My British luxury car dream garage would certainly have a fifties Rolls-Royce in it, but it would also have relative obscurities such as a Humber Super Snipe and a Vanden Plas Princess 4-Liter Limousine. If you’ve never heard of a Vanden Plas, that’s OK; all you really need to know is that it was a coachbuilder-turned-BMC nameplate that made luxury cars out of common BMC stock. This 1966 Princess 1100 is just such a car, and it’s for sale on eBay in Henderson, Texas, with an asking price of $10,000 or best offer.
The progression of Vanden Plas from a British coachbuilder to a marque in the BMC range took a few decades, as the cars that Vanden Plas, the coachbuilder, modified for Austin were not given the Vanden Plas badge themselves until 1957. This 1966 4-Litre Princess Limousine is exactly what I’d want in the British luxury car wing of my dream garage (but make mine the same gray as our 1100 feature car).
As stately as the limousine looked, most of the model lineup looked much like other BMC products, such as this 1964 Princess 4-Litre R; it was based on the Austin A110 Westminster but used a six-cylinder engine produced by Rolls-Royce.
The BMC range of compact, front-wheel-drive 1100s was also given the Vanden Plas treatment, and as you can see, they all looked very similar on the outside. This is a 1965 MG 1100.
And this is the Vanden Plas Princess 1100, which was given a “Vanden Plas” grille and driving lights in addition to the luxury touches inside. The Princess 1100 was one of those happy accidents of corporate history. In The Cars of BMC, Graham Robson says:
Fred Connolly, of the famous firm of curriers, asked Vanden Plas to make a special luxury version of [his Morris 1100] for his personal use. The result was such an appealing machine, complete with all the finest hides and wood veneer finish of the larger BMC-based Princess models, that BMC then decided to put such a car into production.
And it was a relative hit, with 16,007 of the Mark I and Mark II models being built between 1963 and 1967; however, I can imagine that only a handful made it to the States. This 1100 was apparently restored in the 1980s, and while it’s a solid car and the leather interior is still in good shape, the “wood is starting to show its age.”
And there’s a lot of it. The Vanden Plas reminds me of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, when Snoopy sticks his nose into Woodstock’s humble wooden birdhouse to find a fully furnished bachelor pad complete with a huge stereo. The little 1100 looks like a bargain Rolls-Royce inside, and I’ll never get over the contradiction.
Beneath the hood, the mechanical specifications mirrored the MG 1100, with a 55-horsepower 1100cc variant of the famed A-Series engine. Somewhere along the way, the engine in this car was replaced by a 1275cc four from an Austin America, although it has two SU HS2 carburetors (the America had a single SU). Unfortunately, the Vanden Plas isn’t running as it should; the seller says that “the car does need its carbs set up and engine looked over as it currently has issue that keep it from driving.” As a man who has gotten a crash course in the vagaries of SU carburetors thanks to a wayward Volvo 1800S purchase, I can say that they are simple but tricky.
The Princess has also been converted to a negative ground electrical system, and aside from the windshield washers and backup lights, “everything…works as it should.”
It’s hard to judge the value of this Princess because it’s probably the only one you’ll ever see in the United States. Ten grand feels like a lot, but if you’re a Vanden Plas fan, or even if you simply know what a Vanden Plas is, maybe it’s worth the cost to be one of the few to have one. After all, that dream garage isn’t going to fill itself.
Related Reading
Cohort Classic: 1966 Vanden Plas Princess 1100 – Peak Issigonis, With Added Contradictions (by Roger Carr)
Cohort Outtake: Vanden Plas Princess 1100 – When Status Came In Small Packages (by Paul N)
Cohort Capsule: Vanden Plas Princess 4-Litre R – International Brougham? (by Perry Shoar)
Curbside Classic: 1965 MG1100 (ADO16) – BMC’s Greatest Hit (by Roger Carr)
Dad had an 1961 Austin 850 (Mini), which he’d have serviced at a “Foreign Cars & Imports” garage. Occasionally, he’d come home with a loaner such as an MG 1100 or Volvo 544 … which Dad said was shaped like a ’48 Ford.
They were all so exotic to me, as I was raised in a Chieftain, and then, a 98.
On the lot were also a Vanden Plas & Wolesley.
