The Wedgister - Princess and Ambassador Records

[ProgRocker]

2 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Princess HL I'm pretty sure. Morris and Wolsley badging was ditched very early in its life.

I knew that Wolseley was ditched soon after launch but not Morris. 

[Fumbler]

5 minutes ago, ProgRocker said:

I knew that Wolseley was ditched soon after launch but not Morris. 

Yeah AFAIK the branding only lasted one year after launch. Being from 1978/9 it's most likely a Princess 1.8HL. If it were from 1975 it would have been a Morris 1800 if I have my facts in the right order.

[Zantimisfit]

2 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Yeah AFAIK the branding only lasted one year after launch. Being from 1978/9 it's most likely a Princess 1.8HL. If it were from 1975 it would have been a Morris 1800 if I have my facts in the right order.

Launched as Austin/Morris/Wolseley in Mar 75. Relaunched in Sept. All 'branding; dropped and car just became the Prncess. Wolseley dead at that point. Princess still appeared in the separate Austin and Morris range brochures that BL ran in 1976, along with the similarly 'not an Austin or a Morris' Mini. 

[Ghosty]

just seen this on FB: 

[Fumbler]

When's the last time a Princess has been in a situation like this? Decades ago I bet.

[captain_70s]

Shamelessly stolen from Facebook:

[bunglebus]

The hearse! I remember a builder using one as a van around Southend years ago

[Isopon]

38 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Shamelessly stolen from Facebook:

That's a bit of a shame... looks like they've sourced every cheap Princess for sale in the last year or so. Should be a great spares source for owners though.

[MorrisItalSLX]

All destined for the oval, I would imagine.

[adw1977]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/AustinPrincess/permalink/10159013328019652/?sfnsn=scwspmo&ref=share

This has popped up on Facebook, posted by Craig Piercy in a group called Austin Princess & 18-22 range.

KDA22W - apparently some kind of prototype Ambassador that ended up working as a taxi!

Quote from the Facebook post:

"Thank you to a guy called Aubone Braddon who very kindly allowed me to use his images for this post.

An extreme treat for the ADO71 and Ambassador lovers. A 1981 Ambassador Prototype. Acquired by Z Cars Taxi Services (bought at 22,000 miles) to join their fleet. Note the interesting use of the vinyl panelling on the C-Pillar (something which was replaced for a window for more visibility). Most of this car appears to be a Princess. 

This particular Prototype had the 1700 O-Series engine, had the Austin-Morris logo on the front grille (though had no other badging on the vehicle) and lived on to roughly October of 1988.

Aubone said about the car:

“One of the drivers had a brother that worked at the factory in some way.  The car was just about four years old when it came on the fleet with 22,000 miles on the clock. Spare wheel still hadn't been used.  Everything on the car was Ambassador including seating.  the rear seat was still the fixed saloon seat but in an Ambassador fabric.  The petrol cap was the later locking flap.  The only thing that was Princess was the bodyshell, rear lights for some reason and the wheel trims.  No badging on the car at all”. "

[adw1977]

More images from the Facebook post:

Second image looks like the Z Cars logo has been photoshopped on?  Doesn't match the logo in the other pic.

[bunglebus]

The first pic in the 2nd post is a cropped image of the second, note how everything lines up with the cars behind in the same places - an impossibility if the photographer had moved further away - so the logo has been added to the picture, not the car.

[adw1977]

According to the guy who supplied the pictures, the logo was added on to the pictures and they were used in advertising.  The minicab firm was in Exeter.

[somewhatfoolish]

On 10/15/2021 at 3:36 AM, MorrisItalSLX said:

All destined for the oval, I would imagine.

I was under the impression they were utterly rubbish for that purpose due to a lack of robustness?

[Lankytim]

21 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

I was under the impression they were utterly rubbish for that purpose due to a lack of robustness?

They used to be classed as "dross" but nowadays have that retro appeal to racers. They still make lousy bangers though IMHO.

[martc]

14 hours ago, adw1977 said:

.... the logo was added on to the pictures and they were used in advertising...

'Would you like to leave your decaying asbestos pile in style? Ring Z Cars on 74448. Buddleia prunings extra.'

[Coops]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:42 PM, Isopon said:

That's a bit of a shame... looks like they've sourced every cheap Princess for sale in the last year or so. Should be a great spares source for owners though.

I'm about to have the fuel tank from that hearse fitted to my Princess. Just finished kurusting and painting it yesterday.

[Asimo]

“The S-plate special coming down the line”

It’s back, at £1950.  RVJ is a local registration to here.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1400109

 

[dozeydustman]

@vulgalour this one popped up on F*cebook today

 

A946KBW

[cms206]

[vulgalour]

I've been spending a little time tonight collating all the new finds since the last update and this weekend I'll hopefully have time to update the Wedgister a bit.  It's been ages since I had the free time to do it so I'm hopefully nothing trips me up this weekend now I've got everything lined up and ready to go.

Thank you all for continuing to submit new finds.  I'm constantly amazed at what new pictures and roadworthy cars still pop up.  The only upsetting aspect is seeing cars that end up being bought to scrap or race, especially when it's not the rotten examples or really rare stuff like the hearse on that stack a few posts ago.  If I ever have the resources to buy and store wedges I absolutely will, if for no other reason than to ensure there's spares to keep what few are left going.

