1977 Princess 1800 HL

[cpgrubb]

Hi, I'm new here but have been reading for a while. I finally found a car I had wanted forever but one just hadn't come up at the right time but I found one, a 1977 Austin Princess. Yes, Austin. Here in New Zealand, they were sold as Austins despite being Leylands in the rest of the world. They were assembled here in New Zealand up in sunny Nelson from 1977 so my new addition is one of the first. 
I live in Christchurch which is about halfway down the South Island. I was on Trade Me (like EBay) one night and happened upon an Austin Princess. The only issue was I had no money and it was a 5 hour drive downwards in Mosgiel. I was selling a car at the time but had to wait for it to sell before I had any money so I expressed my interest to the seller and waited patiently(un-patiently) until my car had sold. Yay it sold for $1600, now I have enough to buy the Princess. No, almost a week later I still haven't been paid for the car but that didn't stop me. I dug into savings and began my long trip south.




It started through a thick fog which I thought was going to bad a miserable day but to my surprise it fined up into what can only be described as summery, despite being winter.


The old disco chugged down there no problems and made the 5 hour trip with no issues at all.



I first lay eyes upon my new Princess.



A lack of working trailer winch ment it took a good hour to winch the Princess onto the trailer as it has a stuck clutch which cannot be dis-engaged (watch this space).

Once it was up, the long-er trip home began. Between Mosgiel and the Canterbury plains is a series of steep hills. after chugging up them in second at only 30kph, we finally made it onto the plains and it was smooth sailing from there.

Once home (uneventful trip), the close inspection began. What needs doing, what needs cleaning, etc.



The door tops and dash are sunburnt beyond saving but they will just have to stay as I'm too far from the UK for any decent spares and all other Princess's will be in the same condition over here. Other than that it is very tidy for it's age and I'm even happier than when I picked it up. Next step, Buy a workshop manual and remove the engine and box to investigate that clutch and maybe replace a few leaky gaskets. 

[borcombe]

Bookmarked for the photography alone.Good luck.

[cpgrubb]

So, time for an update. Discovered the main, if not only, reason the clutch wasn't working was simply that the slave cylinder was buggered. Naturally I completely forgot to take any pictures of removing it but in the end I removed both slave and master and sent them away to be re-conned.

I also took the time to give the headliner a scrub as it was rather filthy. It turned out ok but I'd say it needs a little more work.




I then proceeded to look into the hairline cracks in the dash panel. Upon removing the dash unit, I started to unscrew the silver plastic fascia and the cracks promptly turned into chasms, hmmmm.

on the positive side, I removed the terrible remains of the radio that was hardwired in to the loom so thats good.
Not sure what I'm going to do about the dash, I could glue it but it would look rough. I have found a lead on another but I'm unsure of condition and it's, as usual, down south. 6 hours away almost but it may be worth it. Another option is to make one out of wood and make it work, use the gauge surrounds as an insert or something.

another nature shot.
Haynes manual should be here this week.
 

[shedvan]

I love this man, great period colour looks very good on the car.

Perhaps for the instrument binnacle a template made from the cluster using that lovely old style plastic-wood you found in old Spammy spam spam spam, no thank you, man. glued on table tops and kitchen cupboards would be an authentic looking solution and very cheap too!

Bookmarked for certain

[grifterkid]

I can see greatness here...!!! Wonderful...

[cpgrubb]

Aug 3, 2015 10:55:37 GMT shedvan said:

I love this man, great period colour looks very good on the car.

Perhaps for the instrument binnacle a template made from the cluster using that lovely old style plastic-wood you found in old Spammy spam spam spam, no thank you, man. glued on table tops and kitchen cupboards would be an authentic looking solution and very cheap too!

Bookmarked for certain

If i do go the wood option, I'd be very tempted to use 2 or 3 ply plywood either with a top ply of maple or something or id put a veneer over it. I have seen rolls of the vinyl wood like on Morris 1100s and old tvs that could also fit it nicely.

[cpgrubb]

Aug 3, 2015 12:42:34 GMT grifterkid said:

I can see greatness here...!!! Wonderful...

Thanks, not everyone can see the greatness in a Princess.

[shedvan]

Aug 3, 2015 18:44:39 GMT cpgrubb said:

Aug 3, 2015 10:55:37 GMT shedvan said:

I love this man, great period colour looks very good on the car.

Perhaps for the instrument binnacle a template made from the cluster using that lovely old style plastic-wood you found in old Spammy spam spam spam, no thank you, man. glued on table tops and kitchen cupboards would be an authentic looking solution and very cheap too!

Bookmarked for certain

If i do go the wood option, I'd be very tempted to use 2 or 3 ply plywood either with a top ply of maple or something or id put a veneer over it. I have seen rolls of the vinyl wood like on Morris 1100s and old tvs that could also fit it nicely.

Formica! I was searching for the name of the material I was trying to describe in my original post all day and night since - phew! Just randomly thought it may be cheap, easy to find and work with and look suitable too, but whatever way you go I'm excited to see

[retrolegends]

Nice looking Princess pal. Bookmarked with anticipation.

[vulgalour]

*EXPLODES*

[vulgalour]

What I actually meant was, I probably have some spares that are of more use to you than me. I do have a good dash surround and a later wooden insert, though it would be a shame for you to lose the early silver one. I think I still have my old set of brown door cards too which match your interior and aren't sunburnt. Not sure if they changed the design on them between series one and two.

Any of these items are yours for the cost of posting them to you.

