40 YEARS OF THE AUSTIN AMBASSADOR

08 February 2022

With twenty facts to celebrate this memorable car:

  • The original sales copy stated how “Good looks are matched by efficiency” on the new Ambassador.
  • Work commenced in a facelifted ‘Wedge’ in 1980.
  • At one point, BL considered marketing the Ambassador as a Wolseley.
  • The development budget was £29m.
  • The brochure promised “an unmatched concept in motoring at their price”.

Austin Ambassador

  • Although the Austin Ambassador looks similar to the Princess, every external panel aside from the front door outer skins, was altered.
  • The Ambassador was responsible for one of Not The Nine O’Clock News’s best-remembered sketches ––https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-tuY0Z7nQ
  • The Harris Mann Design Studio was responsible for the facelift.
  • The trim levels were l, HL, HLS and Vanden Plas.
  • As befitting a flagship model, the Vanden Plas featured alloy wheels, front fog lamps, a sliding roof, electric front windows, central locking and a radio-cassette player, plus seats “upholstered in a most attractive dapple and crushed velour”.
  • The television sales campaign was ‘different’…

  • A few months later, the TV advertising approach now consisted of Patrick Mower shouting rather a lot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwBpBerLCCs
  • Unlike its predecessor, the Ambassador was not available with the 2.2-litre six-cylinder engine. Instead, your choice of power plant was the 7-litre or 2.0-litre ‘O’ series unit in single carburettor form, with the HLS and Vanden Plas boasting twin SU carburettors.
  • BL never intended the Ambassador to be a sports saloon, as denoted by the ‘econometer’ instead of a tachometer, in the more expensive models.
  • Terry Scott drove a Nautilus Blue example in Terry and June.
  • Car magazine thought their 2.0 HLS test vehicle “one of the best-riding cars in the world”.
  • Autocar found the Ambassador to be exceptional value for money.
  • The VDP was capable of a 104 mph top speed.
  • The last of 43,427 Ambassadors left the factory in November 1983, although sales continued until 1984.
  • And the Ambassador starred one of Britain’s finest pop videos