[vulgalour]

Now that I've gone through the new finds I can tell you I have the details of 58 cars I didn't before.  That's quite a few!  As I was sorting to check for duplicates I found an interesting coincidence.

In 1995, where my car somehow won Best In Show, one of the other cars there was magazine featured XGJ780W.  I'm pretty sure this car still exists (I've not run the reg or checked the records just at the moment) but I don't think any of the others aside from my car survive to the present day.  These two photos are of the same row of cars, so A200LCL (the green or silver Ambassador) appears in both shots.

The most recent shots I have of both cars show that XGJ has perhaps had a more charmed life than GBT.

[vulgalour]

I'm still working my way through updating the records, it takes a bit of time to rejig the images and such and check through every car, but I'm getting there.  While you wait for me to complete that, here's what happened to the cars from the 1995 Spondon AGM photos above.

FRW500T – no details found. Presumed dead.

XGJ780W – 1981 Tax due 10^th April 2010 – 2.0 brown Princess.  Probably survives.

GCL138T – 1979 Tax due 1^st September 1997 – 2.2 beige Princess.  Could survive.

KJF224V – 1980 Tax due 1^st December 1997 – 2.0 gold Princess.  Could survive.

YAY537Y – 1982 Tax due 18^th July 1995 – 2.0 red Ambassador.  Could survive.

A200LCL – 1983 Tax due 28^th August 1998 – 2.0 green Ambassador.  Could survive.

NJR464X – 1982 Tax due 6^th October 2004 – 2.0 red Ambassador.  Was taxed in the 21st century so stands a much better chance of surviving than most untaxed examples here.

MWG846X – 1981 Tax due 1^st October 1996 – 2.0 blue Princess.  Could survive.

GBT563W - 1980 Taxed until December 2022 - 1.7 beige Princess.  The only one definitely known to survive.

 

The really depressing thing about this archive is just how few pop up as known survivors.  Most are stuck in untaxed limbo or there's no record which means you have to assume it was scrapped.  The handful that are left rarely make it into the hands of enthusiasts and while it's been a joy to see some new ones appear from long term storage, it's equally sad to see them reappear not long after in breakers yards or being prepped for racing.  They're rare, and nobody cares.

[666jjp]

@vulgalour

I have been having a bit of a clearout at home and have come across 3 copies of club newsletter 'wedge world' from 07/08.

If you want them pm me your address and I will post them to you.

[Fumbler]

I completely forgot about this picture. I found this Ambassador when I went to Bennet's Garage in Wincanton.

[vulgalour]

44 minutes ago, 666jjp said:

@vulgalour

I have been having a bit of a clearout at home and have come across 3 copies of club newsletter 'wedge world' from 07/08.

If you want them pm me your address and I will post them to you.

Yes please!  That's from before my time with wedges so it'll be an interesting read no doubt.  I'll chuck you a PM shortly.

@Fumbler I only had the one shot of that at a show where it looked decidedly more beige.  Nice to have some shots of it in the wild, it looks like a really clean example.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Have we had this one yet? It used to live just down the road from our place. 

Edit: I see it has already been accounted for. 

[Fumbler]

2 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Yes please!  That's from before my time with wedges so it'll be an interesting read no doubt.  I'll chuck you a PM shortly.

@Fumbler I only had the one shot of that at a show where it looked decidedly more beige.  Nice to have some shots of it in the wild, it looks like a really clean example.

Oh it was very beige- the interior was in great nick too. My phone's auto exposure lets it down horribly, though.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, vulgalour said:

The really depressing thing about this archive is just how few pop up as known survivors.  Most are stuck in untaxed limbo or there's no record which means you have to assume it was scrapped.  The handful that are left rarely make it into the hands of enthusiasts and while it's been a joy to see some new ones appear from long term storage, it's equally sad to see them reappear not long after in breakers yards or being prepped for racing.  They're rare, and nobody cares.

if you can put together a list of the ones that dont show up im more then happy to dig deeper into them and see if I can figure out whats what  

like heres a bit of info on FRW500T

https://www.freecarcheck.co.uk/free/RlJXNTAwVA-MTY0MTA3NTcwNQ/

and once I can justify topping up my comercial tool again I can look into things even deeper, I suspect a few might be hiding under private or age related plates for example 

[vulgalour]

@LightBulbFun It at least highlights the madness of BL trim options.  You'd assume a car with trapezoid lights and a full vinyl roof would have the 2.0 or 2.2 engine, not the 1.7 it's listed as having.  I was hoping to get further with this today than I did.  It's been nice to spend a few hours on it and I'll do some more tomorrow and see how far I get.  When I have one, I'll put a list together of the ones that I don't have records for or that have incomplete/confusing records, and punt it your way and you can let me know what's required to cover costs etc. of that if needed.

I'd very much like to create a little website archive as a one-stop-shop for wedge info to try and help people understand more about these cars, and to learn more myself.  But that's a full time endeavour and I definitely don't have the time for it, much less the time to learn how to create a website, keep it up to date, safe from malicious interference, and all the rest that goes along with it.  I'm not interested in earning any money from it (which is just as well, because I wouldn't), I just want to make sure the info is preserved and available for the handful of other enthusiasts out there.