Austin Princess

[Pete-M]

Even I have to admit that the yellow one that's being fixed on here looks ace.

 

I'd smile if I saw it in traffic. I'd feel sorry for the driver, but it's one of those cars that is nice to see around occasionally.

[Bear]

Kev's Princess shows just how little extra BL needed to do to get the market appeal right.

 

But then...

 

Triumph 1300 redesign, overlooked.

Triumph Toledo AWD potential. So they had that. They had the Dolomite Sprint.

If the cars had been properly screwed together, where do you think the Dolomite Sprint engine with fuel injection and 4WD would have ended up? Quattro before Audi.

 

So much wasted potential.

[vulgalour]

British Leyland cars are:

Shit

Ace

Rusty

Built by workshy strikers

The demise of British industry and everything that was wrong with Thatcher's Britain

A blot on the landscape

Better than a Cortina

Mildly less irritating than genital warts

Too expensive

Inexplicably popular

For Hipsters

 

I think that covers all potential future comments on this subject.

[sloth]

i can relate tom the princess love. i nearly bought one aged 19. it was a trade in and i was in my 3rd year apprentiship. the thing was immaculate, in a purple colour. i fell in love with it, and the boss only wanted 150 quid. so i bought it. i drove it home, then spent 4 hours trying to get insurance. 1900 was the cheapest...... long story short i cleaned it up and sold it. it was solid as a rock and very clean, turned out the old giffer traded it against a new corolla hatch, a car i thought of as a modern maxi looking thing.

 

i then got into vauxhalls (a.v.a.s etc.) but the BL itch was still there. when i moved to oz, i got offered a morris 1500, basically a stiffened and uprated ado16 with a maxi e series and 5 speed. it was utterly amazing and proved to be fast yet handled like a go cart. with a blmc twin carb kit and a port job it became ballistic. i sold it when my son came along, and replaced it with polly-jean, the 2500ST in my pic. a car thsat was built in a toyota factory, to toyota levels of fit and finish. it shows what BL could have been.....

 

i can see any 70s bl cars rising in price, not as much as osf tax but still. remember, the mk1 cavalier has seen a massive spike in the last 2 years. concourse examples were making 1-2k, now theyre well over 5....

[Squire_Dawson]

I have said it once and I'll say it again. The British have always been very good at designing, engineering and making things. Second to none, in fact. The problem always lay in the execution of the design and the after sales service. BL were quite daring and forward thinking in many respects and employed some of the best engineers and designers in the Industry. As a BL man myself, I personally feel they were always a cut above the opposition, which offered cautiously conservative engineering cloaked in a flash body to wow the man in the street. I am very pleased BL are no longer with us for the simple reason that car manufacturing itself ceased circa 1997.

[Pillock]

 

 

British Leyland cars are:

Shit

Ace

Rusty

Built by workshy strikers

The demise of British industry and everything that was wrong with Thatcher's Britain

A blot on the landscape

Better than a Cortina

Mildly less irritating than genital warts

Too expensive

Inexplicably popular

For Hipsters

 

 

That's not a bad model range. Ford at the time only had the Fiesta, Escort, Cortina and Granada.

[Bear]

I'm still impressed they had the foresight to keep the Morris Minor Traveller in production under the branding "Morris For Hipsters". Totally beats the VW Sc3n3.

[vulgalour]

The Austin Demise of British Industry and Everything That Was Wrong With Thatcher's Britain got renamed to '3 litre' because of legislations on the maximum width of a vehicle and minimum badge font size used on British roads at the time.
 

PHAKT

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

British Leyland cars are:

 

Shit - Marina

Ace - 18/22

Rusty - Jaguar

Built by work shy strikers - All of then

The demise of British industry and everything that was wrong with Thatcher's Britain - er.........

A blot on the landscape - Ital

Better than a Cortina - Cavalier. Hang on Lads........

Mildly less irritating than genital warts - Mini

Too expensive - Rover 200 bubble. See (1) also

Inexplicably popular - Mini

For Hipsters - MIni

 

I think that covers all potential future comments on this subject.

[warren t claim]

 

That's not a bad model range. Ford at the time only had the Fiesta, Escort, Cortina and Granada.

And Capri.

