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Buying A
Princess
When the Princess was launched it was
unlike any other mass-produced car of its time and full credit should be
given to BL for being bold enough to produce it. Compared with the other cars
BL (and other manufacturers) were producing at the time the Princess showed
that they could produce interesting cars if they really put their minds to
it, even though there were several shortcomings. Look at an Austin-Morris
brochure of the time and you will see that the Princess was probably the only
car in the range that possessed any real design flair and style, which wasn’t
difficult against cars like the Austin Allegro, Austin Maxi and Morris
Marina. You could be forgiven for thinking the Princess was made by another
manufacturer.
Though a common sight on British roads
during the late Seventies the Princess became a victim of its poor reputation
(helped by almost weekly appearances on BBC TV’s consumer programme ‘That’s
Life,’) and by the latter part of the Eighties and early Nineties a Princess
or Ambassador was virtually unwanted and worthless.
The picture above shows a very sorry looking Princess,
this is an ultra rare Club 100 Special, which has been abandoned and awaits
its fate in the claws of the crusher. Sadly, this is what happened to most
Princesses. What a waste!
Owning
and Driving.
Today, we can look back at the
Princess with rose-tinted glasses and concentrate on the good things about it
(yes, there are some!). It doesn’t really matter now that it wasn’t very
fast, it’s adequate for trips to today’s classic car shows! The silky
6-cylinder cars are the nicest to drive, especially with automatic
transmission, though the 4-cylinder cars are also reasonably smooth in
operation and, performance wise, there isn’t much between them. Maintenance
presents no problems either as all models share the same basic mid-Seventies
technology, which is very easy to look after.
Inside there is a mass of interior
space with none of the clutter you find in modern cars, and the drivers seat
on a Princess can be adjusted through 240 positions so driver comfort is not
a problem. All models offer a reasonable level of luxury but the HLS models
really are the best ones to have. If luxurious cruising is what you’re after,
then a 2200HLS with automatic transmission or an Ambassador Vanden Plas will
not disappoint.
On the road the 2200 six cylinder is
obviously the smoothest and quietest, and offers a relaxing and sedate drive.
The four cylinder engined cars are just as relaxed but you’ll probably find
these engines feel a bit more lively than the 2200, though at higher speeds
noise intrusion is noticeable and voices will have to be raised slightly at
70-80mph. Even so, the car will track straight and true and feels solid.
The soft Hydragas suspension offers
superior ride comfort, though at the expense of handling as there’s a fair
amount of body roll when cornering at speed. Most Wedges have the standard
unassisted steering rack and this is very heavy, particularly when parking. The
power steering doesn’t really offer much in the way of feedback either, so
corrections are nearly always necessary in corners. Overall though, the
Princess can be hustled along with reasonable confidence but its forte is
cruising. The brakes, with big four pot callipers at the front and big drums
at the rear, are more than capable of hauling the Princess to a stop.
Is
It A Classic?
There has never been any doubt in my
mind that the Wedge is a classic; the styling alone makes it a stand out car
- it was way ahead of its time. The beauty of these cars is that lots of
people owned them, and they have a story to tell about them. They were a part
of people’s everyday lives. A 1930s Bentley or a 1960s Porsche may well be
regarded as a desirable classic, but how many people have actually owned or
used one as everyday transport?
Channel 4’s Driven motoring programme
ran a weekly feature in 2002 to get the Princess recognised as a classic, but
the Editor of Classic Cars magazine steadfastly refused to feature it –
purely because he doesn’t like them, so a vote was held at the NEC Classic
Car Show in Birmingham in November 2002. The Princess won by a majority and
as a result we were told the Princess would feature on the cover of the
magazine… It’s now 2008 and it the feature still hasn’t appeared, but I have
been told there might well be a Princess feature in a future issue. Classic
Cars magazine aside, the Princess has featured in Classics magazine and Retro
Cars magazine in 2005.
As for the Austin Ambassador, it was
only in production for two years so it is quite rare, the most sought after
being the luxury Vanden Plas version. Despite its practicality the Ambassador
will always live in the shadow of the Princess and values reflect this. But
if you’re after a reliable, practical and distinctive classic family car then
the Ambassador is hard to beat.
So,
why should I own one?
People
are quick to criticise products of BL, this is mainly because the cars are
well known and most people know what they are. Everyone knows what an Allegro
looks like, so it’s easier to say that it is the worst car ever made, but of
course it isn’t. Some of Leyland’s products were pretty dire but the fact is,
in the case of the Princess, the styling and design of the car was very good;
it was BL’s lack of attention to engineering details that brought about the
car’s reputation for poor quality. And most people haven’t forgotten.
These are now extremely rare
cars and every effort should be made to save the ones that are left, there
are some bad ones about, but they can still yield some useful hard-to-find
spare parts.
There is also an excellent
owners’ club catering for the Princess. This is an excellent way to meet
like-minded owners and fans of the Wedge, especially at classic car shows,
and their appearance reminds people that not all of them have ended up in the
crushers yard. And the Princess celebrated its 30th anniversary in
2005 which helped to increase interest in these cars, and clean low mileage
examples of Princesses have recently been selling for around £1500-£2000,
which is 3 times what they would have fetched a few years ago.
The Princess is an excellent
choice of classic car; they can be run on a low budget, they are easy to
maintain, easy to drive, parts are reasonably plentiful and above all, the
Princess turns heads wherever they go. The Princess showed that British
Leyland were willing to be creative and offer a genuine alternative to the
rest of the mainstream offerings from other manufacturers. It’s just a shame
that the public weren’t quite ready for it in the late Seventies.
So, what are you waiting for? Go
Wedge!
Kevin Davis. 2006. 2008.
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