Anything old and British really, in various states of roadworthiness:
1275 GT (turbo)
Austin Cooper
Mini Clubman Estate
TR7 V8
dead/gone list (some were too 'new' to be classics at the time of course):
many minis
Spitfire with 2.5PI TR6 engine and so many lightened/fibreglass panels that axle tramp was a standard setting.
Nasty, nasty, rusty, cramped Fiat X1/9
Various gutless Ford Escorts that didn't start in the cold.
Various surprisingly quick Cavaliers that were great until the management computers died
Someone mentioned hankering after a Peugeot 205 GTi? My sister had one when it was fairly new, didn't seem that great when I drove it but obviously would now compared to the 6 foot wide, dimensionally unstable, 0 visibility, million ton lumbering turkeys blocking up the roads. However if you cant stump up for a 205GTi, forget Gavin and Stacey and get yourself an old Citroen Saxo VTR/S as they are similar to but not as great as the 205 and currently the last few non wrecked ones left are pretty cheap, if you can live with the horrible pedal offsets.
PS
That gangsta Metro jacked up hyraulics thing? Yep, that worked on Allegros too, my mate and I ended up having so much fun doing that in a tired Allegro VDP that we put the crankshaft literally through the block -we had it pretty much jumping off the ground up to that point after some practice...