[Pillock]

And Capri.

Ssshhh, you're ruining my funny.

[Vin]

The Princess had better roadholding than most other cars at the time.Probably due to the wide(for the time)185/70/14 tyres.The weekend I first met my future in-laws we we driving in my 2.0HL down a country lane in Dorset when I almost missed my turning. I just threw the car around the corner to the accompaniment of much screaming from the back seat.Then silence followed by future father in law saying"my Cortina couldn't have done that ".I always felt it was a car that gave a great feeling of stability and confidence.

 

My Mum's Princess was a 2200. She hated the PAS as it was 'featherlight' and didn't know what it would do... With 3 kids in the back she didn't trust it. She was no 'driving god' or whatnot but wanted 'predictability'. She wanted a car she could trust. In the end that was the R20 (x 2).

 

We were still a BL family though as my Dad bought himself a Rover SD1 in 2 litre flavour - XWR 689X using the Prinny as a trade in...

 

I do like to see Princesses on the basis that anything old surviving is great...

[artdjones]

The funny thing is that when Car magazine did a comparison test between an Ambassador 2.0 and an SD1 2.0 they preferred the Ambassador.

[Taff]

 Bloody amazing tow car though.

 

 

 

This. And there are far better tow cars about for that kind of money.

[vulgalour]

Having experienced a 2ltr Ambassador and a 2ltr SD1 I don't understand why you'd pick the Ambassador.  Even with the increased front cabin space, slightly larger load space and smoother suspension that isn't enough to make the Ambassador more desirable.  What an odd conclusion for CAR to reach.

[purplebargeken]

Triumph produced a 4WD rally car based on the 1300FWD. Photos exist but not many. The car doesn't after being crashed IIRC.

 

I like Wedge cars, they look quite cool and comfy but getting displacers would stress me to the next level.

[Bear]

My dad had a period of BL tat because my uncle worked at Cowley. Access to discounted ex-director/fleet stock, usually six months old. To give you an idea of how discounted, when I got my Chevette he went on about how he'd longed to get a Chevanne, but they were too expensive (he had a Regal Supervan III and Berkley T60 before the BL stuff).

 

First was a brown metallic Marina 1.8TC. He liked that.

Next was a white Marina 1.3. He said it was visibly rusty after six months, the gear lever fell off, and I nearly fell out of it at speed (I'd have been a toddler at the time) having opened a back door.

That was replaced with a blue Allegro estate and a yellow Mini 850 replaced a Type 3 Karmann Ghia my mum had.

I mostly remember the Allegro having a black interior, particularly I remember the back of the seats and the footwell as it was my favourite place to throw up. Most notable thing was that he dented the bonnet, slamming the brakes on to avoid a truck and the car front went UP under the truck.

Then he got a Maxi 2 1750 HLS. That lasted well and he generally says nice things about it. Clutch went on a trip to France (much high speed driving) but was easily fixed.

Then he treated himself to an Ambassador. All I remember about it was paprika seats and it being another vomit-comet. That car lasted six months before the power steering leaks and one side of the hydrolastic failing.

 

At that time a CEGB client was getting rid of an Audi 80 - red with gold coachlines, stop/start engine and front fog lights.

 

That car was so good, the Mini was changed for a VW Polo then a Golf GLi Cabriolet, and the Audi got traded in for a Passat Topic 5dr hatch in Topaz green, then a facelift Passat Topic Estate in gold where the 1.8 originally planned for Topic models was upgraded to a 2.0 GL5 lump. He crashed that, and briefly tried going British again with a new Land Rover 110 CSW that rusted, leaked and broke down so often that he swore off ever buying a former BL car again.

[Royale80]

Good Morning,

 

The Tara green one sold for £640 - was called out and missed it.

 

Still-the hunt continues!

 

Steve

[rovamota]

Well I have to say that would be £640 worth of grief unless you're friendly with a welder and a painter or you can do all that yourself. I know the seller would be asking at least £150 each for the wings and probably £150 for the front valance if he has one so that's already heading for £1200 before you've even fired up the angle grinder.

 

Still, it will be a nice car once restored.

