This car was unique, we had a German Spec 2200 HLE and it had a great suspension and a very nice inline 6 engine combined with front wheel drive, very silent and comfortable.Back in the 70s we compared it to Audi 100 GL and some Lancia Beta, the Princess was roomier, faster and much more comfortable, it had a good quality, we never had any breakdowns!
That must have been pretty much all of them. Anybody who bought one of these shitboxes exported overseas to Germany must have been stark raving mad. It must have been BL's only German export.
I had one of these Princesses when i was an 18 year old kid. My parents wouldn't let me have my dream car at that time, a triumph spitfire with 68 horse power, because it was a sports car.. so in a fit of rage, I opened the paper at the car section and bought the first car that I came to in my price range. It was an Austin Princess 2.2/6 cyl and it was amazing. Fast, handled, I won against anything I pitched it at (this was early 80's) A year later, my dad drove it and was speechless. Good times
We had one as a family car in the 80's It was very comfortable with big seats and a gas suspension. Loads of leg room and a huge boot. Took us to France pulling a caravan many times.Sure it looks dated now but looked as modern as anything else on the road then.
Thank you very much for sharing this stuff! Over in Canada, we didn't see too many BL cars back in the day, but they sure are an interesting footnote in motoring history but at the same time, a tragic shame (and loss) to the British Motoring scene. Kind of like what General Motors is today.... failing through it's own inability to change or recognize problems.
When designing the rear lights, you could just hear someone saying "that will do". No passion, no design flair, no effort. Just "that will do". Oh, I drive a 1972 Hillman Avenger. The rear lights on that are a work of art. (And on the later Chrysler / Talbot models, were just "that will do").
I remember my grandad's 2200HLS, one of the very first badged under the 'Princess' brand. It seemed huge as a kid and everyone said it was really comfy and nice to drive. Looking back, there are a few extra things BL could have done to make these really stand out - 5 speed box from the Maxi is one, especially as the 2200 had a maxi engine with 2 extra cylinders, and possibly bit more in the way of dials.
Now you mention it, I did have a head gasket go. I had the head skimmed and reassembled and nothing else went wrong that I remember. Even the gasket was in the first few weeks that I had it, but the rest of the year was pretty much trouble free (I tore a tyre from the rim once, doing handbrake turns, but nothing that was the cars fault) My father in those years drove allegro's, he sometimes got 100 miles to a pint of oil, and his engine was often open. So the princess was pretty good back then.
He had taste, and an eye for beauty. BL cars were always the ones used for craah scenes and pile ups in late 70's and early 80's tv shows, such as "The Professionals" and "The Sweeney" Says it all really.
There was one in one episode of The Sweeney. Jack Reagan's comment was something along the lines of "What is this piece of crap?" The Ford Granada was back the following week
It needed a lighter engine that revved a bit, not the tractor units it was saddled with. It needed more money spending to make the interior and dash look less naff. Those rear light fittings look like they were retrieved from a scrapyard. The chassis wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately as we all know, there was no money for any investment in quality, R&D or power units. Its a shame. We had a Montego 1.6 for a time a bit later. It was awful.
You got that right! NSU K-70 became Volkswagen K-70 because of the merger between Auto Union GmbH and NSU Motorenwerke AG in 1969. The result of the merger? Audi NSU Auto Union AG. Volkswagen bought out Auto Union GmbH in 1964. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I think I would still have been disheartened, had I not been presented with a Ford Granada, and ended up with this ugly bag of shite. I remember, as a kid in the 70's, thinking how Fugly these cars were. The Ambassador was a slight improvement, but only just. Even BL realised what an abomination the Princess was, hence the hastily re-invented Ambassador.
I don't think the Ambassador was hastily invented it took them 8 years to finally create a a hatchback version and change the name. Both versions were pig ugly and about as desirable as gonorrhea.
@@markrl75 8 years of BL development: 4 years of strike, 3 years of mismanagement, 1 year hastily throwing bits and bolts into a box to sell it as a "car".
