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Car Of The Day: April 30, 2017; Oxford '78 Princess 2200 HLS
Topic Started: Apr 30 2017, 08:00 PM (680 Views)
Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Today's car of the day is Oxford Diecasts British Leyland Princess. This version dates from September 1975 until July 1978. The model is now available in several colours and is still current. The car was initially released in March 1975 as either an Austin, Morris or Wolseley.

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This car was designed to be towards the top of the British Leyland range of family/ordinary cars. (ie not a Rover, Jaguar or Daimler) It replaced the Issgonis designed BMC 1800/2200 Landcrab. Mechanically it was similar but had a, then, dramatic body designed by Harris Mann.

They came with two engine options, the 1800cc 4 cylinder as used in many cars and vans from BMC and then British Leyland and the newer 6 cylinder 2200cc 6 cylinder engine. Both were mounted transversely and drove the front wheels. There were some diesel trials and the mk2 had different engines.

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It was intended to compete with the upper models in the Cortina range and bottom models in the Consul/Granada range.

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It didn't sell as well as hoped, it wasn't as sexy as the Mk3 Cortina, it had reliability issues, both real and perceived, production was hit by industrial action and, for some, its shape and lack of a rear hatch put them off.

Huge inside and designed to ride as smoothly as a Citroen CX. It was only ever available as a 4 door saloon, it looks like it should have had a hatch but it never did. Some companies offered conversions to fit a hatch in place of the boot lid. Funeral limos and hearses were also made by some coachbuilders. Its successor, the Austin Ambassador was a 5 door hatch but was the wrong car at the wrong time.

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Wikipedia
 
The Princess is a family car which was produced in the United Kingdom by British Leyland from 1975 until 1981 (1982 in New Zealand.) The car inherited a front-wheel drive / transverse engine configuration from its predecessor, the BMC ADO17 range. This was still unusual in Europe for full-sized family cars and gave the Princess a cabin space advantage when compared with similarly sized cars from competing manufacturers.
The car was originally marketed as the Austin / Morris / Wolseley 18-22 series. The car was launched to critical acclaim on 26 March 1975 as the 18-22 Series, "the car that has got it all together". The number designation 18-22 referred to the engine sizes. For the first six months of production three badge-engineered versions were produced: Austin, Morris and Wolseley. In late 1975 the range was renamed "Princess". This was a new marque created by British Leyland. The car later appeared in revamped form as the Austin Ambassador, which was produced from 1981 until 1984 and only ever sold in Britain.


The 3 initial versions/brands differed mainly in grille and headlamp styles.

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For more information and pictures of the real car, please visit: : British Leyland Princess

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For and account of its development please visit:: development

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For more about the cars, development, competition, designer etc please visit:: development, designer, history etc

The model is a typical Oxford Diecast, Its an actual version of a real car, same colour, plates etc. It has a two part interior in brown and cream. It has a mock vinyl roof - fashionable at the time and has rubber tyres. The wheels are plain discs whereas the real one now seems to have alloys. I'm not sure if alloys were offered in the mid 70s. It represents a 2200 HLS, the top model. The printing is all there but most of us would need a magnifying glass to read it.

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Its shown along side a similarly scaled (1/76th) Matchbox Ford station wagon.

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Finally a couple of adverts, one real and one a spoof.

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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
:thumbup: Learned something new again - I was not aware that the Wolseley name was still be used in the '70's. Like other Oxford Diecast models it is a very nice looking model. I am curious since we have seen a number of the Oxford models as COTD offerings of late - do you have a US source for these or a good connection in the UK? Thanks for showing it next to the regular wheels Ford station wagon - it is one of the things I like about the Oxford models - they fit in well with the old Matchbox regular wheels models.
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JeepXJLover
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WOW that is awesome. I'd love to have one.
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Ripa
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Minivan
This is one of very few 1/76 in my wantlist. Probably because I don't know any 1/64 or 1/87 offerings

I have always had an interest in this car. It was briefly sold here too as Leyland Princess (without "British" in the front, no Wolseley or other versions were offered), but didn't sell well and probably only a couple still exist in Finnish roads today. It was expensive and notorious for very bad build quality that didn't suit the cold climate here at all.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
pjedsel
Apr 30 2017, 10:25 PM
:thumbup: Learned something new again - I was not aware that the Wolseley name was still be used in the '70's. Like other Oxford Diecast models it is a very nice looking model. I am curious since we have seen a number of the Oxford models as COTD offerings of late - do you have a US source for these or a good connection in the UK? Thanks for showing it next to the regular wheels Ford station wagon - it is one of the things I like about the Oxford models - they fit in well with the old Matchbox regular wheels models.
Actually I desperately need this one (or better yet, the blue one they offer). The Oxfords have been guest submissions by Chris.P. I see a lot of Oxfords I need. But I only have a few examples, and I think I ran all of mine years ago.
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94cadillacfleetwood
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Nothing good ever happens after midnight.
Love these Oxfords! This has become my new "Go-to" brand for diecast. If you shop around, you can get them for pretty reasonable prices!
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DinoMom
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Fullsize
Well Sean you have listed another one I need to buy! This car has a lot of nicknames here in England - "the flying wedge", "the doorstop" being just a couple of them. Typical of British Leyland the management decisions were very poor. It was decided to limit the body styles of many of their lineup, having the Austin Maxi as a hatchback and only the Austin Maxi as a hatchback as its hook. The rest of the cars were left with old-fashioned boot designs.

It did have hydrolastic suspension though, very advanced for the day, but prone to troubles, much like many of the "advanced" engineering features of British cars.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
And when those suspensions break...the cars are pretty much scrap iron because no one makes those parts any more. :( Which is a pity because there's nothing else on the roads that looks like this. I love it. While you're getting one for yourself, pick one up for me too, please. Particularly the blue one if it's still available (I admit, I have an affinity for blue cars ;) ).

I want to own one of these someday. I doubt there are many (if any) in America. We used to have a member on here years back who had one.
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chris.p
Compact
Here's a guide to buying/checking a s/h one.

http://www.leylandprincess.co.uk/buy.htm

Not impossible to keep on the road but easier in the UK than the US.

Sometimes I think I should have bought one when they were current - but I wasn't flush with money and mpg was more important than a velour interior.

They are a very rare sight on roads here. Looking them up there appear to be about 30 left on the roads now.

The Oxford one is easier to find and costs nothing to run.

Chris

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jurcpa
Fullsize
I like the oxford series ,all cars are very nice,interesting andd so much new styling,no other carmaker build this cars ,I have this princess in Yellow ,thanks so much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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DinoMom
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Fullsize
Swifty
May 20 2017, 10:11 PM
And when those suspensions break...the cars are pretty much scrap iron because no one makes those parts any more. :( Which is a pity because there's nothing else on the roads that looks like this. I love it. While you're getting one for yourself, pick one up for me too, please. Particularly the blue one if it's still available (I admit, I have an affinity for blue cars ;) ).

I want to own one of these someday. I doubt there are many (if any) in America. We used to have a member on here years back who had one.
Sure will!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
DinoMom
May 26 2017, 08:33 PM
Swifty
May 20 2017, 10:11 PM
And when those suspensions break...the cars are pretty much scrap iron because no one makes those parts any more. :( Which is a pity because there's nothing else on the roads that looks like this. I love it. While you're getting one for yourself, pick one up for me too, please. Particularly the blue one if it's still available (I admit, I have an affinity for blue cars ;) ).

I want to own one of these someday. I doubt there are many (if any) in America. We used to have a member on here years back who had one.
Sure will!
Merci! :)
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