Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers! - Jalopnik Comments

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

skierpage — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:18:07 EST

The Princess and the Rover SD1 were good futuristic car designs for the time — 1980 cars in 1976. The Wolseley variant (go go BL brand engineering) is particularly attractive, it looked like a 1980s Lancia. The vinyl roof though, argghh!

skierpage

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there! — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:34:45 EST

@Stoatmaster: Aha! But the Ambassador sucked!

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there!

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

bmoredlj — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:05:04 EST

Good God, that car makes the Citation desirable, even if it does go 4500 yards around a track while filled with water.

bmoredlj

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

misterbleepy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:38:06 EST

my overriding memory of this car is the vinyl roof - a colleague of my mum had one which looked (more) awful (than usual), as her horse used to chew the vinyl. She thought of it as a theft deterrent.

misterbleepy

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Stoatmaster — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:00:22 EST

@Rust-MyEnemy:

...until they eventually did install a tailgate, at which point it became the Ambassador.

And these things had bizarrely aerodynamically efficient roofs, due to them being slightly convex.

The Land Crab, on the other hand...

Stoatmaster

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

TinaChow — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:58:13 EST

@halfshaft: This Princess is more of an Anne, less of a Diana.

TinaChow

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

General Halfshaftery — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:46:30 EST

Did this British Princess bounce off a pillar in a Parisian tunnel too?

General Halfshaftery

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

j6r — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:25:03 EST

@Rust-MyEnemy:

I'm pretty sure a prototype replacement Mini(dubbed the 9X) included a transverse 6. It was cheaper because the original Mini could not actually be made at a profit.

j6r

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

AustinMiniMan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:58:05 EST

@Maxichamp:

The more pressing question is how did a Princess survive riding on a ferry and STILL manage to end up being more substantial than a pile of rust?

AustinMiniMan

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:00:24 EST

George probably needs to be careful about la clap and le syphilis if he and Archibald continue picking up trollops on the side of the road...

Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Triborough — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:01:55 EST

In the 1970s, British Leyland apparently had such bad quality control they put the steering wheel on the wrong side.

Triborough

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

sos10 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:23:23 EST

@Beluga: am not so sure about that. If I remember well, you had to pay extra to get a working non rust model.

sos10

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Beluga — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:07:17 EST

The car actually remained rust-free for the duration of the shoot!

Beluga

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Senna Vs Prost — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:04:51 EST

Her Royal Majesty's brightest engineers attempt at creating an homage to the AMC Eagle. The end result is more along the lines of a Citroen Citation.

Senna Vs Prost

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Marcas — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:48:16 EST

@PeteJayhawk:

I`d expect no less than 6 of the best !!

Marcas

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there! — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:38:38 EST

@Maxichamp: Again perversity on the part of BL.

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there!

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Pete Gaines — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:24:52 EST

I hope Archibald gave his manservant a sound thrashing for his insolence.

Pete Gaines

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Maxichamp — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:29:40 EST

If the car went by ferry from England, had an English owner, and an English chauffeur, why is it LHD?

Maxichamp

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Maxichamp — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:28:00 EST

I'd rather drive the Citroen H van in the ad.

Maxichamp

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there! — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:23:50 EST

This car (Geek hat on) was perverse. Not only did it have hydrolastic suspension, but also it could have a transverse straight 6 engine with front-wheel-drive. Also, it looked like a hatchback but was actually a sedan.

And it was only available as an Austin Princess for a year (as well as being available as a Wolsely and a Morris). Then it became called simply Princess until 1981.

(geek hat off)....(a bit)

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there!

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

Serolf Divad — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:43:04 EST

Did their cars make as much sense as this commercial? I suspect they did, alas.

Serolf Divad

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

FLB — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:30:23 EST

What can be even more hellish than a Malaise Era BL car? Right, a Malaise Era BL car with hydraulic suspension!

FLB

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:29:19 EST

@tentacles: Since Leyland wasn't making any money, that was much cheaper than reshooting or redubing the commercial.

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

rgseidl — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:27:59 EST

Perhaps this particular ad ran in France.

rgseidl

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

tentacles — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:21:43 EST

It's....subtitled in French?

tentacles