Buying Guide
We show you how to bag the very best Leyland Princess or Austin Ambassador.
British Leyland came in for a rough time in the 1970s, but it wasn’t for the want of bold designs. Take the Princess, for example, launched in 1975 as the 18/22-series then renamed just a few months later in a move that also saw the demise of Wolseley. Here was a neatly designed family saloon that offered acres of space inside, a comfortable ride thanks to the adoption of Hydragas suspension and decent performance with the fitment of 1.8 or 2.2-litre engines (both carried over from BMC’S AD017 Landcrab), the latter offering six-cylinder smoothness into the bargain.
But in true BL fashion the Princess was a missed opportunity. It was quickly blighted by build quality problems and despite its hatchback profile the Princess only ever sported four doors instead of five. This latter glitch was rectified with the arrival of the Ambassador in 1982; BL didn’t want the Princess to have a hatch in case it stole sales from the Maxi. These cars are on the endangered list now – there are none currently on our classiccarsforsale. co.uk website but they do come up for sale occasionally. Here’s the inside story on buying one.
Which one?
The simple answer is whatever you can find – few Princesses are on the market at any one time and it’s the same with Ambassadors. A 2200 HLS auto is, arguably, the pick of the crop as the auto box is nicer than the manual. Most 1800s were manual and most 2200 were autos, and while more four-cylinder cars were made than six-pots, more of the latter are left. The 1700 engine is smoother than the 2000 thanks to its shorter stroke, but the bigger engine is more torquey. Only the 2.0-litre (on HLS and Vanden Plas editions) and six-cylinder engines got twin carbs.
Bodywork
The all-steel monocoque doesn’t rust as badly as some of its contemporaries but the corrosion can still be pretty bad. Although the two models look similar, only the sills are interchangeable – but both models have the same weak spots.
You need to check everywhere for rot, especially the sills, wheelarches, valances and the bottom of each front wing. A-pillars rust, and on the Ambassador you must scrutinise the trailing edge of the roof above the rear side windows. The roof corrodes badly towards the rear of the car, above the C-pillar, and repairs are tricky.
Replacement panels are scarce although secondhand bootlids and bonnets are available for the Princess; doors can also be tracked down but you have to search far and wide. The windscreen rubbers harden and perish (they’re the same on both cars) then let in water, rotting the carpets and floorpans. New-old-stock rear screen rubbers are virtually unobtainable but the Leyland Princess Enthusiasts’ Club (LPEC) has just had a batch of front screen rubbers remanufactured.