Late Ambarrasador

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Just spotted this whilst looking for a car for the missus. She'd destroy me if I were to even show her this,  but thought some peeps on here may like it. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-AUSTIN-AMBASSADOR-VANDEN-PLAS-RED-2-0L-24K-ONLY-1-OWNER-FROM-NEW-/331304182208?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

 

[brickwall]

Always loved the shape but People were so cruel about this car. It only deserved most of the criticism.

[Partridge]

Late Ambassador? He should buy a bloody watch!

[Lankytim]

Is that the last one built that was sold from the Gaydon collection a few years ago then left to rot?

[SambaS]

I've been quite calm and relaxed lately, things seem to be going okay. Which can only mean I need to buy another car to fuck it up. And by lately I mean this week ONLY.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

My god that is class, despite these being shit

[TRW]

Is that the last one built that was sold from the Gaydon collection a few years ago then left to rot?

 

I thought that yellow one previewed on here was the last built? Some chump left it rotting on a driveway with a shattered back window.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Is that the last one built that was sold from the Gaydon collection a few years ago then left to rot?

I thought the same when I spotted it, but a sneaky foogle reminded me that this was the last one (in better times)...

*Scuse the poxy link - can't work out how to attach photos on my fekkin' dog.

 

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/austin_ambassador_1.jpg

[HH-R]

Marvin the Robot ^

 

 

Austin Ambassador ^

[vulgalour]

It might not be the last one, but an A plate Ambo is really as late as you can get.  Excellent spot.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I'm slightly ambivalent about the Ambassador, except when it is the Vanden Plas. Then it's Phoarrrr! I like cars with grilles and extra chrome. And walnut. Lovely.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

it might not be the oldest but theres only a week between them!

[fordperv]

I am a secret lover of the Ambo, father fordperv had one in that light metallic bluey green on the y reg, it was an excellent car the only problem he had with it was it suffered omghgf, the only major downside was when he came to sell it, even though it was mint he couldn't give it away

[RedSparrow]

This era of BL is a special type of shite. Ambassador, Ital, Allegro 3 and Maxi 2.

All ancient motors tarted up with plastic and chrome and coach lines to look 80's.

[Vince70]

That was a plush Vanden Plas in its time as it looks like it had the wood glued to the dash which you didn't get on a Y plate Vanden Plas.

It would be lovely to see it back on the road but their worth so little money anyway that it looks like its going to be a spares only car.

Can someone go and glue a Ford Badge on the back as then it will be worth 20 grand.

 

But you never know it might be a solid car and I can say the body on the things never seemed to rust as much as the competition it's just that everything else failed.

I think I still have the scar on the back of my head from hatchback struts failing on our one back in the 80s lol.

[barefoot]

This era of BL is a special type of shite. Ambassador, Ital, Allegro 3 and Maxi 2.

All ancient motors tarted up with plastic and chrome and coach lines to look 80's.

Back in 85, I bought a very early X plate, 3 yr old fwd Cavalier saloon in that fetching shade of green rather than a newer one of these.

I have never regretted that decision.

[Vince70]

Back in 85, I bought a very early X plate, 3 yr old fwd Cavalier saloon in that fetching shade of green rather than a newer one of these.

I have never regretted that decision.

I did the same myself after the Ambo incident as my father traded it in for a Maestro, so I got myself a 1.6 L 4 speed Cav mk2 on a X plate, it was a fantastic car and so nippy it was in a lovely kind of light grey/ beige colour.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I don't care much for the Ambastardor, not even a top end Vanden Plastic. They just ruined the Princess that, in trapezoidal spec in black, looks OARSUM.

[inconsistant]

That's some opulent shite right there. A quick Tcut, some air in the tyres and a butler holding a tray of spherical Itailian chocolates in the passenger seat and you're hob nobbing with the monied classes.

 

"Eccellente"

[Vince70]

The wheels are very posh items though as I'm sure Fuchs must supplied them.

[/url] as BMW used them on its posh models in the early 80s.

Just a shame it's a four stud pattern on the Ambo or you could make a few quid them.

[Asimo]

 

I paid  Ã‚£1350 for this 2.0HL twin carb automatic when it was less than four years old, after waving goodbye to a company BX Diesel. I really liked it apart from the stupid, useless auto-choke and the dreadful lack of headroom. The BW35 auto was a good match for the engine, the ride and the one-finger steering. I called mine "the tortoise", 'cause it was brown and the wee bit of negative camber on the rear wheels gave the look of a tortoise's back legs sticking out under the shell. I don't think they deserve their reputation at all, just the culture of rubbishing all BL products I suppose.

 

Last car I sold at a profit (+£350).

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Are those rimz imperial or that metric TD nonsense?

[HH-R]

I think that ill fated venture was only on the Metro? And some Jags if it was still owned by BL by then.

[vulgalour]

The Ambassador alloys are specific to the car, and they didn't fart around with metric wheels, thank goodness!  I doubt we'll ever see people spending Ford money on wedges, there's too many armchair experts ready and willing to tell you how much better a fucked Escort is than a not-fucked anything-BL.

[Cavcraft]

I don't care much for the Ambastardor, not even a top end Vanden Plastic. They just ruined the Princess that, in trapezoidal spec in black, looks OARSUM.

 

/\

This.

 

The Ambastardor was another half arsed 'facelift' of an ancient car  that looked better in it's first incarnation. See also Maxi Mk2, Ital (though Marinas were fucking awful anyway) and Allegro.

[outlaw118]

Bloke I was in a band with bought a Y plate gold HLS(?) in 1991 (and I bought his 2.3 Ghia Cortina) and I have to say, apart from the Renault 20TX my brother had, it was the most comfortable car of EVAR.

Didn't appreciate "enthusiastic" driving though.

[Cavcraft]

Tortoise's legs? Turtle's head, more like.

[Richard]

Bloke I was in a band with bought a Y plate gold HLS(?) in 1991

 

You are Gordon the moron AICMFP

 

[chaseracer]

When I was living in the Smoke, half a lifetime ago, a mate sold his Esprit Turbo and acquired TNJ160X, a silver Ambastardor auto, in a reasonably successful bid to achieve greater reliability.  As Outlaw says, it was very comfortable and was surprisingly easy to thread through the mean streets of southwest London.

 

He moved it on to a minicabber in Ilford, and according to Doovla it didn't last long after that...

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I think that ill fated venture was only on the Metro? And some Jags if it was still owned by BL by then.

The Jag XJ40 used 390mm steel wheels and 390mm Teardrop alloys on the earlier cars - the steel wheels being replaced by 15" ones in the early 1990s. The 390mm Teardrop alloys were available right to the end, even though a 15" Teardrop alloy was also introduced in the early 90s. The Metrics were more expensive than the Imperial wheels, so rare on late cars.

 

It wasn't just BL though. BMW made quite a few Metric wheeled cars in the '80s too. The TRX wheel on the E28 (and E23?) was metric, and the E32 was available with Metric alloys too. Citroen had a flirtation with Metrics too, didn't they. I'm fairly sure the CX GTI alloys were metric.