project 1980 Austin Princess

[beko1987]

Sounds like a good decision, and a rare opportunity to stock up on rare and fragile parts! If you polish up all the good panels etc they should sell easily

[vulgalour]

Picture time.  The car arrived on a beavertail truck and the brakes are on-off, when we were pushing it off the truck we though the brakes had stuck on, it was only when we looked underneath that we realised the selector box was hanging loose and wedged in place so there was a bit of jiggling to get it free before we rolled off the truck.

 

This car is a genuine barn find, having been squirreled away by its second owner - who had owned it since 1986 - back in 1995 on his farm.  I'm told the car was a sod to get out of its resting place and then when the yard I bought it from got it back, nobody really wanted to race it and they had no idea what they were going to do with it.  I swapped some pictures of the Queen for the Princess, a fair exchange all round, and we eventually got the car down the drive.

 

First impressions were that the car was good, and restorable.  Resplendant in vermillion with a pristine black velour interior.

 

I also thought the car had a list to the front driver's corner, you'll have to take my word for it that it doesn't.  When we got the car down to the hard standing it sat level and at the correct height, I daresay the suspension on this one is exceptionally good.

 

Driver's door top hinge pin is worn out and the door sags, it won't close properly.

 

Brand new metal sills are present on both sides and appear to have been welded in very well.  Someone has spent some money on this car and it was one of the big reasons that breaking it was initially a difficult decision.

 

The bonnet won't close properly either, but the valance is in reasonable shape with some rust evident but not huge quantities.  The slam panel is in great condition but the bonnet has rust by the driver's side hinge which is not a location I've seen these go on, I suspect it's to do with the plant life and bird detritus in the same area.

 

The engine is all there, an earlier O series it still has the parts I need, including the all-important thermostat housing which saves me £40 immediately.  I'll be removing and rebuilding the head before putting it on the beige car, especially since both cars have done about 75k so wear should be about the same.  The carburettor has already been removed and fitted to the red Princess to see if it will solve the overfuelling issue.

 

The bottle resting on the brake servo is the fuel tank.  Looking under the car you can see a hole in the fuel tank and a fairly hefty bash, I also have to assume the sender/pump is knackered.

 

This picture pretty much sums up this car.

 

More shortly...

[twosmoke300]

Can't beat having a spares car

[vulgalour]

There were quite a few tax discs in the car, along with a soggy Haynes manual, a Wolseley Hornet handbook and some other bits and pieces.  12 months tax back in 1994.

 

There were also, ominously, quite a few breakdown stickers.  Green Flag for starters.

 

National Breakdown, I also have two stickers still on their backing in great order for the inside of the screen, not the same design as this, sadly.

 

And just to be sure, a little help from above.

 

Ancient brittle newspaper from the same time the car came off the road.  Again there was newspaper under the carpetting, I'm wondering if it was there to soak up the water in the front footwells or to provide sound deadening because the red Princess had the same stuff.

 

Let's take a look inside, shall we?  I've been aware of black interiors in Princesses, but it seems more common fitment to Ambassadors.  I'm not normally a fan of black interiors in cars, I find them pretty oppressive, but apart from some minor surface mould on the vinyl which comes off without leaving marks, the interior in this one is pristine and I shall be keeping it.

 

Same dash fitted as the one I put in the beige car, but in slightly poorer condition.  The twine is to hold the window up and unfortunately the arm rest is past its best.  Not sure where I'll find another in black.

 

They all do that, Sir.

 

Lack of head restraints isn't unusual, I'll be keeping things this way until I find a replacement black set or dye ones I've got spare.

 

 

Radiomobile radio might be worth something to someone, looks in good order.

 

 

Headlining is great, be suitable for the red car, shame about the head grime though.

 

Boot is great too, but the toolkit is long gone.  Some donor sheet metal for the beige on in here.  Check out the quality inner arch repair, there's the same thing on the other side.

 

More soon...

[vulgalour]

Looking under the car, you'd think all was well.  It doesn't look as tidy as the red car under here, nor does it look as untidy as the beige car.  You can make out the selector box here too, sitting a tad too low as it's no longer attached to the car.  You can't change gear at all, the clutch pedal feels like its not attached to anything.  Another nail in its coffin really as I don't fancy trying to find out what's wrong here where there's nothing amiss on the beige car.

 

I had some time left to make a start on the strip down.  I was slightly alarmed when one of the seat bolts pulled a chunk of floor out with it where the metal was thin and holed.  There's also holes above the outriggers and there's been two welding patches let into the rear corners of the floor where the beige car will eventually need work.  More reasons for the orange car to be broken, really.

 

In addition to this work, both rear arches are rusted worse than the beige car as is the leading lower edge of the front wings.  Okay, so the rear screen surround is better and it has brand new outer sills, but the boot floor is not much better than the beige car, the rear quarter lower corners need repairs the beige one doesn't and the windscreen seal is perished.  All in all, the orange car needs more work than the beige one to get through an MoT and too much to get it to the same standard as the beige car at this moment in my car ownership.

