7th Jul 2006, 17:50

I had a Princess 2.2HLS and it was a GREAT CAR. Enormous inside and the BEST seats ever.

The 6 cylinder engine was a piece of cake to work on and had NO TIMING BELT as the engines of the day used TIMING CHAINS.

It was and extended "E" series engine, basically a 4-cylinder Maxi engine with a couple of extra cylinders added.

Alas long departed JMH364W. VERY reliable although not fast, pulled well and would run at 80mph plus all day. handling for FWD was good and it was great on corners. Suffered from a small amount of rust on the back doors, but that was all.

The lack of all of the complicated plumbing, cat, tubes etc. meant that there was a load of room under the bonnet (gas struts held it up, GREAT). The twin SU carbs were a bit fiddly to set up, but no more than usual. The fact that the engine was transverse meant that everything (apart from the exhaust) was visible and easily accessible from the front.

The boot was MASSIVE and would have been a good mass murderers car.

Gas suspension was very reliable and mine never needed topping up. As this was the HLS it was top of the range with tinted windows, wood dash, bronze metallic paint, vinyl roof, rise/recline/tilt seats, power steering, decent radio etc. Apart from a cracked headlamp glass and a failed water pump I had no problems with the car. I always regretted selling it, but I needed an estate for my business.

One of my work colleagues was very scathing when I bought it until he had a ride and preferred it to his BMW (4 times the price. Brilliant over road humps. As I said the seats were the BEST, soft and comfortable unlike the park benches that are passed off as seats in the BMW and Mercs.

If I could get another (sans body rot) I would like one again. sadly the old Leyland rust bug means that they are as rare as hens teeth, still my current Volvo 940SE estate is also a great car...

RIP JMH364W.