch of the Marina, after driving it, the car journalists had a meeting (amongst themselves) & went back to the Morris folks & asked them to have a rethink & redesign of the car before releasing it to the public, they changed, well, not much really, & the rest is history! (they built an Ital version, it didn`t help)!

A friend of mine explained the road-holding abilities of the Marina as "It falls over on corners." Accurate.

"Make sure it's cold" - Jeremy Clarkson, 2:09

I worked as a car salesman at a bl dealer in the 80s I had allegros and marinas as company cars they were spot on the problem was the useless shower that made them i just hope they all lost there jobs over the strikes. I now own a 1980 allegri 3 i love it i will never sell it

At the end I was like....Where's the piano?

Maybe at the Marina meeting, the guy stood up with the square wheel idea and was promptly thrown through the window of the office.

I was looking over rally results from the 70s recently, and discovered, shockingly, that Marinas outperformed BMW 2002s all over the place. Of course they weren't winning ever, but still. This amuses me. Morris Marina: better than a BMW 2002.

"Imagine, in the 21st Century, owning a car that's not as good as its European rivals, a car built by a company that no longer exists...the fools..." *Gets in a Rover* "...you'd never see me do that!"

Good entertaining piece of video it cheered me up with a good laugh and a smile to start the day off.

Greasing Trunnions on the Marina every month was the worst part of having that car, Saturday morning lost every 1 in 4, but it worked.

0:19 Corvette C8 Design meeting 😂

Can just imagine Jeremy in a business meeting throwing pens at someone 😂😂😂

I remember in the 70s when an unpleasant bore (prick) at work showed off his brand new Allegro. Three weeks later he came by bus to work. We all laughed until we ached. He had a flat tyre in the Yorkshire Dales and as he jacked up the car, the jack punched through the cill into the floor of the car. He had to get the AA to recover the vehicle. Apparently, the lazy buggers at British Leyland, who put these piles of junk together in-between strikes, had left out the reinforcing plates near the jacking points. Hundreds had to be taken back to the dealers to get them corrected. This seems to be a forgotten gem of information about these crappy cars.

Morris Marina and Jeremy Clarkson in a video without a single piano? I can't believe it!

I got driving license at 1982 and my first “car” was Marina Coupe 1,3 1973..... well. anyway I learned how to fix mechanical faults 👍😄

What happens when the wheel falls off an Allegro? A-leg-grows

My first ever car was a Morris Marina van. I payed £50 for it in 1988. Chucked a single matters in the back and wired up two hifi speakers to the stereo. I was the king of Southend mate lol

I actually like the look of the Marina