@@hermanmunster3358 The Princess was not up against the Granada, the SD1 was. I'd rather have an SD1 than a Granada, well, depending on model, overall though, a V8 SD1 would take some beating.
I know that in reality the princess was a bit soggy and not very well made , but these smooth and funky sales films have got me seriously seduced . I want one now just so that I can experience that world of 70s brown velour while driving through the surf on a deserted beach .
Why on earth didn't it have a five speed gearbox ? , it's not like they didn't have a design from the Maxi and even larger engine Allagros ! .... Penny pinching ? ... Shame because it would have made a nice car nicer , my Dad had loads of these and Ambassadors too , dragged caravans all over the country with them ! Highly underrated cars .
I seem to remember when first launched, the car had issues with weak engine mountings and driveshafts, which was quickly remedied, and was a pretty decent car. by then the damage was already done however and it never really recovered. I always felt the Princess held together a lot better than the SD1 (I am a fan of both cars and have owned examples of both)
The princess had a torsional stiffness of 12,000Nm Mercedes W123 8,000Nm read that in a period road test from Car magazine. KPM music library music also Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett on drums.
@@lauribricker9439 there is some really great music on these old BL adverts, if I may, there is another part to this advert for the Princess car, with some more track's on it, if I copy and paste the link to the RUclips video, would you be able to identify any other music too? But only if you have the time, again, it's very good of you to grace my request, I love music, of all types, greetings from North Wales.
GDA700N an Austin, is/was supposedly blue(!) and tax due 1 August 1989. GDA701N, a Morris version, shows as RED, and tax due 1 June 1987. Narrator sounds like John Craven lol.
Good grief.... my late father had 4 as successive company cars and they got less reliable over the years! They all rusted around the rear wheel arches and the rear suspension mounting bushes wore out in no time, something to do with the holes not being drilled correctly in the centre, apparently. They ate starters, alternators and goodness knows what else in the way of dodgy Joe Lucas electrical items.
I think you were just very lucky. The statistics will tell another story, I fear. I love British cars, but I never dared to buy one because of their reputation.
@@seansands424 In car manufacturing, quality is consistency. The quality is high when the consumer gets a very high certainty of buying a reliable and durable car (compared to the competition). Japanese cars were simple, but consistently reliable and durable. English cars, I regret, were not consistently reliable. Far from it.
The original drawings show an interesting and different car but the production model was inspired and poor quality as was usual then. If they had slimmed down its arse and sharpened it the car would look much better.
Not really very good! I remember them, acres of tinny, rusty sheet steel. Apart from the upmarket brands Leyland cars always had a funny, cheap plasticky smell inside right across the range. Till they just smelled musty because of damp, maybe after 3 months!
I had an Orion after my Ambassador. After a week of fun, I realized that the word tinny had really been defined. Nothing beat escorts and Fiestas for it.
However when I saw these in the scrapyard with murky oil all over the still plush seats they looked a sorry sight! Someone (the original buyer) lost a lot of money as he swanked around for a short time maybe, thinking & convincing himself to be the envy of all. Cigarette lighters - what a memorable epitaph?? Still to some it was good whilst it lasted.
The design might have been good on paper but the execution was as poor as ever. Stop the video at 8'26" and see how the headlight unit sits poorly into the surround, and the front of the bonet does't marry with the wing. Stop it again at 8'57" and the crease on the front door doesn't line up with the crease on the rear door.
Its like they had gotten a cheap deal on the headlights, and thought "we'll just build a car to fit the lights" Then when it didn't turn out quite how they envisaged, after 2 attempts, they just said "fek it, that'll do".
my father bought his boss's car. He only had it for 6 months . It was awful. The power steering would only work in the summertime . The sun roof leaked and flooded the car when it rained. The seatbelt warning sign could not be turned off and kept draining the battery. The car weighed nearly a tonne and had a 2.2 litre petrol engine, it only did 25 miles to the gallon. We could not afford the petrol expenses . My father was glad to get rid of it. No one would buy it apart from a mini cab firm
These cars were dreadful when they were new,let alone 25 years or more later! Ah the days of vinyl covered cardboard interiors that fell apart when the rain poured in through the ineffective door/window seals.After going soggy they acted as perfect hosts for every type of mold in existence giving the cars their unique interior smell,on hot days a mix of hot vinyl and mold,yum!
