Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

They're hardly in the same class. The Princess is vast inside and a good
motorway cruiser. The Toledo is small and, err, slow.

Indeed but the Princess was a shed and that Toledo appears to be mint.

On 24 Feb, 20:44, (Steve Firth) wrote:
Ian wrote:
On 24 Feb, 13:41, (Steve Firth) wrote:

I had one for several years and loved it at the time. Sadly the engine
is fairly fragile.

Is it the large crank (GK) Herald engine?

I think so but enlarged to 1300cc. Like the Herald engine it had a habit
of throwing a con. rod through the side of the engine.

I haven't ever heard of that happening, and I've had a Herald 13/60 -
which is the 1296cc engine - for 20 years. Herald engines are noted
for dropping out thrust washers, to rather painfully expensive effect.
Right at the end of Herald production, just for the last year or so,
the 1296cc GE engine was replaced with the GK, which I think is the
Toledo one. Basically identical, but with larger diameter main
bearings, which caused no end of problems. Oddly enough, the Spitfire
1500 is notorious for precisely the same reason.

Ian

Ian wrote:

On 24 Feb, 20:44, (Steve Firth) wrote:
Ian wrote:
On 24 Feb, 13:41, (Steve Firth) wrote:

I had one for several years and loved it at the time. Sadly the engine
is fairly fragile.

Is it the large crank (GK) Herald engine?

I think so but enlarged to 1300cc. Like the Herald engine it had a habit
of throwing a con. rod through the side of the engine.

I haven't ever heard of that happening, and I've had a Herald 13/60 -
which is the 1296cc engine - for 20 years. Herald engines are noted
for dropping out thrust washers, to rather painfully expensive effect.
Right at the end of Herald production, just for the last year or so,
the 1296cc GE engine was replaced with the GK, which I think is the
Toledo one. Basically identical, but with larger diameter main
bearings, which caused no end of problems. Oddly enough, the Spitfire
1500 is notorious for precisely the same reason.

AFAIR the problem is caused by lubrication failures. The big end siezes
and the con rod breaks. I've seen it on both Heralds and Toledos
although looking at Toledos in scrappies in the 1980s it seemed to be
mostly Toledos that suffered from the problem. The first time it
happened to me was when friend took me down the M23 in his Herald. Big
bang, lots of steam and when we stopped on the hard shoulder I looked at
one side of the engine and said "it seems fine here" and he simply
stared at the 9in hole in the block on his side.

Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
I'm considering, if it's possible to find one, getting a Austin (or
Leyland, I think to be more accurate) Princess for my wife. A 2000HL or
2000HLS Princess 2, which I think means circa 1978-1981.

I've seen that there are one or two still about in good shape but they
must be pretty rare now. Anybody seen one? I had one (HCA 100T) when I
was a student in 1992, and loved it. Mind you, that was a long time ago
now.

If she'd prefer a slightly more squashed wedge, bloke at work wants to
sell a very nice TR7 that could almost be described as a "barn find":
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/TR7_27012008

Willy Eckerslyke wrote:
Michael Kilpatrick wrote:

I'm considering, if it's possible to find one, getting a Austin (or
Leyland, I think to be more accurate) Princess for my wife. A 2000HL
or 2000HLS Princess 2, which I think means circa 1978-1981.

I've seen that there are one or two still about in good shape but they
must be pretty rare now. Anybody seen one? I had one (HCA 100T) when I
was a student in 1992, and loved it. Mind you, that was a long time
ago now.


If she'd prefer a slightly more squashed wedge, bloke at work wants to
sell a very nice TR7 that could almost be described as a "barn find":
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/TR7_27012008


Thanks, but it would need to be a 4-seater.

That TR7 looks to be in pretty good shape!

regards

Michael

Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
Willy Eckerslyke wrote:

If she'd prefer a slightly more squashed wedge, bloke at work wants to
sell a very nice TR7 that could almost be described as a "barn find":
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/TR7_27012008


Thanks, but it would need to be a 4-seater.

Aye, it wasn't really a serious suggestion.

That TR7 looks to be in pretty good shape!

I'm just hoping someone else buys it before it starts appealing to me
too much!

Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
I'm considering, if it's possible to find one, getting a Austin (or
Leyland, I think to be more accurate) Princess for my wife. A 2000HL or
2000HLS Princess 2, which I think means circa 1978-1981.

I've seen that there are one or two still about in good shape but they
must be pretty rare now. Anybody seen one? I had one (HCA 100T) when I
was a student in 1992, and loved it. Mind you, that was a long time ago
now.

If you get one, can I have a go in it sometime?

How's the SD1?

Remember David had an Ambassador... I recall that being quite good at
keeping my weight down. Food didn't stay in long in it.

Richard (no classics here, but something big and French on the way soon).