Practically Classics Forum

Long way from finished, the purple needs a coat or two more, the brightwork needs applying and the dashboard needs converting from LHD to RHD. I have a finalised plan, I promised myself I'd paint this model only when I was 100% happy with the direction I was going with the car. The model is a 1:43 scale model from Heller and nicely detailed on the whole, Princess kits are pretty hard to come by.

This means then that I'm going for the original Champagne Beige base coat with a 100 Club (Princess special edition) style two-tone in a royal purple, possibly Aconite (full circle on that one, then) and the HL trim level black satin on the C pillars, boot top and door frames. The wheels will be Lotus alloys in the fairer months and original Princess steels in the saltier months. Rear lights will likely be the 100E units I'm polishing and the grille will likely become a black satin or chrome tube full width type that can be swapped out for the original trims if I want to. Bumpers stay and the door handles go beige to blend them into the body. Interior will simply be the really good black velour and vinyl set I already have with the modified purple dash panel, nothing fancy apart from the multicolour crochet seat protectors which again I can remove at will. The original clear glass will receive a light smoke tint, partly for aesthetics but mainly for comfort in the sunnier days because it's a bit of a greenhouse with the clear glass.

In the far future I may have to go onto airbags/hydraulics because the Hydragas system is on borrowed time thanks to nobody producing a compatible new displacer unit for the Princess and a seemingly increasing rate of failure on the units out there at the moment. I'll run the Hydragas for as long as I can but realistically I think it will have to make way for a custom set up just because of parts availability.



On the Xantia front, that's now off the road until I can get some time in at the garage with it to do the clutch. I've been on borrowed time with the clutch for several thousand miles and it is now starting to be difficult to drive. I've got the kit to do it, I just haven't had the free space or time at the garage to get it done and I've not had the funds to farm the job out. Thankfully, I work from home and the garage is only about a mile's walk.


Things are settling out nicely.

The shape and proportions of that model are amazing! When you think how bad many models of minis (as one example) are out there, that's so much more true to its subject than most other BL models. I'm a bit foggy here just now and when I looked at the images, it took me about ten minutes to realise that the "road" in the images is in fact some form of upholstered item of domestic furniture. Isn't it?

Well i'll be ..... Not 1 hour ago , i found that same Heller kit in a cupboard .. Princess 2000 , and I thought of you !!! The tyres are missing I may build it and rob some from a Corgi toy . Lobster has a small model Princess or two on the brown forum https://www.lobsterdiecast.co.uk/?s=princess

Yup, that road is a bit of fabric covered stuff. There's a few bits that aren't quite right, but overall the model is really nicely done. The dashboard is probably the worst bit of detailing on it. Quite a fiddly kit too because they've paid a reasonable attention to scale, going to have fun fitting the gear lever and handbrake which are separate items! The wheels are very close to the size of Corgi ones, I've got a Corgi model too which someone kindly sent to me free a while ago which I also need to repaint as it's seen better days. I probably need to get the tiny Oxford version too, so I have a full compliment of different scale models.

I'm definitely on the look out for more Princess models, I'm almost certain that there's a Majorette or more obscure French manufacturer out there that offers a Princess model that's charmingly crude.

I've done a bit more work on it but not enough to warrant a picture update just yet. Just annoying that the enamel paints take so long to dry between coats, slows me down a lot.

Remember this wee fellah?



WE ARE BACK ON!

Dear sir, please pm when this wee old girl gets up here as I wouldn't mind popping
down to M'boro to look it and the princess over!
There is of course the car meet at the OK Diner on the A19 at Elwick services this
Tuesday if you and your other half are free? Classic and custom cars are a must!

We're currently owning precisely no operational cars of our own. GT6 needs the choke sorting out, Princess needs a lot of welding, Xantia needs a clutch. Customer's '77 Spider is pretty much good to go but I'm not sure they'd appreciate us taking it for joyrides

Totally will make a meet at some point though, we've been looking forward to being in a position to be able to do so.

If anyone asks you why you like classic cars and prefer them to modern cars, show them this picture.



That's us 3.5 hours in to changing the clutch on the Xantia. Driveshafts off, gearbox drained, LHM system disconnected, LHM reservoir removed, LHM pump removed, battery and battery tray removed, air box removed, some other minor items almost removed. We're nearly ready to split and drop the gearbox now. Estimated at 6-8 hours I can see why garages charge so much for this task, it's a pretty tedious one. You can't even see the gearbox for pipes and wiring, this is a rather large problem for the old turbo diesel Citroens and it's exacerbated on newer cars with even more restrictive access.

But at least it allows me to clean the LHM system out which will improve the brakes and the suspension, particularly since after less than a year there's already enough particulates in the fluid to do this to the filters and make the LHM fluid black in the bottom of the reservoir.


If we're really lucky, the degreased components, new clutch and fresh LHM will all go back in tomorrow and I'll have an operational car again. It's more likely we'll get as far as dropping the very heavy gearbox, changing the clutch and going home after suffering some sort of gearbox-finger-squashing injury.

We are in the unit!



Just this little bit of woe to sort.



Collective brain picking time on a starting issue.

Spark - good at all relevant points, experiencing no issues electrically
Fuel - getting as far as the carburettor for definite, carb has been dismantled twice today but nothing is blocked or stuck and the internals are very clean.
Pipes - Same way around as when the car was running last, so they're in the correct order.

So why will the car only run when you blast Easy Start down its neck? Once it's burned up the Easy Start it stops running.

Could the fuel have gone so bad in a few months that it won't ignite? That seems unlikely but I can't see what else might be the issue.

Water in fuel? Also blocked jet rig up tem fuel can and test carb Cheers. Jed