Sold 1981 Austin Princess - [expletives removed]

[trigger]

Fantastic! I'm genuinely excited to see how you progess with this one, it's not like you haven't had plently of practice of polishing turds before! And remember, only winners drive HLS's.

[overrun]

PHWOAR!

 

*Rubs thighs in a Vic Reeves stylee*

[HillmanImp]

I will look forward to the progress on this. Good luck. I hope that its solid. If the boot floor has rotted (probably due to water ingress?) I assume there will be other areas that need a tickle from a mig? 

 

Fingers crossed its not to much though.

[greengartside]

Utterly, utterly brilliant. Vulg, you've done yourself proud here. What's the plan for the red one? Is it going to be the daily or are you sticking with the beige one for that? Either way, I doth my cap to you. There's an Autoshite Calendar shot in there already....

 

Oh, I used to have the very same AA Handbook many moons ago!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I did find a few nice little details, like this sticker from just before the car came off the road in '97/8.

 

Oof, nostalgia punch! I almost certainly went on a Center Parcs holiday in 1996. 

[vulgalour]

@HillmanImp: The boot floor, like the cabin floor, is actually better than that in the HL. I was seriously surprised by this. In fact, the lack of welding it needs is surprising, it's a very honest car with very little sign of any sort of messing about anywhere on it.  I guess it was looked after pretty well for the 145,000 miles it was on the road.

 

@greengartside:  Beige as the daily until the HLS is sorted and then the HLS can be my special occasion comfy car... or something.  Suffice to say I plan to be a two Princess kinda guy, I've just not worked out the logistics of that yet.

 

Most of all, I'm chuffed to bits with my free car.  Fine, it's going to take bloody ages to make it look as lovely* as the HL but I'm up for that challenge and itching to get some red paint bought.

[phil_lihp]

Well done, that looks like 1990 all over again, red should polish up quite well for a 10 yard shine.  Got an MOT deadline yet?  

[vulgalour]

I'd like it on the road by the end of the year.  It's actually not that far off from initial inspection, it all depends if we can get the engine running properly/at all.

[cms206]

I am thoroughly impressed already you snazzy bastard. 112%/10.

[theorganist]

This is great, it looks amazingly solid considering.

 

Well done and I can't wait to see it on the road.

[Ghosty]

I like the look of that one more than the beige - that's bloody brilliant for £0. All the best with the recommissioning - don't doubt for a second you'll do a grand job of restoring its former glory.

[RedSparrow]

Two childhood memories there - the Longleat holiday village sticker and Tazos.

 

I could be wrong but I think neither of those those side repeaters are original.

 

Anyway, WIN.

[phil_lihp]

Considering that a Wolseley-badged model in a state not vastly better than the red one just sold on eBay for £2200, I think £0 is quite the bargain:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolseley-2200-18-22-Series-Wedge-Saloon-/261230123681?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3cd2875aa1&nma=true&si=qA0JFiSfDVBP8Aod8XRyRM67LMk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[barefoot]

Fucking Spiders.

 

I am lost for words.

[explosive-cabbage]

Brill purchase for nil mulah!

Good effort lad.

Best of luck with it!

[rml2345]

That's a remarkable thing! It does look surprisingly solid considering it was to be a donor and I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it.

Two Princesses... You winner you. 

[MikeKnight]

Oh I bet the neighbours LOVE you right about now.

[vulgalour]

I have been asked many times when I'm scrapping it.  I have been met with surprised faces when I've said I'm putting it back on the road where it belongs.

[overrun]

Am I right in thinking that said vehicle(s) will be relocating to the glorious North East?

I cannot remember the last time I saw one Princess, so the chance of surveying two would be joyous.

 

Also an opportunity to put names to faces and all that.

[Junkman]

I think it's fuggin ace.

It won't do anything for the real estate value* around your digs, but deep in my heart, I see even this as an advantage.

[overrun]

They compliment the pebble-dash perfectly.

[beko1987]

Can't wait to see them beading away soon together after a good polish! Cos that's what you'll do innit, like me you'll postpone actual mechanics and clean that fucker as it should be!

 

Fucking Tazo! Havent seen one of those for years! Wonder if my Pogs are in mums loft still...

[privatewire]

Utterly,utterly brilliant. That is all.

[quicksilver]

What is there to say? A man with two wedges is clearly a man of impeccable taste. Also Tazos...those things were all the rage when I was at school but I haven't seen one since.

[Mr Livered]

Brilliant.

 

Vulg, I took possession of a new-to-me motorcar yesterday as well, and I have to say I was definitely more excited by your acquisition of the second Princess than my Merc acquisition. Consider my hat doffed, and I look forwards to seeing its fettling process.

[M'coli]

You're better off than Prince Andrew - he, like you, has two princesses but neither of yours are ginger - good work!

[barefoot]

.... more excited by your acquisition of the second Princess than my Merc acquisition...

 

I was once offered an old, crash damaged Merc with a load of Princess bits on the back seat.

 

fnarr, fnarr.