If only they'd delivered the reality what they'd promised in theory, sigh. "Lock up yer petrol" Lol, yeah, because most of them ended up on rough council estates where fuel theft was rife in the 70's. I can see it now, tyre ruts on the grass verge, to access the makeshift driveway on the front lawn, through the hastily prepared gap in the front garden wall. Spare tyres against the front of the house, just in case you were a bit too eager with your right foot. And lets not forget the collection of oil containers, filled with old oil after a nifty home service with the old lady propped up on axle stands. Ah those were the days...
That reputation was pretty much deserved. But there was often something surprising and pleasing about many british cars, It was a great feeling when you turned the key and it started. Or if you did a round trip and still nothing needed repairing.. I had a wide variety of cars in my life, but I buy german these days.
Yes I remember that every journey was an adventure in my first Hillman Avenger. It had a dynamo, so if it didn't start first time it generally didn't start at all because the battery was never really charged up. I've got an Avenger again now, this time with an alternator and a little more cash to maintain it, and it's boring reliable.
I have some old CAR magazines I remember reading that torsional stiffness of the Princess at 12,00Nm compared to a Mercedes W123 at 8,000Nm. Well built. They rust like anything left to its own devices back in those days. My dads 1978 mini van has 102, 44 miles. Had a hard working life but still all standard sizes bores etc. and original paint. Some cars need more maintenance than others. You'd be suprised who much maintenance a period Mercedes needs. Look at Mercedessource videos on youtube. You'd be suprised. I own a 1976 Type 43 Audi 100 gls recommissioning. The areas of rust are suprising. BMWs of the 70s another rust ravaged cars.
BMWs of the noughties were rust buckets too, generally not the visible body so much as the floor pan. My '72 Avenger has suffered from a little tinworm over the years but nothing that the body shop couldn't sort out. The Princess was an unusually strong car for its day, until the rust took over, or the gearbox let go, or the suspension went flat again, and so it went on.
I'm not necessarily a BL hater. I honestly think the Marina was a decent 70s family mobile, heck, I'd even like to own one if there were more left in the States, and the Rover p6 is beautiful. With that said the Princess is without a doubt the ugliest car I have ever seen in my life.
This car was unique, we had a German Spec 2200 HLE and it had a great suspension and a very nice inline 6 engine combined with front wheel drive, very silent and comfortable.Back in the 70s we compared it to Audi 100 GL and some Lancia Beta, the Princess was roomier, faster and much more comfortable, it had a good quality, we never had any breakdowns!
Yeah, the ones that broke down were saved for the British matket, lol.
That must have been pretty much all of them. Anybody who bought one of these shitboxes exported overseas to Germany must have been stark raving mad. It must have been BL's only German export.
@@hermanmunster3358 Mine did not
I had one of these Princesses when i was an 18 year old kid. My parents wouldn't let me have my dream car at that time, a triumph spitfire with 68 horse power, because it was a sports car.. so in a fit of rage, I opened the paper at the car section and bought the first car that I came to in my price range. It was an Austin Princess 2.2/6 cyl and it was amazing. Fast, handled, I won against anything I pitched it at (this was early 80's) A year later, my dad drove it and was speechless. Good times
We had one as a family car in the 80's It was very comfortable with big seats and a gas suspension. Loads of leg room and a huge boot. Took us to France pulling a caravan many times.Sure it looks dated now but looked as modern as anything else on the road then.
Note the use of Kraftwerk's Autobahn after 2:42
Quite a princess fan now, certainly a good looking car
Yeah, when you're three sheets to the wind, and one pulls up as a taxi to take you home. At least your vomit will match the interior ambiencé.