 

There were some bits of stuff in the car, it being something of a time capsule.

 

Mystery bottle is mysterious.  There's evidence the previous owner was a sheep farmer and church goer and this bottle has some sort of oil in it and a label on the base saying 'Twin lambs'.  Very cryptic, probably medicine or something.

 

 

This made me smile as Mum used to buy this stuff when I was little.  The bottle is spotless so I'm hoping some collector or props place can make use of it, unlike the other stuff I kept this.  Shame it's empty.

 

I've already made my money back in this car on parts I would need to buy and parts I do need to buy and there's more parts than I myself can use on my cars so some stuff will be up for grabs.  Once I've finished stripping it down I'll be able to make a comprehensive list of what's available.  If there's anything in particular that fellow wedge owners need do let me know and hopefully it'll be something I don't need and you can buy from me.

 

I will offer the warning that there's likely not going to be a lot left over when I'm done.  This car has almost everything I need for the two I've got including a good amount of bodywork but do ask anyway, there's a good chance that there's something on here that's not of use to me that I already have a glut of since I've been hoarding parts for a while now.

[HMC]

 

 

 

Great pic! Has to be a contender for the calendar.

[cort16]

when are you going to eat the potato growing in the scuttle?

[Guest Breadvan72]

In the spirit of Autoshite, cook the spud into chips and feed to the local tramps, who will probably be sleeping in the car anyway.  

 

That photo is possibly the best photo ever to appear on this website.

[Station]

Twin lambs might be a urine sample for the vet or something?

[twosmoke300]

Its a treatment for twin lamb disease I think. Pregnancy toxiema (sp)

[oman5]

Dibs on the radio please!

 

It's never good to see a rare car bite the dust but obviously needs must with this when parts simply are not available.  

[plasticvandan]

For info,depending on the model,the radio mobile is worth £100+ with a simple mp3 conversion

[Shep Shepherd]

I love the rusty wheelarch/Finnigan's No.1/remould photo. Puts me in mind of Father Shepherd's miniMetro

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Sod the calendar, let's do a coffee table book this year. Full of wonderful photos like that. 

 

It could be called "Rust Paint and Remoulds". 

[KruJoe]

Glad to see Angyl's common-sense gland is looking a bit healthier this week.

 

Do you have a healthy front cut to keep from this one, to replace the brown one accidentally scrapped?

[Micrashed]

Twin lambs might be a urine sample for the vet or something?

More likely its corn or cod-liver oil, farmers use it when hand rearing lambs partly for the fat content and partly as a mild laxative to stop the lambs becoming eggbound and dying.

 

EDIT - or perhaps its this:-

http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store/products/net-tex-twin-lamb-450ml

[Tayne]

Can you dye/paint an armrest off your other car ?

[vulgalour]

Did a quick eBay and I didn't realise Radiomobiles were worth anything, much less what the converted ones are valued at.  I'm not 100% sure, but it appears mine is fitted with this model...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-car-radio-RADIOMOBILE-1070-with-Ipod-MP3-lead-/131136438582?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item1e88574136

 

...which is currently up for nearly £165, admittedly with full MP3/FM conversion.  I thought it was maybe worth a tenner, so cheers for the tip off about it being worth something even in unmodified form.

[Ghosty]

Where's the black interior going then, if it's a keeper?

[overrun]

Another?

 

*Reads*

[vulgalour]

The black interior is now destined for the beige car.   Just after decided exactly what I want to do with the cream and purple, I get handed an almost perfect black interior which ties in neatly with the satin black exterior details and compliments the beige paint nicely.  Should look quite sharp.  Not sure whether or not the dash insert is going to go painted silver, brushed aluminium or very pale wood to tie in with the rest but keeping the car factory beige is certainly going to be a lot less work.

[Inspector Morose]

Ooh, pale wood sounds nice. Other than that you could paint it beige as a subtle nod to base spec Austins?

[KruJoe]

Poundland currently have a good* range of wood-effect adhesive vinyls...

[Des]

Just before scrapping, could you very briefly offer it for sale here.

[vulgalour]

There won't be a lot of it left when I get to the scrapping point but if someone were interested in the remains I'd be willing to sell it to them instead of scrapping.  They'd have to be fast though, I've got about a week to get it stripped and gone due to space limits.

[stuboy]

good find, good for spares

[michael1703]

Urghh, wish I hadn't clicked this page, another car scrapped that doesn't need much work

[Lukas]

You can´t safe them all!

 

Sometimes, you have to break a car to keep another one running. If he would not have taken it for breaking, it would almost certainly be crushed. Crushing it would not helped anyone. But now, the death of it helps to keep another one on the road.

 

Lukas

[Ratdat]

I've broken and scrapped much, much rarer cars than a wedge just to get the parts to keep another on the road. It's the shite law of nature. Survival of the fittest. 

[KruJoe]

I wish I lived a bit closer so I could help out - I'm quite good at stripping a car to its bare bones.