Report from the BMC/BL Show in Peterborough.

Princess HLS

A Princess On Tour

Having bought my 1979 Sandglow Princess 2000 HLS from a guy in London in December 2006 and driven it up to Holyhead and home to Dublin, it was always my hope to bring it back to the UK at some stage to exhibit it at a classic car rally.

So, in early 2008, I decided that this was going to be the year but, of course, the where, when and how details would need to be organised.

After online discussion with some fellow Wedge owners, I settled upon attending the 15th Annual BMC/BL Show at Nene Park, Peterborough in August.
Once this had been decided upon, it was then a matter of working out the best options for ferry crossings.
A few searchs later on the web and Irish Ferries got the booking.

As my sister and her family live in Nottingham, we decided to incorporate a visit to them into the trip - free accommodation is always a good incentive!!
In any case, the show grounds in Peterborough was only about an hours drive south from Nottingham and so it was a logistically sensible place to base ourselves.

Then my partner, Aidan, suggetsed we make a mini holiday out of the trip by perhaps doing some exploring of the English and Welsh countryside.
A great idea, I thought, especially as having the Princess with us would allow for a lot more freedom.

Anyhow, long story short!
We booked the ferry for Sat morning 2nd August at 7:45 on the Irish Ferries Ulysess from Dublin Port.
Incidentally, the Ulysess is the worlds largest car ferry.

Before I get totally carried away let's get back to Wedges!

Throughout the Spring of 2008, I'd been occupying myself with getting various jobs done to my Princess to ensure it would be up to the task of a trip abroad.
Thankfully, nothing major needed doing to the car.
Initially, I had replaced the thermostat and had new tyres and bonnet gas struts fitted.

Having already accumulated an array of spare parts for the car, I was able to to leave the car into my service garage, complete with parts, and let them have it for a few days to carry out some work.
Along with a full service, the following was done to the Princess:

- complete new exhaust system
- new timing belt
- new front lower suspension bushes
- new brake shoes/pads
- suspension pumped/balanced

Once all the mechanical jobs were done to the car, I turned my attention to sorting out the minor cosmetcic issues with the body.
The brown roof vinyl on the rear offside quarter panel had a few tears in it and the offside front wing paintwork was badly chipped all over.

Alas, despite numerours attempts, I was unable to source the correct brown vinyl.
As an interim measure, I sealed the tears with with some brown silicone sealer. although not a perfect colour match, it is preventing the water from penetrating under the vinyl.

Another disappointment arrived in the form of the bodyshop that had agreed to respray the entire car, being unable to complete the job in time for the UK trip.
So, a mad dash ensued to acquire the appropriate paint needed to do a DIY touch up job on the affected wing!
A few evenings in my Fathers' garage preparing and primering the wing resulted in a presentable appearence. Although not complete or permanent, the end result is far more pleasing on the eye than what it had been previously like.

And so, after months of planning, the day of departure arrived.
Having already packed up the Princess boot, on the Friday evening, with all the relevant tools, emergency spares and our luggage (including several empty bottle bags to be filled up with UK cider!!) and after a thorough wash, clean and polish, there was nothing more to do on the Saturday morning at 6am other than shower and go.

With an uneventfull ferry crossing (in Club Class no less!), the drive from Holyhead to Nottingham was almost without incident.

As it was the start of the big summer getaway in the UK, the roads were extremely busy with traffic. At one stage, as we were approaching the M56 from the A5117 there was a 5 mile tailback of traffic partly due to roadworks in the area.
No doubt, you're all aware that traffic jams and old cars don't usually mix very well. Add to that a hot sunny day and it has the potential to be a recipie for disaster!
You can imagine then my trepidation as the Princess temperature needle began to climb upwards towards the red section on the guage.
Panic not, I thought, as I turned on the heaters full blast to dissipate some of the excess heat from the engine. This measure ensured the needle remained just below the red.
Thankfully, after what seemed an eternity, the traffic began to move off and clear the botleneck. Within a few minutes and with some cool air again flowing through the radiator, the temperature needle dropped back down to normal and both Aidan and I breathed a sigh of relief as we too were cooling down after enduring the heaters blasting away!

Upon arrival in Nottingham, we were able to relax and unwind and give both us and the Princess an evenings rest.

Sunday morning and Showday(!) arrived and after a check on the cars' fluid levels, I left Aidan in the capabale hands of my sister for a day of retail therapy while I headed off into Nottingham City Centre to meet my pals Billy and Joe. They had flown over for the weekend to attend the car show and subsequently hired their own car.
After hooking up, we all set off, with the assistance of Sat Nav, to drive south through some lovely scenic villages to Nene Park in Peterborough.

Thankfully, the Gods were looking down on Peterborough as the weather stayed nice and dry throughout the day.
On arrival at the rally grounds, the Princess and I were greeted by some of the stewards, one of whom, upon seeing the Irish reg, commented on the sanity of my travelling all the way from Ireland in a British Leyland car!!

After parking up on the PAOC (Princess Club) stand, it was a great sense of achievement, for me, to step out of the Princess, stand back and admire it in the company of 8 similar cars in a line up.
I must say a big thanks to Matt and Jim from our (small) club for organising and especially encouraging club members to bring their cars to the show.
For any club members who, for whatever resason, don't attend club events, I'd like to just say that its a great way to show off your pride and joy as well as an opportunity to to meet up with fellow Wedge enthusiasts who can be as passionate in their own way about their motors.