I owned a second hand 1978 leyland princess h,l,s good car all round brilliant 2.2 engine comfortable ride
I would've bought a Leyland in those days!
3:24 we break out into soulful harmony:) LALALALA!!!
Do you know what the song is?
Narration by Britain's version of Troy McClure. Sweet!
Nice use of Brian Bennet's Image (its library music from KPM) at 4:50.
Songs include Alan Parker's "Crater", Brian Bennett's "Image", and the ABC Monday Night Football song by Johnny Pearson.
Looks stunning in white!....
Would look superb with alloys!!!
Really was a brilliant car!!!
Brian Bennett - Image. it is on RUclips.
Thank you very much for sharing this stuff! Over in Canada, we didn't see too many BL cars back in the day, but they sure are an interesting footnote in motoring history but at the same time, a tragic shame (and loss) to the British Motoring scene. Kind of like what General Motors is today.... failing through it's own inability to change or recognize problems.
Harris Mann's finest , love the Princess!
Best car in the world - even today!
The name of the funky tune everyone wants to know is called Superstars. It's from an old BBC TV sports program of the same name.
I love these old movies, I especially like the old THX Audio sound effect at the beginning of this one. lol
Princess design was very modern for its time, Lancia Beta shape, combined with some NSU Ro80
and Citroen Shape!
I ❤️ NSU Ro-80!!!!!!
It's got a three speed fan!
Protection from rust, that was ambitious 🤣🤣🤣🤣
8:00 great 1970s sounds!
I wonder if someone has mined old British Leyland production films for sick beats.
When designing the rear lights, you could just hear someone saying "that will do". No passion, no design flair, no effort. Just "that will do".
Oh, I drive a 1972 Hillman Avenger. The rear lights on that are a work of art. (And on the later Chrysler / Talbot models, were just "that will do").
hey I was about 6 in 1987 I thought it was amazing!! my dad came in and said he bought a princess, i thought mums gona be jealous!!
good car very reliable the one i had
Love the 70s soundtrack. British leyland knew how to sell a car just never built them very well.
"…and he's bought a piece of cheese!"
Judd Kramer Top Gear! That was my favorite episode!
Definitely heard some Kraftwerk copying....I love the music in this BL series.
I remember my grandad's 2200HLS, one of the very first badged under the 'Princess' brand. It seemed huge as a kid and everyone said it was really comfy and nice to drive.
Looking back, there are a few extra things BL could have done to make these really stand out - 5 speed box from the Maxi is one, especially as the 2200 had a maxi engine with 2 extra cylinders, and possibly bit more in the way of dials.
british Leyland there is no one better
some great drawing probably Harris Mann
"The biggest news since the Mini".
Oh, my...
Nailed it ! What a magnificent vehicle. "Don't worry side windows demist too". Handy as this is the biggest chick magnet ever made.
4:34 Brian Bennett - Image 🎶
I want a wedge 2200!
Very cool video!
The drawings lookedquite cool-Scirocco like, maybe better. Not sure why it did'nt transpose over to the car. Interesting films, Thanks for posting.
indeed! anyone know what the funky tune right after it was?
Now you mention it, I did have a head gasket go. I had the head skimmed and reassembled and nothing else went wrong that I remember. Even the gasket was in the first few weeks that I had it, but the rest of the year was pretty much trouble free (I tore a tyre from the rim once, doing handbrake turns, but nothing that was the cars fault) My father in those years drove allegro's, he sometimes got 100 miles to a pint of oil, and his engine was often open. So the princess was pretty good back then.
Intro is apparently inspired by the "Viacom V of Doom".
And they would have got away with it if it hadn't been for those pesky Fords.
0:00-0:12 symbol of quality:)
Dig the THX intro at the beginning of this. (And also the rest of it.)
A very up to date car with an innovative suspension. It’s a shame quality was such a problem for the company.
Why did James Bond never drove a Leyland Princess 2200 HLS?
He had taste, and an eye for beauty.
