The Last Ambassador. It's Ours!

[rovamota]

Maybe we're mad, maybe we're sad, but we are delighted to announce that, after much negotiation, www.leylandprincess.co.uk has secured the last of the line Austin Ambassador Vanden Plas, A500 KWK. This car was part of the Heritage Motor Centre collection at Gaydon from 1986 and was on display up until 2003, where it was then sold as part of their auction of some 60 cars in the collection.

 

Since it was sold it seems it has not been used and was parked on the driveway of the owners house for several years and now still shows the same 11,700 miles on the clock since it was sold at Gaydon.

 

We know these aren't the most loved of cars but as real enthusiasts we think this car should be saved due to its provenance, novelty value and the fact so few remain. Obviously the car will probably need a fair bit of cash spending on it but we hope to have it looking as good as it did when it was in the museum.

 

We're collecting it on Friday.

 

[eddyramrod]

Well done!

[adw1977]

Well saved! I've always liked the Ambassador and there are so few left.

[holbeck]

Is that the one that had been parked up with no rear window?

[phil_lihp]

Brilliant, I do like these just for being so unloved, they don't even seem to have the noteriety of the Princess, they just seem to have been forgotten and must be even rarer.  If your previous exploits are anything to go by, this should look amazing when it's done.

 

I was hoping you might get hold of the one that spent many years lugging caravans around a campsite somewhere in the UK, there's a few photos of it in use relatively recently online somewhere and it looked utterly hanging but obviously still worked.  I guess that one's long gone now though.

 

Yours has been spotted on here before in less happy times...

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/6935-the-great-cortina-hunt-a-sad-true-story/page-2

[saucedoctor]

Brilliant! Well done indeed.

[Pillock]

Oh, excellent choice of next subject.... I was hoping that the pictures of this abandoned on a driveway weren't the end of the story and someone would see if for the piece of history it is.

Did they really only last two years? I'm off to hit ARO and gen up, I feel there's a gap in my knowledge around these.

[Walter White]

Very well done.

[dollywobbler]

Truly great news. I know this car has been spotted by folk on this very forum as it sat languishing on a driveway, so super-good news that it now has the home it really deserves.

[Cavcraft]

Superb stuff, well saved and well done.

[rovamota]

Yeah, on sale from March 1982 until February 1984 and never made in LHD. Even Austin Morris stopped making spare parts for it in 1986 such was the lack of demand, which I guess is a good thing as they must have been so reliable!

 

I'm told the floor is solid as are the sills though the exhaust must be about to fail, but it does run and drive even with a shot water pump and as for the brakes, if the brake pedal has hardly been used for 30 years I think we can guess the state of the system.

 

Ah well, we have the technology to sort it.

[Bren]

Oporto red - my favourite colour.

 

Well saved.

[Craig the Princess]

Beautiful, Oporto Red is such a beautiful colour. Best of luck with it, that looks stunning.

 

Maybe that will be inspiration to get I've of my two back to being roadworthy.

[MarvinsMom]

well saved sir!

 

i will be looking forward to your updates.

[Zantimisfit]

Excellent save! Saw pictures of this looking pretty abandoned and uncared for. Father Misfit had one new in 1982, a 1.7L no less. Even the clock was removed an a cheap plastic blanking plate fitted but it was both spacious and amazingly comfortable. Sadly VCW320Y is not one of the small number of survivors.

 

Good luck with this. Ensure you give us regular update photos

[conkerman]

Well done. A thoroughly unloved and interesting car

 

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

 

 

[egg]

Dare l ask about parts availability!?

 

True autoshite.

[danthecapriman]

Nice!

Can't wait to see this one come back to life.

[blakey79]

Wow

[mercrocker]

Very pleasing outcome.....

[Felly Magic]

First a flappy mirror grey grille Sierra is saved by a shiter, and now the very last Austin Ambassador made, in Ferrero Rocher flavour too. With this Ambassador you really are spoiling us! (sorry pun had to be done)

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Wow!

 

In fact, the word 'wow' seriously undersells this achievement! I have always had a liking for the Vanden Plas versions of any BL cars - and the last one off the line too. I am so glad you are going to restore the car - it's a labour of love and classic car ownership at its most pure.

 

Have a   from me!

[Cheggers]

Lunacy...utter, utter lunacy.

 

 

If I had a hat I'd take it off to you 😀

[vulgalour]

Good to see the funds from the pre-production Princess restoration being reinvested wisely.

[For Fiats Sake]

I remember having brochures and even seeing these cars at the local garage when I was a nipper.

 

I liked the transition from chrome to more black rubbery bits!

 

Glad it's in safe hands, look forward to seeing it join the wedge line up at future shows!

[inconsistant]

Well done, nice save. I dont know what Gaydon were thinking of when they got rid of that. Fools.

[trigger]

This is just fantastic news, i look forwards to seeing it at the NEC completed in November!

[Bren]

An old boss I used to work for (RIP) ordered a brand new ambassador.

 

However, salesman then told him he could do him a better deal on a brand new SD1.

 

So the ambassador failed to materialise- in its place was a silver leaf SD1 2 litre with shetland tweed upholstery.

[bigstraight6]

Well done, nice save. I dont know what Gaydon were thinking of when they got rid of that. Fools.

It's a terrible shame that Gaydon didn't deem it essential that the last of these to remain in the collection, very pleased that she has now been saved though......

[lisbon_road]

Well done, all good news.

 

Sobering to think that people might have seen that in Gaydon, think it was safe, but it was to spend years outside and were it not for your effort?