After a full day of browsing at just some of the 2000 odd BMC/BL cars and chatting with their owners, the day flew past and before long it was time to start up my Princess yet again and head off once more.

Again, on Sunday evening, after a nice restaurant dinner in Nottinghham, a well earned rest was had by all.

On Monday morning, we packed up (cider included!) and left Nottingham for a trek across the Peak District, calling in to the fabulous Crich Tramway Village en route. I once owned 4 old buses but thats a whole other story!
Driving leisurely across the the picturesque Derbyshire Dales and English country side, we eventually arrived in the quaint Welsh village of Betws-y-Coed, where we stopped off for the night.

Tuesday we awoke to teeming rain but after initial disappointment, we figured that we had had a good innings of 3 days of nice weather, so we weren't going to allow one day dampen our spirits.
After a sumptous Welsh breakfast, we packed up the Princess yet again, and headed off across the lovely Welsh mountainous terrain to Port Meirion-a privately owned village once home to the cult TV series The Prisoner.

Despite the the torrential rain, the Princess performed brilliantly and was well up to the task of traipsing around some very narrow and steep mountain roads.

All too soon, it was time to make our way west to Holyhead to catch the Irish Ferries Swift fast ferry back home to Dublin.

After 4 days and 612 miles, the Princess is having a well deserved rest. Apart from the slight risk of overheating, the car gave us a faultless performance.

Who ever said that BL cars were unreliable!!?

Tony Cooney



A rare sighting of Wedges together!:




An even rarer Wolseley version:



Me and my Princess!! :

carchaeologist

Great story there!!Good to hear you got there and back in one piece,good photos too,a long time since that many wedges were in one place!!Is there many on the road in ireland i wonder?

Arthur Daley

Hey Tony, clocked your car in last month's Practical Classics. I actually quite like the styling of the Princess when other stuff like the Cortina was very conservative with their styling.

That Wolseley was only available for the first year 75-76 and was the end of the line for the marque. It looks well.

superboy

Good man!! Hey, does anyone else think the later Pricesses/Ambassadors look like Escort mark 3's at the front, or should that be the other way round????

MercMad

Well done Tony, sounds like ytourself and Aidan had a good trip, thanks for the story. I love to read about these "road trips" in classic cars, the owners trepidation adds to the excitment.

I used to ridicule and laugh at the Princess' and Ambasadors when they were new, my neighbours dad had a new one in 1977, but I was like that about most BL products, yet the Princess certainly has a charm all of its own.

I saw one recently at Trim and had a quick look, meant to go back for more, wish now I did.

Yor car looks great in the photos, really period colours too.

BTW if you can source the correct colour vinyl you could easily have the sample you did get recoloured. Vinny Byrne in Dublin can match any colour and supply either and aerosol or tin of whatever quantity you want.

Good luck !

I havent managaed a road trip as such but I use my 280SE for all our holidays in Ireland. Been probably to each County in the last 3 months, yesterday I did Dublin to Dungannon and back and after work I'm heading to Thurles for the weekend

8~)

Pretty sure the Princess at Trim is Tony's one. I did have a good look. Very nice order indeed.

I really like HLS model; it's the way the front armrests fold into the seat bolsters.

MercMad

8~) wrote: »

Pretty sure the Princess at Trim is Tony's one. I did have a good look. Very nice order indeed.

I really like HLS model; it's the way the front armrests fold into the seat bolsters.

.......yeah I wondered, just didn't take a good enough look at it !

Wheels look familiar ?

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8~)

They don't look familiar... because they cleaned up so well. How'd you clean them up?

I prefer the car with the steel wheels rather than the alloys. Good decision.

MercMad

8~) wrote: »

They don't look familiar... because they cleaned up so well. How'd you clean them up?

I prefer the car with the steel wheels rather than the alloys. Good decision.

............yeah everyone has said it makes a big difference.

I used a wire brush on a drill, several of them, and a grinder too. It took quite a while as 2 of them were quite bad. Then just some black hammerite type paint. They look better in the picture though, but the wheel covers will always be on anyway so I wasn't too fussy !

Sorry to go off topic folks !

DaveCol

Any more photos from the BL/BMC show?

Sounds like a great road trip, it puts me in mind of the trips I have done in the past to International Mini Meetings, in a Mini, the furthest being to Sweden in 1995

Princess HLS

Hi Guys,

Yes, it was a great road trip and really encouraged me to do more in the future.
Key to its success.......preparation, preparation, preparation and then just get out there and do it!!

A few more snaps from the show below.

By the way, that WAS my car the Trim Show!
Have managed to get some correct brown roof vinyl through a Club contact so that will be a task to get it fitted in the coming months.
Am collecting new engine mounting rubbers this weekend in Nottingham along with a brand new 2000 HLS boot badge!

Fix one thing and something else needs to be done-the joys of classic motoring!

Tony

A very tidy Wolseley 16/60


A very early (1954?) Morris Minor that was on its first outing after being layed up beside a hedge for 22 years!



A gaggle of Allegros!



A very unique and practical conversion on the 1100 Club Stand



A totally unrestored original Morris Minor for sale



An ex BL Managers Triumph Dolomite 1850 with special specs


A modern classic??



A Maxi twist!



And finally........My Princess on the royal line up!!!

carchaeologist

Great pics there!!Thats alot of BL products in the one place!!:D
Alot of allegros in the same place,wonder how many irish ones are left around..

DaveCol

Excellent photos