BL cars were always the ones used for craah scenes and pile ups in late 70's and early 80's tv shows, such as "The Professionals" and "The Sweeney"
Says it all really.
Probably because he knew his tenses, eg "drive" and "drove".
Quality not quantity:)
because , he didn't want to breakdown !
There was one in one episode of The Sweeney. Jack Reagan's comment was something along the lines of "What is this piece of crap?" The Ford Granada was back the following week
It needed a lighter engine that revved a bit, not the tractor units it was saddled with. It needed more money spending to make the interior and dash look less naff. Those rear light fittings look like they were retrieved from a scrapyard. The chassis wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately as we all know, there was no money for any investment in quality, R&D or power units. Its a shame. We had a Montego 1.6 for a time a bit later. It was awful.
Claus Luthe, the RO80 / K70 designer couldnt have it done better!
Like Hitler could have fught a better war than Churchill?
You got that right! NSU K-70 became Volkswagen K-70 because of the merger between Auto Union GmbH and NSU Motorenwerke AG in 1969. The result of the merger? Audi NSU Auto Union AG. Volkswagen bought out Auto Union GmbH in 1964. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
While the Morris Marina was for the sales person who had failed to hit their targets, the Princess was for those that did.
I think I would still have been disheartened, had I not been presented with a Ford Granada, and ended up with this ugly bag of shite. I remember, as a kid in the 70's, thinking how Fugly these cars were. The Ambassador was a slight improvement, but only just. Even BL realised what an abomination the Princess was, hence the hastily re-invented Ambassador.
I don't think the Ambassador was hastily invented it took them 8 years to finally create a a hatchback version and change the name. Both versions were pig ugly and about as desirable as gonorrhea.
@@markrl75 8 years of BL development: 4 years of strike, 3 years of mismanagement, 1 year hastily throwing bits and bolts into a box to sell it as a "car".
@@hermanmunster3358
The Princess was not up against the Granada, the SD1 was.
I'd rather have an SD1 than a Granada, well, depending on model, overall though, a V8 SD1 would take some beating.
@@hermanmunster3358 Nope. Eight years is hardly hasty is it?
What’s the song they use from 3:24?
Could you get these with A/C PL/PW Tilt wheel CC and 8 track or cassette player
So the Austin had halogen headlights whilst the Morris made do with sealed beams? All changed when they finished the badge engineering though...
I also remember the Wolseley version of this car
Does anyone know what the music is at around 7:49? I'm sure I've heard this on the tv recently.
Alan Parker, "Crater". It's on RUclips, enter keywords like kpm, Alan Parker
ruclips.net/video/nv4E_0BlRCo/видео.html
I know that in reality the princess was a bit soggy and not very well made , but these smooth and funky sales films have got me seriously seduced . I want one now just so that I can experience that world of 70s brown velour while driving through the surf on a deserted beach .
So funny they filmed it in the desert, even there you can see them starting to rust!
@prisonshank
Now i know where THX got their intro theme from!!
2:43 Wait, Kraftwerk's "Autobahn"?
Got you to France...must be the only one that did!
Very close in shape to Iso Lele V8!
I think if memory serves this was the first car that used the word _aerodynamic_ in their ads.
Quanto ERA BRUTTA!! Anzi BRUTTISSIMA!
Interesting; and sad when we know the fate of the manufacturer.
Wow!! Seems like THX might have stolen Deep Note from British Leyland....
0:14
starts off with sinister music,
1:32 "Now thats it", that looks interesting, but they didn't do it :(
Why on earth didn't it have a five speed gearbox ? , it's not like they didn't have a design from the Maxi and even larger engine Allagros ! .... Penny pinching ? ... Shame because it would have made a nice car nicer , my Dad had loads of these and Ambassadors too , dragged caravans all over the country with them ! Highly underrated cars .
Limited Words. Windows Demist Too. Height Rake and Tilt. Tungsten Lights. Bright Trim on Wheel. What more could Discerning Motorist need ?
