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How good was it on the typical bumpy, rough, patchy UK roads compared with a typical suspension?
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Speaking as a child of about 9 years old now, but back in the day, my Dad had a bizarre inclination to support the British motor industry by buying BL/Austin/Austin Rover. We had an Allegro, Maxi, Princess and Mum had two Metros all of which (I think...) had hydragas. As I remember, and from being told, the Maxi and Princess in particular had an excellent ride and were supremely comfortable and handled well. The other cars, less so, though the Metro was chuckable -- i learned to drive in it.
As ever though, BL quality control was variable to say the least, and the hydragas units were prone to leaking leaving a lop sided 'stroke victim' appearance to the cars.
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I owned a Hydrolastic Austin 1300, and a Hydrogas Allegro estate for my sins. Both were comfortable for their day, but if anything felt a little under damped and bouncy. The 1300 lost ride height slowly over a 3 year period and was reinflated to restore height.
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Don't know if it qualifies as a "Hydragas" or whether it had a different name but anyway, I had a Xantia with pumpy uppy suspension. Really good in deep snow as I could temporarily set it on its highest notch to gain ground clearance in drifted sections. It was otherwise fine but used to make me feel odd sometimes when it went about its strange self levelling business.
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It was tried on Minis, where I believe it wasn't very successful.
I had a Maxi, Princess and Ambassador which had either hydrolastic or hydrogas and I thought it worked very well.
Party trick was to make passengers seasick when stationary by applying the handbrake and alternately lifting and dipping the clutch in gear to 'rock' the car.
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Party trick was to make passengers seasick when stationary by applying the handbrake and alternately lifting and dipping the clutch in gear to 'rock' the car.
Reverse gear in the princess was best for this. You could get the back moving up and down by about 2 feet. Almost hopping on the spot!
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Party trick was to make passengers seasick when stationary by applying the handbrake and alternately lifting and dipping the clutch in gear to 'rock' the car.
>>Reverse gear in the princess was best for this. You could get the back moving up and >>down by about 2 feet. Almost hopping on the spot!
I remember this -- great for a laugh...!!! The movement of the thing made it look like one of those blinged up 70's American cars with custom air struts and a joystick...!
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I once had use of a Rover Metro (the facelift version) diesel, when they'd finally sorted out the hydragas. That was fun, very underrated car.
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My Dad had 2 Maxis. One had hydrolastic suspension, the other one had hydragas. Not much difference in them, both had a very choppy ride compared to the Cortinas everyone but my Dad was buying at the time, and terminal understeer.
The Princess was different, it had a very smooth, compliant ride and was impressive compared to the contemporary Granada. Also available with a transversely mounted in line 6 cylinder engine!
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That's it then, Princess is clearly the one to go for! Off I jolly well go then, hunting for my Princess... :D
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Yes indeed. Bag yourself a nice 2200 HLS with a vinyl roof...!
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I wish, seriously. When a Princess does pop up on one of the classifieds sites, it needs some work doing, sometimes major work/restoration. I need a garage, lots of money, more time. Ah well I am in fantasy land tonight anyway.
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There's a bush in the upper link on the front suspension that collapses, causing the car to 'drop'. You used to be able to buy a new link, or the bush for pennies.
The bush is a pig to change, being metal-rubber-metal-rubber-metal. I broke my thumb doing one!
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there is a princess which does an old car drive starting at coventry motor museum every summer, i think its owned by some old guy who bought it new and has looked after it since
sadly his most perfect princess is probably worth less than a valve cap down halfords
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I thought I was old but even I can't remember that! It must have long become old fashioned and outdated.
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I still remember the ride quality of my dad's Princess when I was a kid. It was like a magic carpet, although I seem to remember it rolled a bit.
That was a great car. Acres of room in the back, good ride, very comfy and very reliable.
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My Maxi's got it, its not the best version of it, though, as others have said the Prinnie was by far the nicest ride. The Hydrolastic suspension, especially in the 1100/1300 series, could be very bouncy, especially if it was overcharged, but is far easier to "play" with if things go wrong!
Thats two of us looking for a Princess, then, JC, there is an 1800 for sale at a reasonable price last time I looked, but I want a 2200 and the only decent one of them I've seen is a garage wanting £2995, which is only £1700 over priced!
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There was a black one on eBay a while ago, and I'm pretty sure they are very rare in that colour. Not sure what trim level it had.
The closest thing I've found on sale at the moment is this:
www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C74863/
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There's an owners club:
www.princessandambassador.btinternet.co.uk/
I used to be a member many years ago. I've still got an exhaust front section in my shed.
