This was our first look at Agnetha, the 1976 Austin Allegro estate I’d been gorping at on OTOMOTO.PL for the last two months. It involved a 360 km round-trip to where she’s currently based, in a private museum near Łódz. She was advertised as being imported from Sweden, in good condition overall with the engine missing some ancillaries and unable to run – but not seized – and the price was in our ballpark, so we were keen to get a good look at her. The museum’s main collection is in a large storage unit which is almost filled to capacity with an incredibly diverse range of classic cars. We found Agnetha racked-up and in very good company.
First thing to check was the underside and wheel arches, which all looked fine considering her age. The only serious corrosion I could see was on the panel between the windscreen and the bonnet. Inside the condition was also pretty good – I actually like the front seats being different colours so we’ll definitely keep it like that.
Opening the bonnet we can see some signs of recent trauma. The distributor cap and HT leads are missing, the distributor itself seems to be damaged, and – possibly the only really serious issue – one spark plug has snapped off in the block. In any case we’re planning to convert it to electronic ignition; the snapped plug is a bit of a worry though. There also seems to be a 240 volt extension lead in there… and is that an inverter to the right of the battery tray? Funny vehicle for a camper convertion but ok. That’s all coming out – day one. EDIT: This is actually the power supply for the engine blocker heater. Other than that it’s really tidy.
Finally we had a really good look at those headlight wipers, admired the “slammed” look from the collapsed Hydragas, and decided to buy.
Projekt Agnetha 