[trigger]

 

 

This is the one my mate bought for a couple of hundred quid last year after it had been in a garage 20 years. It had lasted really well although was a bit spongy along the bottom which wasn't surprising seeing that it had done 150000 miles, we even got it running which was impressive.

 

I thought it was really comfortable to be fair but sadly he wasn't man enough for it so sold it to another mate for the same money and it now sits in his lock up whilst he gets round to it.

[fred]

I can normally see some good in most cars but other than interior space and clever drivers seat adjustment I fail to see any merit in the Princess. Other BL products of the same era like the SD1 and Triumph six cylinder saloons at least have some driver appeal.

Nay Nay Nay Mr Wilkes, Princess is all Glory Velour and wonderfulness, and is and will be far better looking that any sad arsed cross over shite banged out today which look so alike they may as well take the badges off and share the profits

[garycox]

similar thing happened with the allegro, instead of doing a ford, and using the floor off of the ADO16, they started again. someone wanted to use the ADO16 glass, and then later on it was decided to use the e-series as well as the a. this was due to the then new mark 3 'tina been a damn sight bigger than the outgoing model.

 

so instead of been a sleek, lithe looking thing which harris mann had in mind at the start, it ended up been the lash up that the allegro was. 

 

Do Allegros use ADO16 glass?!

 

Surely if this is true I would have known already.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

No

[Royale80]

Morning all,

Have been told of a Princess local to me in Treorchy. Spoke to the late owners wife who said it was in "mint" condition with 47,000 miles (apparently the husband owned a bus company and had several classics).

Asked how much-"well a member from the club said £2000 but I found out that my husband had it insured for £5000 so I want quite a bit more".

 

Currently looking at a Royale Coupe.

 

Steve

[Royale80]

Morning all,

Royale went tits up. Offered £900 (car was £999) but have not heard back. Owner may be on holiday?

 

The hunt is still on-there is a Royale saloon currently on the 'bay which I may have a look at.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[Timewaster]

*irrelevant post warning*

 

An old fella I knew in the early 80s was a die hard Leyland man. He had a silver 1750Hls allegro with quad headlamps and terracotta velour interior which the 10 year old me thought was pretty cool. For an allegro.

He traded it for a brand new ambassador which he kept for 3 days as it made his wife car sick.

The dealer swapped it for an ex demo Acclaim.

The poor guy looked genuinely crest fallen as he told the story.

[Royale80]

And another!

Cousin bought a "T" reg 1750HLS Allegro in about 1981. 

Had a problem quite soon  which meant taking the engine out. On putting the engine back in -the bolts securing the engine mounts started to pull through the mounting points. The car was riddled with rust underneath (at 3 years old)-but looked "ok" on top. It was one of the batch assembled in Belgium.

 

Steve

[dugong]

British Leyland cars are:

Shit

Ace

Rusty

Built by workshy strikers

The demise of British industry and everything that was wrong with Thatcher's Britain

A blot on the landscape

Better than a Cortina

Mildly less irritating than genital warts

Too expensive

Inexplicably popular

For Hipsters

 

I think that covers all potential future comments on this subject.

Don't forget turning up late at Brooklands, being refused entry and then the shitstorm that somehow resulted ending up as a hysterical headline on the front of a national classic car paper. Princesses have done that, too.

[Bren]

Morning all,

Royale went tits up. Offered £900 (car was £999) but have not heard back. Owner may be on holiday?

 

The hunt is still on-there is a Royale saloon currently on the 'bay which I may have a look at.

 

Regards

 

Steve

Was it the coupe on ebay?

[dugong]

Rover and BL cars were never taken seriously where I grew up in the North West; two massive Ford and Peugeot dealerships put paid to that. One bloke on our street had a Jaguar XJS - he later moved on to a string of BMWs and never looked back. Everyone else had Fords and Vauxhalls - the people that ran BL chod were forever fixing them or getting lifts to work when their cars failed to proceed.

 

The step change I remember was in 1988/9 when the R8 arrived. In Manchester there were only two tiny Rover garages - Lookers in Stretford, and Drabble & Allan in Hale. People wanted the new 200/400 so badly there were waiting lists. My dad tried to get a 416 as a company car and had to settle for a Cavalier instead as the Rovers were so popular. I never remember any other Longbridge \ Cowley model so sought after, before or since.