Princess 2 - the 70s classic car time forgot! (Austin Princess/Wedge)

Princess 2 - ADO71

Although it’s the car most people think of when the name Princess pops up in automotive circles, the AD071 Princess wasn’t the first car to bear the Princess name, in fact, it had been used on vehicles since the 1940s when it was applied to the most expensive model in the Austin range and then used in the 50s for for deluxe versions of BMC range of exec cars.

By 1975 when it first got applied to the ADO71 car, the Princess name hadn’t been used since the early mid 60s and and was used on the 1800/2200 cars before being used on the 1700, 2000 and 2200 cars badged as Princess 2 - which is what we’re testing today.

It might be called the Princess, but some of you will know it as the 18-22 series too - the idea behind going for the Princess badging was to unite the various cars being churned out by Austin, Wolseley and Morris; again, another patching up exercise as British Leyland tried to make all the brands work together in harmony.

The car was designed by the late, great Harris Mann; who was a man who didn’t just stick to the same old tired designs but seemed to really care about what he designed and tried to bring in new concepts and challenge what was on the forecourt. He gave us cars like the TR7, the Allegro and this Princess as well as being involved in many other cars which were commonplace during the era.

In fact, Mann said this was one of his favourite designs because the end result so closely resembled his vision; which was the grumble with the Allegro which didn’t at all and he said this was a car he designed to bring BL into the modern age and in many ways it did!

Now I sing the praises of this car on this test today - I genuinely liked it - and before I get slated for having rose tinted glasses, it wasn’t just me who liked it because Autocar rated the 2200 HLS they tested in 1977 as one of the best cars they’d tested that year. So I guess I’m not the only one with good taste.

Tech spec wise, we chat about a lot of this later, but a brief recap on some bits:

We’ve got the 2.2 engine in this - but even with the 1700 and 2000 engines you weren’t hard done by. The max speed for the 1700 was 99mph, the 2000 promised 98 and the 2200 promised a driving license busting 105.4 miles per hour.

The 0-60 on the 1700 was 15.7 seconds, 14.6 for the 2000 and for the 2200 like we’ve got? 11.8 seconds - which makes it a lot quicker than you might be expecting!

The car is fitted with rack and pinion steering and has a turning circle of 37.8 feet - as per the BL salesman booklet - but the official brochures list it as an inch or two out from that in places; but it’s roughly 37.8 feet. The turns lock to lock on the 1700/2000 with the non power assisted steering as standard is 4.37 turns, but for those paying for a power assist upgrade on lesser specced models or those going for the 2200 where it comes as standard, it’s 3.26 turns lock to lock.

Sadly the Princess was relatively short lived compared to other BL cars and came to an end in 1981 when it was replaced by the Austin Ambassador; another rare car in the range.

Now I would love to tell you that this car was the absolute winner that saved BL, but it wasn’t and in fact, it didn’t get half as much as love as it should’ve done because of the sheer incompetence of management at the time who allowed the early excitement and goodwill - there were months of waiting lists in the first flush of these cars - to dwindle and collapse with strike action, varying build quality and a couple of key weak spots which become hot topics like some of the cars munching through drive shafts.

I hope today you see this car for what it could’ve been and what it offered with a positive outlook and don’t let the mismanagement of a fantastic concept overshadow it. It had the finesse to be beat Ford, the ingenuity to take on European competitors; but it wasn’t to be.

Now that’s enough gazing back into the past, let’s skip into 2023 and see what a survivor of this range offers the discerning classic enthusiast.