Rescued from a barn Princess 2200

[mrspivvy]

sadly the Princess suffered from the same problem as Lancia. they got a bad reputation on the early models and never recovered. the Princess 2 revision of 1978 addressed the problems of the earlier cars, but by then the damage was done and nobody wanted them-even now people think they were unreliable and rot prone. not true.

They were better protected from rust than many contemporaries but were worthless for so long that very few lasted beyond the early 90s

[rovamota]

@mrspivvy Leyland were way ahead of the game on rust prevention compared to Ford, who didn't bother at all. Technically, Leyland were more advanced than Ford or Vauxhall, but the average punter wanted rear wheel drive, and no frills, which is what Ford and Vauxhall served up. When BL bought out the basic and dreary Marina, punters lapped them up. Says it all, really.

[cquilty1]

Why on earth would anyone "rescue" this car from a barn or anywhere?

Like the Allegro, a monstrosity that should have never left the designer's table. Mockingly called the "cheese wedge" in its day.

[rovamota]

@cquilty1 Have you ever saved anything or done anything worthwhile?

[cquilty1]

@rovamota Once I saved a child from drowning, fixed a puppy's broken leg, took a group of terminally ill blind children to Disneyland, and set fire to a Princess 2200.

Gotta run - time to give blood again........

Toodle pip.

[rovamota]

@cquilty1 Well I hope that if you ever need rescuing one day that someone is as charitable as you. As for me, I saved that car as there was a healthy profit in it, and it paid for a med cruise.

[cquilty1]

@rovamota Well, that's commendable! You found a sucker, eh?

And a med cruise is a fine thing to spend the proceeds on. While you were sunning yourself and having a rare old time, the party that bought the cheese wedge was probably up to his elbows in grease broken down and stranded in a layby!

[rovamota]

@cquilty1 Well the 'sucker' (I prefer the term 'a man of discerning taste') drove it home to Ireland and is thrilled with his purchase. You will probably be disappointed to know I am currently restoring another one. I want another holiday this year!

[cquilty1]

@rovamota Flogged that rust bucket to a Paddy? That's not surprising. You sound like a shrewd Londoner.

Is there any stock in restoring Morris Marinas, Hillman Imps or Avengers? If the numbers came up on the lottery, I'd be tempted to purchase an Iso Grifo (for wild weekends), and a Mercedes Benz 300 SEL 6.3 for day to day cruising. Or a BMW 3.3li. Or perhaps both if a big win!

Where's your next holiday going to be? You've got quite the racket going on, old boy.

Fair play to you!

[rovamota]

@cquilty1 The only issue with restoring cars like a Marina's, and even BMW's, is the cost of repairs may well outweigh the value of the car; even a front wing can cost in excess of £150, so if you need two and need them welding on and painting you are looking at £600 for a start!

But if you just want to buy it, restore it and keep it, then the money spent shouldn't matter.

Still deciding where to go for hols. Probably Turkey. Again!

[cquilty1]

@rovamota The only issue with restoring a car like a Marina is the car itself! Talk about polishing a turd! But in a strange way, this is what's charming about Brits - their celebration of mediocrity, like championing Frank Bruno and the terrible ski jumper, "Eagle Eddy Edwards. Remember the latter? Older BMW's are a different story.

Never been to Turkey. More of a Greek island man, but not lately, sadly, as I'm over in USA. May go to Crete this summer. Handy with knives those Turks.

[cquilty1]

@rovamota Lovely - and correct - use of a semicolon, incidentally.

You write refreshingly well; another fine trait of the Brits.

[Haffschlappe]

Very silent engine!! Does it have hydraulic lifters OHC or OHV?

[Haffschlappe]

Lovely looks a little bit like a RO80 hatchback version, very modern looks for a 70s car!

[woodbine66]

Nice car. Hope you get her on the road. Rare now. We had a 2200HL in late 70s, early 80s. Six cylinder, twin carb. Shit off a shovel!! Gave more expensive cars a run for their money. Steering wheel shook at 70 mph, but that's BL I'm afraid.

[U5096]

lmao @ 'thats not smoke thats steam, don't worry about that..'

[TheDarry1]

Ahhh the sound of that engine whistling! Takes me back to my childhood and my father`s 2.0L HLE. Was the best car he ever had in terms of comfort!

[tpvalley]

looked almost ok on the trailer, like it was lowered with trailer ties.

is the engine like a mini but with 6 cylinders?

as it gearbox is the sump?

terribly low quality cars austins.

[Plews]

@tpvalley Rubbish! Just look at that engine still going strong after all that time. Excellent engines - much better than the crappy, rattley Ford engines of the day.

[tpvalley]

@Plews

I said the cars were low quality; they rust badly due to the fact that they were transported OUTSIDE to the paintshop in all weathers and the workforce was made up of union slobs, everything was cheap tat, the engines were ok until u even thought about tuning, then the crank bearings would fail in a second.

[Plews]

@tpvalley I see where your coming from with the transported outside story - everyone has heard that. Unfortunately it was the previous Austin 1800/2200, the 1960s version, that the story is about not the 1970s version. They were actually rather well rustproofed for the day compared to many a French, Italian or Japanese car and particualrly compared to Vauxhalls which were the worst rot boxes of all.

[tpvalley]

@Plews as far as Im aware it carried on through to the 80's?

plus the workforce who cared more about going on strike than working, I remember hearing stories of apple cores and other stuff being found in the doors!

[jaggass]

It looks in fairly good nick saying it was left in a barn for 14 years the front end reminds me of a peugeot 504

[Haffschlappe]

You could install 3 Weber 40 DCOE Carbs and a hotter cam 2200 HLE than makes around 160 Hp.

[crazymadwriter]

Is it really sold? I wanted to buy it.

[Haffschlappe]

Love these nice individual and characterfull cars!!

[VOLVORULEZ1995]

@rovamota why did the previous owner leave it in there in 95?

[davidwflint]

any new vids to see what she looks like now?

[Nissanblb]

And people says that british car from the 70s and 80s are bad! Shame on them

[Motorfordtoyota]

@Nissanblb I say the smae to people who say that about American cars from the 70s and 90s. BL cars were never really in America so.

[shepshepherd]

Glad that another one is going to be saved :)

[nipperoid]

lovely

[flyscreenqueen]

Utterly Inspirational!

[iamthefatstig]

Considering how long she stood, that sounds sweet. I wish the best of luck with it.

[RossPK81]

Nice. I hope you make videos on this project.

[kazimann]

Hope she gets back on the road again.