project 1980 Austin Princess

[KruJoe]

Angyl, you're a strange, strange boy. But we like you.

 

 

I neither know, nor care what this slab of ridiculousness is, but I thought you might enjoy the lights.

 

 

I just found it in a file of my spottings yet to be uploaded.

 

I also thought of you when saw this purple and cream colour-scheme in the car park of a well-known supermarket:

 

 

But as per your tiger, it looks way blue-er on screen now. I swear it was purple!

 

Then I saw this one yesterday. Perhaps your colour needs to be somewhere between the two.

 

[vulgalour]

I know they're basically a short fat Corsa, but I quite like the look of those Adams.  It's not just the lights I like on that Yankee Moby, I like the whole damn thing.

[KruJoe]

Oh ok. Here's the other end:

 

 

I still don't like it.

[AnthonyG]

That is a circa 1974 Ford Thunderbird, which by the early 1970s had morphed from something very elegant and stylish to a lardy tank sold to those who couldn't stretch to a Lincoln Continental Mk4 (frank cannon spec). Hard to believe this sort of car was sold as a 'personal coupe'.

 

These cars were basically for middle aged Americans who had grown up in the 1940s/50s and hated every social change/upheaval from the mid60s onwards and wanted to hide from just about everything by 1975. The cheapest of these models was the enormously popular Chevrolet Monte Carlo (around 250k sold every year) and the pinnacle was the Cadillac Eldorado.

 

The same sort of person bought large SUVs in the post 9/11 era as they felt like a safe cocoon.

Fxxking hell, what with this and the Metro Vdp post I'm becoming a right auto-sociologist, maybe I should register for a PhD!

[KruJoe]

Thanks for that, Anthony.

It's still a vulgar monstrosity.

[155V6]

The tiger is brilliant  .My Xantia has got a bat above the rear view mirror,my TL 1000 has Mr Noisy under the fairing,& my MG has Gengar from Pokemon on the dash 

[vulgalour]

It's still a vulgar monstrosity.

 

That's my sort of transport.  Brilliant description of it from AnthonyG, I was guessing it might be a Lincoln from the front view, I would not have placed it as a Thunderbird, but I do now want one.

[DS20]

 

 

When The Killers released their album with the song

on it, about five years ago IIRC, I had no clue what a Neon Tiger might look like. Now I do; turns out, it nods.

[DS20]

As well as sharing the random associations my Rioja-lubricated brain makes, I'd also like to say how much I'm enjoying this thread, and the time, effort, and care you are putting in to the Princess (not forgetting the nodding tiger, of course)

[AnthonyG]

With reference to the rear lights, you could try wondering around a caravan dealers and having a look although most really modern ones are too big.

 

I suspect trailer lights of some sort will be the answer, although tbh I'm in the leaving standard ones on camp myself. The Fulvia lights (as an example) would need an awful lot of filler to make them fit flush.

 

For the mid 1970s, Capri 2 ones might be worth a look, very similar to the Mk1 but a bit longer.

 

Cortina 'ban the bombs' are a very bad idea.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

This looks great, for sure.

 

The only slightly unnerving bit is that it does remind me slightly of...

 

 

[mat_the_cat]

 

 

 

The only way this could be improved is if the eyes were green LEDs.

[vulgalour]

Green LED eyes would be shockingly easy to achieve.

[mercrocker]

And not difficult to link up to the brake light circuit!

[vulgalour]

Best high-level brake light

 

EVAR

 

 

 

 

providing I use red LEDS, obvs.

[DS20]

I saw these today, and they reminded me of the Neon Tiger:

 

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

Those are awesome, especially the sparkly Jaguar.

 

----

 

After much deliberation I've ended up acquiring a pair of rear lights for the Princess that nobody (including myself) thought to suggest, that I hadn't looked for and because of how cheap they were I would have been silly not to go for on the off chance.  This time it's paid off, I've finally found a set of rear lights that I'm happy with and they come from Ford.

 

 

 

The set I bought were £nearlyfree which is a good price.  Quite rough and ready as they'd been repainted at least once and I've got to get at least one indicator lens, which do pop up online for £nottoomuch.  I started taking the paint off expecting them to be low grade mazac or possibly steel but they seem to be a moderately good aluminium or alloy that takes and holds a polish pretty well.  This is better yet as I wanted something a bit showy on the back, be that a full width flush-fit light bar or an interesting older style light unit.

