1972 Vanden Plas Princess 1300

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Here is a low mileage, wonderful Vanden Plas Princess with a beautiful interior of leather seats, walnut dash and walnut picnic tables. The car is also fitted in the back seat for attaching support straps for a child's seat. This car was owned by a gentleman who passed away recently and his son sold me the car; he had owned the car over 30 years and it was his pride and joy. The three-ring binder full of documentation that came with the car proves it!

These Vanden Plas cars are unique to the British motor industry...in many ways, they are ahead of their time in terms of luxury and comfort. They drive extremely smoothly and firm on the road — the ride is like a much bigger and heavier car. These cars get over 35 mpg and can maintain 65 mph on the interstate.

From the February 1998 issue of Classic Cars:
"Who but the British could have dreamed up a car like the Vanden Plas Princess 1100 and 1300? Here was a machine perfect for the social-climbing snobs of suburban Britain, a bizarre luxury car in miniature for a curtain-twitching country obsessed with class and social status....Not only do the seats recline but you can raise them several inches on a chromed handle down by your feet. They have individual fold down armrests and, of course, picnic tables for that impromptu cup of Earl Grey."

An advertising brochure of the day stated:
"In this age of mass production and automation, the Vanden Plas Princess 1300 may come as something of a surprise. A refreshing and pleasant one at that. Because the keynotes throughout this car, are, quite frankly, good taste and unashamed luxury. And if the achievement of these two criteria means that extra time and money have to be spent, we make no apologies.
"You see, much of the work that goes into a Princess 1300 is done by hand. By craftsmen who care about the finished product as much as Henri van den Plas did when he went into business designing and building elegant coachwork a century ago."

This description was written by the previous seller:
"These unique and unusual luxury cars were basically an Austin 1100/1300 steel unitary shell fitted with a motor. They were then transferred to the coach builders Vanden Plas at Kingsbury who completely transformed them into a "baby Rolls Royce" using the finest English leather, walnut and Wilton carpets and special sound deadening material was installed everywhere. The specification includes picnic tables back and front, uprated twin carb version the motor used in the mini, electric clock and courtesy lights, special V.P. grille and wheel trims, arm rests, oil pressure and temp gauges and locking fuel cap."

• 42,800 Miles
• Manual transmission
• 4-cylinder 1300cc engine

Exterior
• Beautiful Harvest Gold paint.
• Two driving lights.
• Rust-free straight body.

Interior
• All leather seats.
• Very good carpets.
• Seat belts.
• Picnic tables.

Suspension
• Hydrolastic suspension.

Engine
• 1300cc carbureted Austin.
• Recently fully serviced.