[vulgalour]

In response to recent comments, yes, we will be relocating to the North eventually and yes, I did polish the car today.  Still can't convince Dad it's worth putting on the road, he still thinks I should break it to help the HL out but I do know better than to do that with this particular car.

 

---

 

First job today, since the sun was out for a bit, was to crack on with getting the car cleaner.  There's no point tackling the engine at the moment until I know for sure how good or bad the body is and the best way to find that out is to clean off the 12 years of storage grime.  The vinyl on the roof was given a very thorough scrub and came up okay, there's a few bits of paint on the roof, presumably household gloss, and one small nick in the centre of the roof that shows no signs of rot.  I'm actually comfortable enough with the condition of the vinyl and the metal I can feel underneath to leave this in situ for the short term because I think it'll do less harm if left alone.

 

I then turned my attention to the paintwork.  Overall, the metal is actually quite solid with only some strange surface rust patterns that I'll remedy piecemeal.  The rot on the driver's door is actually nowhere near as bad as I thought where the wing mirror should be and while a replacement door is probably sensible, what's on can probably be fixed well enough to provide service for another year or so.

 

Personally, I don't think it polished up too badly considering how poor the paint finish is and with a coat of polish on I can rest assured that the rust will at least slow down a little bit while this one is out in the elements, a situation I hadn't planned until the garage I was putting the HLS in became occupied by a car with no roof.

 

 

 

I gave all the glass a clean and then a glass polish inside and out which greatly improved both the smell inside the car and the overall tidiness of the whole car.

 

Nothing more I could do on the outside today, I turned my attentions once again to the inside, vacuuming, dusting, looking behind the driver's sun visor...

 

 

Wasp nest!  I moved rather rapidly, mental images of a headlining crawling with angry yellow bar stewards... I was safe though, it's a long defunct nest and while I'm not a fan of wasps their nests are little paper marvels.

 

Part of the reason for cleaning the car is to make it tolerable to be inside, but another part is to show other people that it's nowhere near as bad as it looks when you're up close and personal.  The driver's side doorcards show just how good some parts of this car really are.  Worth noting that it took less effort to clean these than the much better cleaner looking ones in the HL.

 

 

Took the vinyl wrap off the steering wheel for ease of cleaning.  I may reinstate it, I haven't decided yet.  Needs more cleaning yet but the worst of the smelly grime and dust and mould is now off the surfaces.

 

The headlining, however, is completely shot.  Not only is it a very unpleasant colour, the fabric has become brittle and dusty.  Headlinings are easy to make and relatively easy to fit, but it will facilitate removal of both front and rear screens so I'm going to clean the worst of the dirt off the existing headlining until I can get to a point where the screens can safely be removed and refitted.  I would rather have a tatty headlining than none at all.

 

Front seat arm rests magically started working today.  I can well imagine wafting down the motorway with these deployed, supremely comfortable.

 

And this is the obligatory bucket shot.  Just from those door cards and a wipe over of the dash, I haven't even begun the deep clean yet.

 

Then I had a break to hold a friend's hand while he bought a replacement for his written off car.  He's gone for a 2 year old 5 door Corsa.  That's enough said about that, except to add that if I were wanting to buy a new car I'd probably buy an Adam as I rather like how they look.

 

When I came back said friend had a go at driving the Princess and he didn't really get the lack of PAS, or the fact you have to use considerably more revs than a modern car.  It was a bit of an eye-opener actually as to how much more effort an old barge takes to drive than a new car, though I don't really feel the effort outside of parking.

 

Anyway, the boot.  There's some more rust here but while it's advanced it's not so far gone I can't repair it.  If I clean this up a strip could be welded in to resolve it.

 

Mine is leaking occasionally somewhere around here, it's very, very rare.  This boot surround is a little more advanced but since it's non-structural and fairly easy to access with the boot off I'll patch this.

 

And I'll patch this bit on the other side in the mirrored location too.  Gaffer tape and Kurust is likely the short term solution while the weather is being a bit wet.

 

Cleared out all of this detritus.

 

It was getting a bit dark by the time I'd done but the boot is absolutely spotless, it puts the condition of the HL boot to shame and that's a good condition boot!  I'm missing one side carpet and the floor mat, the spare wheel cover is presently in the boot of the HL.

 

Even better, there's a complete functional original toolkit in the not-flooded, original, not-rusty toolkit well.

 

In many ways, the HLS is the better of the two cars I have and in many ways it's worse.  For this and other reasons I have no intention to break either car, they're both far too good overall.  But I'm aware there's a crapload of cosmetic work ahead of me.  Nothing cosmetic on this car is outside of my abilities to sort and that's precisely what I plan to do.

 

Tomorrow we're going to have another go at getting the engine sorted and chase the electrics to see if we can find the earth leak... if the weather holds, of course.

[purplebargeken]

I really, really love this car! It is well worth saving given what you have found so far. If you were nearer I'd give you a hand. Keep going!!

[Skizzer]

Excellent.

 

In many ways, the HLS is the better of the two cars I have and in many ways it's worse.  

 

"Shiny new cars are all alike; every crappy old car is crappy in its own way." - Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.  Almost.