 

 

 

 

I can't show a proper mock-up on the car.  I've dry-fit them to the back valance and they fit really nicely.  Fog light and reversing light will be taken care of with the pair of stainless steel bodied Wipac fog lights I've got, one of which I will need a clear lens for.  I'm keeping the bumpers now too, that extra chrome shelf is needed to make the new lights look right.  Once I get to the welding stage I'll make a final decision as to whether or not I french the new lights into the rear panel a little bit, it may look slightly better.

 

You'll have to make do with this digital rendition of what I'm hoping to achieve.  To me the lights make the car looks less dumpy and they don't fight against the lines of the car too hard.

[Christine]

Ah i forgot .. Opel Manta mk1 or did someone else suggest those ? 

[vulgalour]

Round lights just don't look right.

[Noel Tidybeard]

these reversing lights maybe with red bulb/leds in rhs for fog light requirement

[vulgalour]

I don't think I've ever noticed those lights on the Marina/Ital before.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I don't think I've ever noticed those lights on the Marina/Ital before.

all the estates until rubber bumper and the early loon/coupe which then got small ones in main cluster

 

they the same light as on mgb/midget but mounted on a spacer block

[M'coli]

Why the urge to change the rear lights?

[KruJoe]

Because Vulgalour. He doesn't like them.

[chaseracer]

That is a circa 1974 Ford Thunderbird, which by the early 1970s had morphed from something very elegant and stylish to a lardy tank sold to those who couldn't stretch to a Lincoln Continental Mk4 (frank cannon spec). Hard to believe this sort of car was sold as a 'personal coupe'.

 

These cars were basically for middle aged Americans who had grown up in the 1940s/50s and hated every social change/upheaval from the mid60s onwards and wanted to hide from just about everything by 1975.

 

This describes perfectly my completely bonkers (and permanently pissed) great-aunt who married a GI whose family ran Farmer John (still do) and spent the rest of her life in affluent Californian idleness.  She would have a new 'personal coupe' every time Ford changed the tail lights or the shape of the chrome and would send me pictures of them along with indecipherable letters, because she knew I was a car-mad kid.  Bonkers, but really quite lovely - and generous to a fault, bless her.

 

Anyhoo...

 

Vulg: if you like 59s, how about...

 

 

[vulgalour]

El Camino/Impala lights are one of my favs.  Likely cost more than my car is worth to fit them and definitely much too wide.

[vulgalour]

We are in the unit!

 

 

Just this little bit of woe to sort.

 

 

Collective brain picking time on a starting issue.

 

Spark - good at all relevant points, experiencing no issues electrically

Fuel - getting as far as the carburettor for definite, carb has been dismantled twice today but nothing is blocked or stuck and the internals are very clean.

Pipes - Same way around as when the car was running last, so they're in the correct order.

 

So why will the car only run when you blast Easy Start down its neck?  Once it's burned up the Easy Start it stops running.

 

Could the fuel have gone so bad in a few months that it won't ignite?  That seems unlikely but I can't see what else might be the issue.

[PhilA]

Are you sure what's in the carb is fuel?

 

If the tank has a slight leak or has been gathering condensation you may just have brown, fuel smelling watery gunk. Don't forget petrol is lighter than water so it'll be drawn in first, down to the bottom of the float bowl and due to surface tension will block up the emulsion tube and not draw through the carb properly.

 

Try pumping some from the fuel line that feeds the carburetor into a small container then seeing if it'll burn

 

I'm guessing it probably won't

 

Phil

[vulgalour]

Not sure why I didn't think of burning it, possibly because it still looks and smells like petrol, it's still a healthy greenish-gold as you'd expect of unleaded.  That said, the car has been sat outside with a nearly empty fuel tank for several months, so contaminated fuel is very possible.  The other thing I didn't try and have only just thought of is running the car from a jerry can of fresh fuel.

[PhilA]

Yeah, the fuel in the Renault went pfut and then didn't burn when I put a match to it initially.

 

It smelled like fuel, was slightly greasy like fuel but wasn't very flammable.