MEET THE CLUB CHAIRMAN – SIMON HAYES OF THE LEYLAND PRINCESS ENTHUSIASTS’ CLUB

Simon joined the Princess and Ambassador Enthusiasts’ Club “in 2020-ish,” but his interest in the British Leyland ‘Wedge’ began during childhood. He says: “We had one in the family, and I loved its shape. I’d spent ages drawing them and wanting one of my own, but it wasn’t until I saw one on television during lockdown, I decided it was high time I had one!”

And so, in 2020, Simon became the proud custodian of a 1980 Princess 2000 HLS S2 from Inverness that goes by the nom-de-Wedge of ‘Lisa’. At that time: “Our predecessors announced they could no longer find the time to run the club. I thought it would be a terrible shame to have it fold, so I set about creating a group to help”.

As the Club’s chairman, Simon’s ambitions are: “For the club to grow as much as possible. One challenge is that survivors are very few and far between, and body panels are very hard to come by. I would like every Wedge owner to be a paid member of the Club. In that way, we can secure more spares to keep them going and investigate their re-manufacture. Because of the few survivors, our members are spread all over the country, which means getting them together for events can be difficult. I’m hoping next year’s 50th celebrations will encourage more out of the woodwork!”

A further issue with the Wedge, as with so many products of the British Leyland empire, is various myths and folktales. The reality was that The Telegraph thought the original Wolseley of 1975 was “Britain’s answer to the Citroën CX”, and Motor Sport believed it was “the finest car to come out of British Leyland since the XJ6.” Even Car magazine, who could be incredibly rude about certain vehicles, thought the Princess, “Good but more for the older man”. Yet, BL’s disastrous corporate image did much to undermine the Wedge’s potential, and Simon finds: “People genuinely seem surprised when they see one - it’s almost like they’ve forgotten they existed. When current, they had a terrible reputation, which is the main reason so few survive - by the 1980s, it looked terribly dated. But fashions have changed, and now it’s seen as quite cool. We get lots of positive comments now at shows. Oddly, the most common one is being asked by men in their 40s whose parents had one if they can open and close the doors to remind them of the noise!”

We could add that some men in their 50s immediately associate the Wedge with Terry Scott announcing: “Hello, June – I’m home!”. More importantly, Simon and everyone in the club has devoted so much time to preserving a car that was misunderstood for too long. And “not the car for Mr Average” -

With thanks to: Simon Hayes for his time and permission to use this photo.