I seem to remember when first launched, the car had issues with weak engine mountings and driveshafts, which was quickly remedied, and was a pretty decent car. by then the damage was already done however and it never really recovered. I always felt the Princess held together a lot better than the SD1 (I am a fan of both cars and have owned examples of both)
The princess had a torsional stiffness of 12,000Nm Mercedes W123 8,000Nm read that in a period road test from Car magazine. KPM music library music also Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett on drums.
Don’t suppose you know the name of the track they use at 3:24 do you?
@@craig5127 I did find it need to go thru videos.
A car which looked like nothing else on the road... using Kraftwerk in the promo... how could it have gone so wrong!
Great car, I want the Wolseley myself. Good music score too. Wonder who the music is by? Do you know?
LJ HM mostly library music I'll do a bit of digging for you.
Alan Parker "Crater"
Brian Bennett "Image"
@@lauribricker9439 wow, thanks Lauri, I really appreciate your help. You have yourself a good evening, wherever you are, sincerely all the best, LJ
@@ljhm6816 You're welcome! You too! Look for music from the kpm label, artists or composers like Brian Bennett, Keith Mansfield, and Johnny Pearson.
@@lauribricker9439 there is some really great music on these old BL adverts, if I may, there is another part to this advert for the Princess car, with some more track's on it, if I copy and paste the link to the RUclips video, would you be able to identify any other music too? But only if you have the time, again, it's very good of you to grace my request, I love music, of all types, greetings from North Wales.
wow amazing mesmerising do they still make them cause I want one real bad
Yea they still make them..in 1:43 scale by corgi vanguards 👍
If the cars were as good as all the BL ads they would be in business now.
GDA700N an Austin, is/was supposedly blue(!) and tax due 1 August 1989. GDA701N, a Morris version, shows as RED, and tax due 1 June 1987. Narrator sounds like John Craven lol.
I would not like that kind of pleasure... What I meant is the ride, the feel, the atmosphere and the styling. I like that about British cars.
LOL, lock up ya petrol
Good grief.... my late father had 4 as successive company cars and they got less reliable over the years! They all rusted around the rear wheel arches and the rear suspension mounting bushes wore out in no time, something to do with the holes not being drilled correctly in the centre, apparently. They ate starters, alternators and goodness knows what else in the way of dodgy Joe Lucas electrical items.
..." Built to last ".....erm... ah... well......
and.. any problems?
autobahn - kraftwerk 3:11
They might have been shit boxes but so much more character than today’s bland cars.
The cars of that time also looked alike.
I watch these because Monty python has lost some of its lustre.
I think you were just very lucky. The statistics will tell another story, I fear. I love British cars, but I never dared to buy one because of their reputation.
I had BL Morris marina and a Austin 2;2 HLS Princess both of them very reliable
@@seansands424 In car manufacturing, quality is consistency. The quality is high when the consumer gets a very high certainty of buying a reliable and durable car (compared to the competition). Japanese cars were simple, but consistently reliable and durable. English cars, I regret, were not consistently reliable. Far from it.
I have not seen the Wolseley
Should your brakes fade? 😂😂
The original drawings show an interesting and different car but the production model was inspired and poor quality as was usual then. If they had slimmed down its arse and sharpened it the car would look much better.
Brown
Not really very good! I remember them, acres of tinny, rusty sheet steel. Apart from the upmarket brands Leyland cars always had a funny, cheap plasticky smell inside right across the range. Till they just smelled musty because of damp, maybe after 3 months!
I had an Orion after my Ambassador. After a week of fun, I realized that the word tinny had really been defined. Nothing beat escorts and Fiestas for it.
Script by Alan Partridge
However when I saw these in the scrapyard with murky oil all over the still plush seats they looked a sorry sight! Someone (the original buyer) lost a lot of money as he swanked around for a short time maybe, thinking & convincing himself to be the envy of all. Cigarette lighters - what a memorable epitaph?? Still to some it was good whilst it lasted.
