With the rear axle components off at the other half's garage to try and get the displacers free I'm still grounded, but not without stuff to do on the car. Hopefully another Princess won't come up in a breaker's yard next month, having to fork out for parts and spend hours unbolting stuff every month could wear a bit thin, I suspect.
After a tip off from a friend about a Princess in a yard in Liverpool I managed to get a couple of other Princess owners to provide me with a shopping list and head over to get many parts. I had this picture to go off and after speaking to the people at Robcliffe's yard in Huyton, found a bit more out about the car. I deemed it worth the 2 hour journey over providing prices were low enough and parts plentiful.
I thought this was a late '81 but it turns out it was actually a '79 but with a few oddities like the early dashboard with round telltales rather than the expected later one with square telltales as per my '80 and my '81 cars. The photographs I received in addition to the above from the yard were quite flattering and didn't highlight the rot in the floors, doors and wings. I actually ended up putting my fist (with no effort) through the front wing to remove the bumper bolt because it was that rotten, the Russet brown hid the rot remarkably well.
6 hours later of non-stop spannering and I'd managed to strip out almost all of the interior almost single handedly, with assistance removing some of the screws and nuts so the job could go a bit faster. The front door cards, door seals and C pillar trims were in good order and the colour I wanted so they came out.
Very carefully peeled the matching vinyl pillar trims out. There's some minor damage to them but it's hidden by things like the seatbelt boxes so I'm not worried, I just knew it would bug me if the vinyl trims in the HL didn't match the door cards. Wiper arms were removed for another Princess owner's shopping list.
The carpet looked really, really good. Until I got it home, I thought the carpet might have been a replacement but it actually looks like it's an exceptionally good quality original. This will be going in the HL with the tidy but worn carpet in the HL being moved over to the HLS whose carpet is completely shot. I'm not sure what the boot mat is from, it might be an Ambassador one or from another car completely. It's big enough to be trimmed down to fit the HLS boot so it looks a little tidier than having none at all.
The rear seat base was in good order. Fabric is a bit sun faded but it's no worse than the current brown and it's a much firmer seat. It did get rained on a lot and there's some surface dirt to clean off. Unfortunately, the rear seat back couldn't be removed from the car thanks to two completely immovable screws and a lack of suitable power tools and access. I left it, grudgingly, comforted by the knowledge that the fabric and foam on the top of the seat back had become brittle and powdery. I always have a cover on the back seat anyway so a mismatch won't show up and I'll put the better seat back in the darker brown I have back in the car when I swap the interiors over.
Front seats are in exceptional condition and approaching HLS comfort levels. The earlier HL seats are made much nicer somehow, with a tighter fit and a better quality feel to the fabric facings. One seat is very dark because it got absolutely drenched in the downpour as I'd forgotten I'd left it out in the open while I was stripping everything down.
Boot tool tray lid for another Princess owner and really good grab handles for me. I also snagged another pair of rear light cluster covers because I suspect they'll come in.
Early dash with a nice enough Panasonic radio-cassette player. I'll be swapping the wooden section and the time clock over from this with the dash in the HL. Another Princess owner wants the parts of this dash I don't need and they'll take the square telltale dash insert that's currently fitted to the HL. We both end up with the dash we want this way.
This is my favourite thing from the entire haul. It's dirty at the moment but it feels the right size and so much nicer than the Ambassador wheel I've currently got fitted. Leather rimmed (probably) and in very good shape. Really looking forward to getting this fitted.
Many, many spare parts. Miraculously, this car had WORKING bonnet and boot rams so I had to have those. I don't know why there's a single spark plug in with everything, I have no idea where it came from. The gaiter with the metal plate is like new while the one on the HL is torn and tired. It's to prevent exhaust gasses getting in the cabin and since I get the occasional whiff in the HL it made sense to take it and besides, when am I ever going to find another? Only got 10 wheel nut covers as several snapped on removal, this is something they seem to like to do for fun.
Pair of sealed beam lights which are handy as spares, chrome bezels and another pair of plastic headlight trims I don't need but are handy to have. Pair of side repeaters I also don't really need and some unusual square door courtesy lights which I'd at first dismissed as giffer reflectors until we saw the wiring in the doors. Yes, I plan to fit these courtesy lights into the HL's front doors.
Spare wheel with a brand spanking new, still bristly, Arrowspeed tyre. My spare is absolutely ruined and I think the rim has a serious corrosion issue causing it to regularly loose air so this was a properly great find.
As was this! The chrome isn't great in places and it's had spotlights or a badge bar fitted at some point. There's also a bit dent in the front face but most importantly the bumper is actually straight and it should make the front of my car look vastly improved. This made me nearly as happy as the steering wheel. I was going to take the rear bumper off the brown car, but it was getting late, I was getting in the way at the yard as it got pretty hectic with deliveries arriving and cars being squashed (it's a small yard) and I kept having to be shunted out of the way of someone or something so I left it. The rear bumper on the brown car was straight but I reckon the one on my HL is actually slightly better.
For other Princess owners there was a request for a steering column shroud.
A complete rear view with courtesy light.
I ended up accidentally getting a bonus choke cable because at the yard I couldn't figure out how to get it out of the column shroud. Was quite easy once I'd got home and had a cuppa.
Horns for another Princess owner.
Early presumably electric rear wing aerial for another Princess owner.
So there we have it, my massive haul of stuff. This was a very worthy tip off. I didn't get enough time to remove the displacers, the front calipers or the entire nose end of the car. However, I may be getting a friend to collect the nose end for me as where it isn't rotten it's straight and would serve well to to more of the repairs mine needs with minimal fuss. I got an excellent price on this lot, the seats and vinyl trims were practically free, the carpet a tenner... it was all delightfully no-nonsense.
Of note, the yard also currently has a Nissan Bluebird, a very rotten Austin A30/5 and a Mk3 Escort van. They tend to keep the 20+ year old stuff in for a bit longer to give people the chance to raid them for parts. However, they really didn't know what to do with the Princess when it came in and nearly squashed it straight away. I'm really happy they didn't.