Welcome to this special summer edition of the www.leylandprincess.co.

uk club
newsletter.
Our membership currently stands at 54 members - which is an incredible achievement and
Id like to personally thank all of you for joining. However, we know there are more owners
out there who have yet to join and we appreciate that not everyone is wise to the web, so
we are considering making a printed newsletter available to members who want to join but
dont use the internet or use email and will be given the option upon joining. For the small
amount that would require this service we doubt it will be necessary to increase in the
membership fee as it stands for such members.
Over the next few months we will be going through the entire Princess spare parts we have
in storage and making them available to members via a revamped spares page on the main
website. The main reason we havent done it before is because its quite a thankless task
and time consuming going through everything and listing it even if were not sure what it
is - but we think its only reasonable to offer these parts to our members and help keep
their cars on the road where they belong.
Well be updating you via the forum and the usual newsletter about how its going and the
spares page will be gradually updated as more parts are identified and listed.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Princess designer Harris Mann to the
club, who was delighted to become an honorary member and we appreciate his acceptance.
Me with Harris on our stand at the
Classic Motor Show at the NEC in
November 2015.

What is a worry, though, is the lack of body panels available for the Princess. The supply of
NOS front wings has virtually dried up and with no one offering to make up new ones it
seems repairs are the only way ahead. Keep an eye on corrosion and do all you can to keep
it at bay and it may be worthwhile removing the front wheel arch liner, cleaning out all the
debris and make any repairs necessary before they get worse and give the inside of the wing
a coat of tough, durable underseal or paint.
Whenever a Princess comes up for sale on ebay or Gumtree it usually gets posted on the UK
Barn Finds page. A Princess always get a larger than usual amount of comments from
posters but sadly they are mostly derogatory. Drop a piano on it, push it back in the barn,
a box of matches and a gallon of petrol will sort that, worst piece of junk ever made, to list
but a few. It is a shame that the armchair followers of these pages call themselves car
enthusiasts but I doubt many of them have ever seen one on the road and would never say
such things to our faces! I always like to point out that in a recent poll, the top five most
popular classic cars in the UK all come from British Leyland. Junk indeed.
In any case, it seems values of the Princess are rising steadily as the last few rotten examples
to appear for sale have sold for over 500 and at the other end of the scale 6000 seems
easily attainable for one in excellent condition.
From Facebook.
We know that some of you just dont do the facebook thing, but without it we just wouldnt
get the exposure we need. We now have 743 likes (and increasing) which means that every
time we post something all 743 likers will see it. Some comment, some share and some
like the content we post and it attracts a large audience and gives us exposure.
One of the most popular things weve posted recently has been the Princess on TV:
Terry & June.
Few can mention the Princess without associating it with ubiquitous early '80s BBC TV
situation comedy Terry and June.
In series one Terry drives a dark navy blue Mk2 Ford Granada. At the start of the second
series, Terry receives a new company car; a metallic Tara green Princess 2 1700 HL with the
fake registration number NMO 49W. In Series 3 a Brooklands green 2200 HL was used but
this car was actually an earlier Mk 1 model but still used the fake NMO 49W reg no. In the
Series 8 Terry keeps his "Wedge" theme with the updated Nautilus Blue Austin Ambassador.
In Series 9 however, Terry goes back to Ford and drives a metallic red Ford Sierra. In the last
Series 9 he switches to a briefly seen Mk3 Ford Granada.
These images are from the Series 2 episode 'To Catch a Thief', aired on 5th September 1980.

Yes, Minister.
MP Jim Hacker's Ministerial Princess 2 1700HL Automatic, from the BBC television series
Yes, Minister. From the episode 'The Compassionate Society' aired on 2nd March 1981. It
would seem from a DVLA vehicle check that this wedge lasted until around September 1990.
Black Princesses were used as official ministerial cars by the Government from 1975 until
1982.

The last Ambassador.

A500 KWK finally received the repainted bonnet from the painters and very smart it is too.
However, it has highlighted the fact that the original paint is 32 years old but with other
areas of the paint requiring attention - notably the sunroof, its not much of an issue
presently. Its being used as often as possible and ferried three of us quite comfortably to
the Beaulieu Autojumble recently.

It runs and drives very well and does seem pretty quick if its given some beans (The VP has
the twin-carb 2.0 litre O-series engine with 100 bhp) and seems rather at odds with road
testers of the time saying it was slow. Its not as firm as other cars of the time but its still a
very pleasant way of getting around, yet I still get the feeling the Princess somehow does it
better.

The initial start up is a bit rough thanks to the controversial ASU (Automatic Start Unit)
which was troublesome when the cars were new and is no different now. It was also fitted
to the Rover 2000 SD1 and some Jaguars. A manual conversion was/is available but whether
it actually improved anything was still open for question.
With a few Ambassadors recently coming out of the burr walnut woodwork I thought it
might be an idea to have an Ambassador meet and perhaps try to get as many VP models
together as we can. I think the best place to have the meet would be at the British Motor
Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire sometime in October. Let us know by posting in the
events section of the forum or emailing us.
leylandprincess@aol.com
http://leylandprincess.co.uk/forum/index.php
Thats all for now. Keep checking our Facebook page and look in on the forum for the latest
news and information.
Best Wishes,

Kev Davis
Club President.