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[Lah Ca]

... few people would wish to expound the virtues of the Austin Allegro (were there any?) ..t.

Well ... there are lots of people online who are more than willing to expound upon the Allegro, although not always about its virtues, such as they may or may not be.

But there are a few who defend it, and in its own peculiar way it has become a bit of collector's item. In comparison to earlier models, relatively few of them sold. (Part of my point above.)

It was not a model that made it to Canada, sadly or mercifully as the case may be.

Depending upon the year of the vehicle and the angle from which it is viewed, the styling isn't quite as horrific in appearance as it once may have seemed. It can look slightly Alfa Romeo-ish.

And then there was the Vanden Plas version. Unbounded Luxury!

But the era was not the proudest for Leyland. UK-made cars developed a notoriety during this time. A friend had a TR6, faithfully and regularly dealer serviced, garage kept; it was at the dealership for warranty service more often that it was on the road in its first year or so, and it was plagued with rust. XJ6s, despite their gorgeous styling, could be horrifically unreliable, as some acquaintances were to discover.

A girlfriend once had an Austin Marina when she was a university student. Her lovely little cherry red VW Beetle with its sun roof had been destroyed in a traffic accident, and her father bought her the Marina. The colour scheme was purple and orange, extremely ugly. The car was awkward to drive. It was unreliable. She was greatly relieved when some teenage joy riders stole the car and damaged it so badly that it could not be repaired. They seemed to have ripped all the doors off by leaving them open and then backing them into telephone poles repeatedly at some speed. They seem to have fried the transmission, perhaps in the process of the door jobs. They also took box cutters to the ugly orange upholstery. The ugliness of the car seemed to have provoked a fury of indignation.

[Curt A]

The worst car ever made was the Chevy Vega...

To quote Motor Trend Magazine -
"The Chevrolet Vega is remembered as one of General Motors' worst cars, a troublesome rust-bucket prone to gas tank fires and melting engines. It's easy to assume that the Vega was a sign of GM's hubris, cobbled together on the cheap like the AMC Gremlin for a public that would stop buying imported subcompacts as soon as there were viable American alternatives. In fact, the opposite was true."

It made me swear off of any GM product (a 50 year family tradition)... Never again.

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[jamiegramo]

I’m quite sure old motor cars stir up more feelings than old phonographs do on this forum.

What about those fibreglass Reliant Robins that rolled over when you went round a corner?

[epigramophone]

Despite some negative comments I have bought the modified No.4, together with two more soundboxes and a mainspring.
Can't be bad for £29.99 including postage. I look forward to some soundbox comparisons when the parcel arrives.

[poodling around]

Despite some negative comments I have bought the modified No.4, together with two more soundboxes and a mainspring.
Can't be bad for £29.99 including postage. I look forward to some soundbox comparisons when the parcel arrives.

Very good value indeed and a fun exercise !

Oddly enough I recently purchased an interesting oak, reflector, portable gramophone and it had the same 'songster' sound-box.

I hope that you will let us know what you think about the HMV No. 4 sound-box attachement !

[epigramophone]

Songster was the brand name used by J. Stead & Co Ltd for their gramophone needles and soundboxes. Their replacement mainsprings were branded as Vulcan. Portables bearing the Songster name are occasionally seen, but were probably bought in.

[An Balores]

I remember being able to buy new Songster needles in the music shop back in the 70's......they might have been sat in the shop for decades by then though.....

[poodling around]

Songster was the brand name used by J. Stead & Co Ltd for their gramophone needles and soundboxes. Their replacement mainsprings were branded as Vulcan. Portables bearing the Songster name are occasionally seen, but were probably bought in.

Very interesting - particularly your information about Vulcan springs.

Although the reflector portable I bought had a songster sound-box it is actually a selecta-phone.

As you say, maybe selecta-phone bought in the songster sound-boxes.

[epigramophone]

Not quite what I said. It was the rarely seen Songster badged portables which were probably bought in by J. Stead & Co Ltd and then fitted with their own soundboxes.
Many earlier machines of all makes still turn up with Songster soundboxes, fitted as a period upgrade to enable them to obtain better reproduction from electrical recordings.
There was even a radio bearing the Songster name, which was also likely to have been bought in :

[epigramophone]

The soundboxes including the modified No.4 have now arrived. The mystery device is not attached to the diaphragm. It is easily removed by sliding it downwards and then sideways to clear the stylus bar.
As can be seen from the picture, the "tongue" exerts light pressure on the underside of the stylus bar, holding the device firmly against the diaphragm. I have not yet had time to do a sound test with and without the device, but will report my findings in due course. My expectations are low, but it is an interesting gadget which could be used on any open fronted soundbox with a mica diaphragm.
I would love to know who made it.