The Royale returns

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
Saw an ad. recently for a V.d.Plas Princess,fully restored asking ridiculous money. I'm a total sucker for burr walnut so I had a look. It was the badge engineered Austin 1100,cute,but take away the V.d. Plas bling & it's still a bloody Austin innit it. It also had what is quaintly described as picnic tables in the seat backs. Only useful for a canary's picnic,useless for a BBQ steak,fries,salad & a couple of pints on the side.
Princess not the 1100 tho? Princess was a 2.2 litre, wedge, fukn horrible, still could go round 90 degree terraced street corners in 3rd, no other working class car could do that!

In those days the average super car was eons above the best mass prod car, now it's like every car co has its own super car, but I'm old school, not sure how how to quantify it now but rarity and exclusivity has to come into it, I will never accept a diesel Maserati, and I struggle with with 3.8 petrol, because irrespective of that, current Maserati's look like jutting angled Euroboxes like any other car.

Whoa rant!!!
 

MRichards

Member
Messages
278
"current Maserati's look like jutting angled Euroboxes like any other car. "
I agree. Surely the beancounters at Chrysler can keep their greedy little cost-cutting fingers away from Maserati & stop trying to make a Lego Maserati from cheap Jeep bits ? I characterise them as bars of soap on wheels.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,040
Princess not the 1100 tho? Princess was a 2.2 litre, wedge, fukn horrible, still could go round 90 degree terraced street corners in 3rd, no other working class car could do that!

In those days the average super car was eons above the best mass prod car, now it's like every car co has its own super car, but I'm old school, not sure how how to quantify it now but rarity and exclusivity has to come into it, I will never accept a diesel Maserati, and I struggle with with 3.8 petrol, because irrespective of that, current Maserati's look like jutting angled Euroboxes like any other car.

Whoa rant!!!

Passed my driving test in a Princess.....
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,764
Dad had a 1.7 Princess wedge when they first came out, company car but he had to send it back as he got headaches everytime he drove it, he always felt the bonnet line drew his eyes to right in front of the car which brought on the sickness and headaches. Result though as his boss loved it so they swapped and we got a Silver Mk4 Cortina 2.0S complete with orange and silver stripey seats and black rear panel - we were mega cool in that
 

Oneball

Member
Messages
11,075
Wow. Didn’t know about the picnic tables. Respect for ripping off the Allegro Vanden Plas! Although if they were in the doors, not in the back of the front seats, that makes it all ok, and no patent infringements!

(Fun fact: I once knew a lad who bought a Allegro VDP purely for those tables. He didn’t have picnics in mind though..... He just found them useful for rolling jazz cigarettes. They were in the back, of course, so you couldn’t use them while driving. Safety first!)

Speaking of Allegros, I was looking at an Aston the other day, I get a bit lost on the models but I think it was a DB11 and they seem to have nicked the square steering wheel off the early Allegros.