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The princess was one of BLs finer efforts in car design, and was a great luxo barge of its day. The shape is still strangely effective today. The downside being of course, it was shoddily thrown together.
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The princess was one of BLs finer efforts in car design and was a great luxo barge of its day. The shape is still strangely effective today. The downside being of course it was shoddily thrown together.
Well on paper the Metro looked pretty good, they did actually put a lot of effort into it. But once assembled...oh dear.
Someday I would like to buy a Princess and restore it to perfection. If you want something doing, do it yourself. ;-)
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it was shoddily thrown together.>>
My father had two Princess models - one of them was the only car I've ever come across that produced a rusty hole in the roof.
He also had the Austin 1800 (Land Crab) - all three cars could swallow adults, kids and dogs with great ease, but for styling the Princess's wedge shape was ahead of its time.
Bit like the Austin A90.
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The closest thing I've found on sale at the moment is this: www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C74863/
Thats the one I meant!
Think the black one was a limited edition version, I saw one at a show last year but it looked really shoddy inside, nearly as bad as that 1800 above!
Edited by b308 on 05/01/2010 at 11:49
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There's also this one for them as well, JC, its the one with the overpriced one for sale!
www.leylandprincess.co.uk/leylandprincess_index.htm
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The main problem with Hydragas was that the ride hight depended on the ambient temperature.
It could easily drop an inch on a cold day.
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it was never a problem in the princess
It rode about 3 feet off the ground anyway.
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I had an Austin Ambassador which was a very comfy ride and gripped the road very well albeit with quite a bit of body roll. Swmbo had a metro which was also excellent when the ride height was set correctly and terrible if not.
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Keith
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ride hight depended on the ambient temperature. It could easily drop an inch on a cold day.
I've owned about 10 with H/Gas and never, ever experienced that, nor have I ever seen any reference to it either in the owners manuals, Haynes or elsewhere, the measurements you need to take when setting the ride height only vary by .38" so for it to vary as much as you say would make setting the ride height impossible. Can you refer me to where it states it, as I'm an owner of a car with H/Gas suspension I feel that I should find out more about it!
(Serious question btw, Chris, as my Maxi still has the same ride height as it did in summer!)
Edited by b308 on 05/01/2010 at 14:58
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Having driven 1100s Allegros and minis with Hydragas, it's something you could not like at the time (choppy) and do not miss.
Epic failure. And a pia to maintain if the pipes rusted...as they did...
Edited by madf on 05/01/2010 at 14:59
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I think Hydragas is a pretty good system and it gives smaller cars the feel/ride comfort of a larger one in my opinion.
I've had 3 Hydragas cars and none of them ever leant over - 2 of these cars were/are pushing 30 years old.
The system does lose gas pressure in the spheres leading to a choppy ride however they can be recharged by fitting a schraeder valve to the gas pocket itself thus restoring the ride comfort to when the units were new. On the Allegro the nitrogen in the spheres is 225 psi front and 180 psi rear. This is a new year project for me.
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Thanks for posting your insight into this davidh - when your project is underway I would like to know more, maybe you'll make a forum thread about it somewhere (with lots of pictures)? I assume you have an Allegro, which one?
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Its a lovely beige 1981 1.5L 4 dr. "Speedy" is its name.
Have a look here for more info:-
www.aronline.co.uk/index.htm?ado14hydragasf.htm
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I owned a 1750HL Maxi about 1980 for around a year IIRC. Generally a fine car and a very comfortable if bouncy ride at times.
Down sides were a dashboard full of squeaky things, cured by mounting on closed cell foam. Gearbox was rather whiny unless you were in 5th. Seized master cylinder caused severe brake binding and overheating and the final straw was excess crankshaft end float , damaging the oil seal, which allowed oil to dribble into the clutch housing. Replaced the seal and traded in for a newer 1300 Marina Mk II which was a much, much, much worse car. Need several pages to list everything that was replaced or went wrong or leaked ......
The Renault 18TL which followed had conventional suspension but had a very comfortable ride , perhaps even better than the Maxi, and the most relaxing car I drove for many a year.
Edited by Glaikit Wee Scunner {P} on 06/01/2010 at 17:13
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The Princess and Ambassador do ride really nicely, go for a MK2 Princess (twin headlamp) much more reliable than the older ones, plus they have the more modern O Series lump, avoid the 2200, the 2 litre four pot is much better and if you can find a twin carb one - quicker too. The 2200 drinks fuel.
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