Woman buys £800 car -- spends £8,000 fixing it

A car-nut has spent over £8,000 fixing up an £800 Austin Allegro -- a car once voted the worst British motor ever made.

Isobel Billingsley, 43, has dedicated her last 13 years to restoring the car which she says she first fell in love with when she was 17-years-old.

She picked up her lime green Series 1 Allegro, with 58,736 on the clock, in 1997 for £800, before embarking on the monstrous project.

To restore the car to its former 'glory' Isobel sourced original parts from across the country... she didn't use this to drive around and collect the parts.

Isobel from Wolverhampton said of her £8,000 project: "The reason for this restoration was, basically, that I love the Allegro.

"It was my first car and I bought it off my sister at the time.

"It has always been looked on as an underdog, and I've always loved underdogs. This is a dream come true for me and it is something I've always wanted for the car - to see it in a museum displayed as it should be."

The original 1973 Allegro will now feature at the Lakeland Motor Museum in Cumbria.

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