I hoped for the day when the loaner would be the the Sunbeam Alpine (with fins), but it never happened.
I have only seen a Vanden Plas interior in a Jaguar, and it was indeed sumptuous. The leather was superb and the wood was not veneer: it was a big old board with holes drilled into it. It was a shame that such an interior was matched to an unreliable car like anything from BL.
Same concept as the early-1950s Nash Rambler–a nicely trimmed small car–but more so.
I understand that positive ground is actually better than negative for technical reasons that I don’t claim to understand, but that’s not how the world went.
Always liked these, the shape is a fundamentally attractive one with just right amount of quirky thrown in.
In 1966 that Vanden Plas version was priced at £926 where as the basic Austin and Morris models were both £644.
The Princess 4-litre R was a hefty £1995, on par with the most expensive Rovers or an uppper midrange Jag.
What a great car – and it’s amazing to see a LHD version.
US sales were undoubtedly very low, but not quite zero. Here’s an amusing ad from a New York dealer: “This car is for the elite… Have your secretary phone for your appointment to see the Princess today…“
Oh boy, can you imagine a New York financier type choosing a Princess over something like a Continental or a Fleetwood? Yeah, right.
Great ad, though, even if it’s overshooting the mark. 🙂
BMC also made a Vanden Plas version of the Allegro, which was inexplicably popular with Japanese collectors in the 90s
In the US, between 1964-1966, the Vanden Plas 1100 was sold badged as the “MG Princess 1100” (all with a manual transmission), the original modified to the extent of MG badges on the trunk lid and hubcaps although it must have been thought that wasn’t getting the message across because in mid-1964 the octagonal symbol was added also to the Vanden Plas grill. The rationale behind this most curious hybrid of ADO16’s many brand-engineered identities was the perception the US market would respond well to a “luxury version” of the basic vehicle (and how the US industry would handle that notion in the next two decades proved the idea was sound) but the “Vanden Plas” name essentially was unknown in the US whereas MG had strong “brand recognition” because of the post-war success of the many roadsters. Thus the MG Princess 1100, introduced in February 1964 at the New York Motor Show but while demand for the sports cars remained strong, BMC shifted a paltry 156 units of the MG Princess and in 1966 the model was withdrawn from the US market.
I do hope you are all aware that the pronunciation is “van den plass”, as the coachbuilders were originally of Belgian origin: it rather shows up one’s lack of breeding if “plah” is employed.
Mr F.E.Bottomley, an important but untitled financier, called upon the financially-embarassed Lord Cholmondely – which name, as we all know, is pronounced “chumley” – and asked the Lord’s butler if he could speak to the Lord, pronouncing the surname it as it looks.
The snooty butler replied huffily “Lord Chumley is not available, sir”, to which Bottomley replied in annoyance “Well, if he ever is, tell ‘im Fred Bumley needs to speak to ‘im!”
I reckon both owned an 1100 VDP as a runabout for the city.
Haha yes, in linguistics the “Vanden Plah” thing is called “hyperforeignism” (an attempt by a speaker to render a word something like they think it should be pronounced in its native land). The most common example is probably the “Moët” in “Moët” & Chandon” being pronounced “mow-EE” or “mow-AY”, suppressing or altering the consonant because to English-speaking ears it sounds “more French”. I don’t know how those for whom English is not a first language would tackle “Balliol College” or “Marquess of Cholmondeley” but plenty of native English speakers would likely also be baffled. At least Vanden Plas is sort of manageable; I’m sure I’d get “Zaporozhets” wrong.
Wow, a DeLuxe “Land Crab”, who knew ? .
At this price, unless it skips out of gear or has rod knocks some one is going to steal it and have mucho fun .
-Nate
A fine small family car for a prosperous family. The Mini was great, but the 1100 was even better IMO. Things went downhill from there …
My great aunt had one of these. Somebody got a lightly used car with a coked up engine when she sold it and gave up driving. Use to drive it in the Glasgow bus lanes in the 70s and yes, stopped behind the bus she was following at every stop it paused at. It really was the worse attempt at ‘putting lipstick on a pig’ by the british motor industry. Management should hang their heads in shame with this one; but probably got huge bonuses and gold plated pensions.