Description
Selling my Ambassador, good body and mechanics, lovely runner. underneath will need some attention, floor is good but where it meets the sill will need doing, interior very good, dash has some cracking. will be at Pride of Longbridge,
previous owners notes
Ambassador 2. 0 HL in Monza Red. Anecdotally it was the last one to pass new through a dealership before Austin Rover withdrew them. (not the last one built though). This was passed on to me by the former owner without provenance.
What’s been done… Past four years:
Cylinder-head re-engineered with new hardened valve seats and stems, crack tested and checked for warping (none), so obviously it has a new cylinder head gasket with new exhaust and inlet manifold gaskets too. This was NOT cheap work at £670
New coil, new rotor arm, new distributor cap, new HT leads, new plugs, new temperature sender new thermostat. Some NOS, some more recent, but quality parts from various suppliers, NOT imported pattern copies.
The starter motor was professionally rebuilt by a specialist in Borehamwood, think that cost £144
Replacement water-pump NOS.
Replacement speedometer cable from Mac’s Factors.
The fuel tank was removed, purged and repairs made by Newquay Radiators, and at that time I fitted a new fuel pump and internal hose (all E10 proof). The tank repairs cost over £100 pump and hoses were £69. 70
Both carburetors have had genuine Burlen (SU) overhaul kits fitted (£57. 91), and both have had new Burlen (SU) vacuum chambers (£440) The fuel hoses are E10 proof.
All four displacers were replaced by Ian Kennedy, and the system holds pressure perfectly. This cost £820
It has a full set of GSM gas struts to hold the bonnet and hatch open, these too, are relatively new (couple of years or so) and all work perfectly.
Had a new NOS clutch master cylinder fitted 18 months back.
The rear section of the exhaust has rotted away, but I have a NOS rear section (including silencers) which is included in the sale.
What else
One CV/ driveshaft bearing was replaced this year, a second one (new in box) is included in the sale.
4 different DIY repair books included, Haynes, Carbooks, Autodata and the official Austin Rover dealership manual.
Cost shown in BOLD denotes I have receipts for the work done. (I do have plenty of other valid receipts, old MOT certs and a few tax discs too)
All in all, it’s had a huge amount of work done, all the dramatically expensive stuff it out of the way, well over £2500 spent on parts, labour and engineering, just tidying up and some fettling.
Reliability-wise, I have no real concerns. It made it from Lincolnshire to Melton Mowbray easily enough when I bought it. It made it from Melton to Hertfordshire several times a month for a year or more, it took part in the London to Brighton classic car run. it came down to Cornwall on a pick-up, after the hydragas gave out, but since it’s been replaced it’s had us the 600 or more miles to Gaydon, solihull and Stratford and back without any problems. I was using it as a daily driver until I was required to take passengers for work purposes and so now it’s back to being a hobby car.