Shame it wasn't a hatch back as for comfortable seats well thay needed to be while you waited for the AA on the hard shoulder Shame
Apparently the voice over is incapable of speaking in complete sentences. Totally irritating.
full sentences?, waste of time, get to the point
The design might have been good on paper but the execution was as poor as ever. Stop the video at 8'26" and see how the headlight unit sits poorly into the surround, and the front of the bonet does't marry with the wing.
Stop it again at 8'57" and the crease on the front door doesn't line up with the crease on the rear door.
Even old BMW E3 or Peugeot 604 werent better made...
alijanlondon These are pre-production cars built in October 1974.
+alijanlondon you really have no life
+3jono nor do i replying
Its like they had gotten a cheap deal on the headlights, and thought "we'll just build a car to fit the lights" Then when it didn't turn out quite how they envisaged, after 2 attempts, they just said "fek it, that'll do".
my father bought his boss's car. He only had it for 6 months . It was awful. The power steering would only work in the summertime . The sun roof leaked and flooded the car when it rained. The seatbelt warning sign could not be turned off and kept draining the battery. The car weighed nearly a tonne and had a 2.2 litre petrol engine, it only did 25 miles to the gallon. We could not afford the petrol expenses . My father was glad to get rid of it. No one would buy it apart from a mini cab firm
These cars were dreadful when they were new,let alone 25 years or more later! Ah the days of vinyl covered cardboard interiors that fell apart when the rain poured in through the ineffective door/window seals.After going soggy they acted as perfect hosts for every type of mold in existence giving the cars their unique interior smell,on hot days a mix of hot vinyl and mold,yum!
If only they'd delivered the reality what they'd promised in theory, sigh.
"Lock up yer petrol" Lol, yeah, because most of them ended up on rough council estates where fuel theft was rife in the 70's.
I can see it now, tyre ruts on the grass verge, to access the makeshift driveway on the front lawn, through the hastily prepared gap in the front garden wall. Spare tyres against the front of the house, just in case you were a bit too eager with your right foot. And lets not forget the collection of oil containers, filled with old oil after a nifty home service with the old lady propped up on axle stands.
Ah those were the days...
That reputation was pretty much deserved. But there was often something surprising and pleasing about many british cars, It was a great feeling when you turned the key and it started. Or if you did a round trip and still nothing needed repairing.. I had a wide variety of cars in my life, but I buy german these days.
Yes I remember that every journey was an adventure in my first Hillman Avenger. It had a dynamo, so if it didn't start first time it generally didn't start at all because the battery was never really charged up. I've got an Avenger again now, this time with an alternator and a little more cash to maintain it, and it's boring reliable.
The original sketches were of a cool and current, wedgy, car. the translation into metal was appalling. The car thats got it all together? Hahahahah!
I have some old CAR magazines I remember reading that torsional stiffness of the Princess at 12,00Nm compared to a Mercedes W123 at 8,000Nm. Well built. They rust like anything left to its own devices back in those days. My dads 1978 mini van has 102, 44 miles. Had a hard working life but still all standard sizes bores etc. and original paint. Some cars need more maintenance than others. You'd be suprised who much maintenance a period Mercedes needs. Look at Mercedessource videos on youtube. You'd be suprised. I own a 1976 Type 43 Audi 100 gls recommissioning. The areas of rust are suprising. BMWs of the 70s another rust ravaged cars.
BMWs of the noughties were rust buckets too, generally not the visible body so much as the floor pan. My '72 Avenger has suffered from a little tinworm over the years but nothing that the body shop couldn't sort out. The Princess was an unusually strong car for its day, until the rust took over, or the gearbox let go, or the suspension went flat again, and so it went on.
See why we don't have a motor industry...
I'm not necessarily a BL hater. I honestly think the Marina was a decent 70s family mobile, heck, I'd even like to own one if there were more left in the States, and the Rover p6 is beautiful. With that said the Princess is without a doubt the ugliest car I have ever seen in my life.
The Princess, and the AMC Pacer 👍👍👍
Rust is your friend........