I've NEVER seen a Princess in that green before, I don't even know what green that is.

Furthermore, why did nobody inform me of this arrival?  shedvan retrolegends grifterkid I'm looking at you.

[grifterkid]

Aug 4, 2015 23:36:24 GMT vulgalour said:

I've NEVER seen a Princess in that green before, I don't even know what green that is.

Furthermore, why did nobody inform me of this arrival?  shedvan retrolegends grifterkid I'm looking at you.

*GULP*

Sorry Master Vulg'...!!!!!!!

[vulgalour]

I'll let you off, just this once.

[cpgrubb]

Good news, I have a clutch. Well, sort of. I finally got my Master and Slave cylinders back today and now I have a working clutch. It only disengages right at the floor so I suspect the disc is worn out but it's progress none the less. And it means it's driveable so I can attempt to get a Warrant(mot) for it.


You can clearly see in the picture that they have been reconned as they have been painted black, the universal sign of a recon part.

All nicely fitted in under here, the clevis pin in the pedal was a pain but got there in the end. Not a lot of room with the parcel tray in the way.
I've thought a lot about it and have done some research(google) and have come to the conclusion that I will try to save the silver dash as
A) it doesn't look tacky at all (it actually looks cool) where as anything else non-factory might
B)It appears to be rare, especially over here
C) it's probably easier to fix and paint this dash than to make a new panel.

"Old Rover's" attempt at photo bombing the Princess' rear seat damage picture. Silly Rover.

[cpgrubb]

Aug 4, 2015 23:36:24 GMT vulgalour said:

What I actually meant was, I probably have some spares that are of more use to you than me. I do have a good dash surround and a later wooden insert, though it would be a shame for you to lose the early silver one. I think I still have my old set of brown door cards too which match your interior and aren't sunburnt. Not sure if they changed the design on them between series one and two.

Any of these items are yours for the cost of posting them to you.

I've NEVER seen a Princess in that green before, I don't even know what green that is.

Furthermore, why did nobody inform me of this arrival?  shedvan retrolegends grifterkid I'm looking at you.

I don't believe there were any major differences between the patterns on 1's and 2's but even if there were, it wouldn't matter as long as the front or rear pair were matching. I'd love to take up your offer for the door cards, I imagine the dash surround may be a little expensive to ship. As I'm sure we all know, money is often the issue but once Old Rover is sold, I'll be happy to take any parts you're offering off your hands. They'd be much appreciated. I'll try and get a picture tomorrow of my cards even just for curiosity's sake. It's entirely possible that the Green my car is is a New Zealand only colour as it's the original paint complete with stenciled factory number on the fender.

[vulgalour]

I do have all four, front and rear, and they're all in really good order. The dash surround isn't heavy so much as it's bulky but I'd be happy to find out postage costs on that too for you. They're not taking up any space at the moment so I'm happy to sit on them for a bit. The ones I've got look like this and are from an series 2 HL





I've also got a full set of brown grab handles to match if any quantity of those are needed. New Zealand got some different colour combos that are quite appealing but they were usually from the Princess standard range. Since yours is quite an early car it could be that it's wearing a colour from something like a Mini or Marina rather than the Princess range.

If there's anything that you find you're stuck for give me a shout or speak to the chaps over on www.leylandprincess.co.uk who can be very good at sourcing bits and bobs.

[shedvan]

Aug 5, 2015 10:13:44 GMT cpgrubb said:

Aug 4, 2015 23:36:24 GMT vulgalour said:

What I actually meant was, I probably have some spares that are of more use to you than me. I do have a good dash surround and a later wooden insert, though it would be a shame for you to lose the early silver one. I think I still have my old set of brown door cards too which match your interior and aren't sunburnt. Not sure if they changed the design on them between series one and two.

Any of these items are yours for the cost of posting them to you.

I've NEVER seen a Princess in that green before, I don't even know what green that is.

Furthermore, why did nobody inform me of this arrival?  shedvan retrolegends grifterkid I'm looking at you.

I don't believe there were any major differences between the patterns on 1's and 2's but even if there were, it wouldn't matter as long as the front or rear pair were matching. I'd love to take up your offer for the door cards, I imagine the dash surround may be a little expensive to ship. As I'm sure we all know, money is often the issue but once Old Rover is sold, I'll be happy to take any parts you're offering off your hands. They'd be much appreciated. I'll try and get a picture tomorrow of my cards even just for curiosity's sake. It's entirely possible that the Green my car is is a New Zealand only colour as it's the original paint complete with stenciled factory number on the fender.

I'm fairly sure I saw the colour on early series 1 Allegros - of quartic vintage! - it had a super elegant and totally evocative name if I remember rightly but often described as - well I won't say as its the sort of moniker hard to forget once you hear it!

edit: it may have been officially 'Limeflower' cpgrubb but I'll see if I can confirm it

[vulgalour]

Limeflower does seem a possible, rather like the grown-up version of Applejack.

[lamsdale]

Great to see another '70's Leyland car being saved. The P5 photobomb just makes this even better.

[retrolegends]

Aug 5, 2015 8:21:26 GMT grifterkid said:

Aug 4, 2015 23:36:24 GMT vulgalour said:

I've NEVER seen a Princess in that green before, I don't even know what green that is.

Furthermore, why did nobody inform me of this arrival?  shedvan retrolegends grifterkid I'm looking at you.

*GULP*

Sorry Master Vulg'...!!!!!!!

Busted!! Thought you were too busy with the 414.