1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

A non-picture update on things.

The Princess had lost all but the weakest and most intermittent spark recently which meant it wouldn't start. Initial testing made it seem the condenser was at fault and, having had issues with poor condensers, it seemed sensible to replace that. However, on fully removing the condenser in readiness for replacement, the earth wire inside the distributor decided to part company with one of the eyelets. The wire, which had been replaced many years ago to replace the bare wire wrapped in electrical tape the car came to me with, had gone brittle and fractured right at the crimp. This meant that the earth connection was incredibly poor. Over time, this has steadily been getting worse and visual inspection had revealed nothing amiss, the symptoms manifesting as though other parts were at fault.

The solution was simply to replace the wire with new. I'd already bought a replacement condenser but rather than fitting that straight away, we put the new wire and the old condenser back on just to be sure it's not the old condenser at fault. Happily, the old condenser is fine and the car starts quite willingly now. There's also no sign of the occasional stutter/stumble that's been bothering the car for the last year or two and that I couldn't track down so I suspect that's also been due to that poor earth wire.

I shall continue to monitor the situation, hopefully this has resolved the issue.

i know people balk at the thought of going electronic triggering, non original and all that, nowt wrong with well setup points etc etc. but its literally one of the best things i have done to both land rovers. owned them for a combination of 8 years now, never touched the ignition for maintenance once after installing them.

I had been, and still am, considering moving the Rover on. However, I'm being sensible. Sort of. I've decided to use the Princess as my only car for as long as it permits, or for as long as I want it to be my only car. Should I want, or need, to use the Rover within the next 6 months then it will get to stay. If I go 6 months without stepping foot in the Rover well, it'll be time to move it on.

25th of November was the official start point of this experiment, purely because it's a point at which everything on the car is working as it should so seemed a sensible point to begin the experiment.

So far, it's going very smoothly, as you might expect in the honeymoon period. I haven't yet dreaded getting in the car, no matter what the weather is doing. I do have some observations.


- Starting. Since replacing the earth wire, the car now starts, idles, runs, and generally behaves much better. The occasional stutter/stumble thing it was doing it no longer does. Less throttle is required to make progress and to accelerate from a standstill and a very quiet tick I couldn't place beyond 'the top of the engine somewhere' is now gone. Perhaps the tick was the old earth wire sparking out and earthing where it shouldn't, perhaps it's merely coincidence.

- New tyres are amazing. They're the best I've ever driven on and I don't feel like I've even come close to their limits. I'm continually impressed with them, especially in the rain.

- Oil pressure switch I replaced has cured an oil leak. Previously, I wasn't entirely certain if it was the cause of the oil down the belt side of the engine, now I am, because that side of the engine and the driveshaft are all oil-free. I'm pleased about this as it means I'm losing less oil than I was.

- Brakes are good. However, the braking habits of other drivers aren't so much. I find myself driving slower than I might normally because of how unpredictably, and how quickly, other drivers stop. The plus side to that is it means I'm paying a lot more attention when I am driving and therefore driving more defensively which has meant I've avoided situations that may have become a close call, or worse.


- Island style speed bumps are less of a problem because of the width of the Princess, in most cases the track is wide enough that it's like they're not even there. Bar type speed bumps are a little more annoying, especially the ones with a harsh drop off and rise, but no more so than in any other car.

- I feel generally less vulnerable and more visible to other road users than I do in the Rover. This in turn makes driving considerably more relaxing.

So now the problems, since I can't pretend it's been entirely plain sailing.

- My old regime was to check the fluids once a week or every 100 miles, whichever came first. Because the Rover never needed this attention, I'd slipped to a more loose once a month or every 500 miles and that doesn't stick with the Princess. Today, the gear change was notchier than usual and reverse became difficult to select when the oil had warmed up and on checking, the oil was barely at the bottom of the dipstick. Thankfully, a glug of fresh oil resolved this. I suspect the car is consuming a little oil, though not alarming quantities, and I know there are still oil leaks I haven't been able to find the source of. I suspect one or more of the gaskets that were replaced when we did the clutch are the culprit since the minor leak I do have is on that side of things, it's just proving difficult to find since it takes a while to manifest. I shall continue to monitor the situation, at any rate.

- Sidewinds are tedious. It can be easy to forget how much power steering compensates for small corrections, so you are more prone to a little bit of lane wandering when it's as windy as it's been today.

- Although there's no noticeable coolant usage, I did notice a very small spot of coolant under a pipe join today. It's something to monitor, the one spot wasn't even enough to constitute a weep, let alone a leak.

- Parking is still a chore. The biggest issue I face here is no longer the lack of power steering. The combination of the Princess' C-pillar blind spot and the sheer bulk of modern cars causing big visual obstacles can make reversing out of a parking space a bit of a gamble, especially when other drivers seem intent on paying no attention whatsoever to a car slowly exiting a parking space. The bodywork on most modern cars is so high that I can't simply look through the cabin of neighbouring vehicles to see if it's safe to exit a parking space, so it has to be done with caution.

That's it. Overall I'm quite happy to hop in and use this car. The biggest problem I encounter on a daily basis really is other inconsiderate road users, the sorts everyone else encounters too. If anything, being behind the wheel of the Princess again is making me think a lot harder about hazards and driving and, I hope, making me a better driver in the process.

I must admit I nearly always reverse into parking spaces - its easier. Seems to be a lost art with modern drivers though.

I do keep an eye out for 'drive through' spaces when parking. It's not always an option and sometimes, like today, you can't reverse into the parking bay because of how it's laid out. Exercising caution is usually enough, and if someone is daft enough to walk behind your car while it's moving, and paying more attention to their phone call than their surroundings, a prolonged lean on the horn is sufficient to really fox-picture them off. Which is gratifying in a childish sort of a way.

Same with th capri - reversing out is horrible...I reverse into spaces with most stuff. Having now been a biker for a year I realise that you have to think about your exit strategy beforehand!

If you can reverse out of a space it must be possible to reverse into it as well I'd think?

All my friends in the US are horrified when I reverse into spots; I personally find it much easier. Even in the Datsun with no PAS and only one mirror...

Best of luck with your experiment, hope it works out

Hazard telltale - now fixed. Pulled the bulb, tweaked the tines out, plugging the bulb back in and it now works normally. It's either the bulb or holder that's a bad fit, or both, this seems to have fixed it.

Auxilliary belt - squealing. I thought it was because of the wet weather until I checked and it's gone a little slack. I'll tighten it tomorrow when I can see what I'm doing, it's probably stretched a little.

If it ever stops raining I'll get the reverse switch and headlight alignment sorted.

Last fuel up after about 150 miles of all urban driving is just shy of 22mpg. Not great, not terrible, just normal for what it is.