Totally agree with this commercial: the 18-22 looks gorgeous, especially the Wolseley version, with its vinyl detail outside and the luxurious interior with wood-cladded dashboard and velour upholstery.
My grandfather hat such a car here in Germany, I know that the 2200 HLE was a good car, its not true that Leyland Princess was ugly or bad it was different and ahead of its time!
My Dad had a couple of these.. a 1977 1800HL in that lovley "mustard" yellow.. followed by a later 2200HLS 6 pot ( i learned to drive in)..many happy memories.. I remember . the quiet luxury ride and comfort, and many ahead of it's time engineering etc.... but,sadly..both died of rust,rust and more rust!!,,great cars,,built poorly,,a great shame. A fantastic car (for 4 years at a time anyway...)
The 18/ 22 should have done much better at launch Oct 75 ?. But BL were in one hell of a state then after the Government stepping in to keep it going. Who was going to buy a brand new model from a company that has just been nationalised , nobody was even sure warranty claims or servicing would be honoured.
While I was never a huge fan of Harris Mann's designs I have to admit the 18/22 series and the tr7 were quite eye catching. David Bache's Rover SD1 was also another Leyland era design that I found intriguing. Sadly the Allegro and Metro aren't the eye turners they could have been but the Montego I found was at least exterior wise nice and for the time modern.
A pity it never featured a hatchback from the outset, let alone more potent engines (115 bhp 2.0 O-Series / 140 bhp 2.0 O-Series Turbo, etc). It was also too big and needed to be of similar dimensions / weight to the Simca Alpine.
We never got the 18-22 Series in Canada, But I have a 68 Austin 1800mk II and it is a beautiful car, Unfortunately a friend of mine had a 1978 Austin Marina (morris) and it was pure crap, the lower control arm detached from the body shell!!
Bumpers that fell off, rear springs that broke, gear shifts that came apart in your hand, carbs that disassembled spontaneously, and the rust!! The Canadian market Austin Marina was a rolling ad for everything wrong with British Leyland.
@@eatonjask yes I know but still the pre-leyland BMC AD015-17 still hold a warm spot in my heart. My early years as a driver were all in BMC mini 1100 and 1800 cars. I loved the hydrolastic suspension and Front wheel drive and the 1800 was so sturdy I kept it till about 3 years ago.
