1973 Vanden Plas Princess 1300

Vanden Plas has a long history of providing high class coachwork on a variety of motor cars stretching back to before the first world war. In 1946 they began a long association with Austin, building a series of luxury Princess models on standard Austin chassis, and eventually becoming a subsidiary of the Longbridge giant. The Princess 1100/1300 model, based on the Austin/Morris 1100/1300, was in production from 1964 to 1974, and featured the finest hides and walnut veneers together with a whole host of extra equipment.

We understand that this motor car, first registered in October 1973, has had only three owners from new, and that it has covered only 31,000 miles in that time. It was last used regularly in 2006, since when some restoration work has been carried out including the fitting of new sill panels, front panel assembly and repair of the rear left hand wheel arch. The brakes have been fully overhauled, including new front discs, pads, caliper pistons, rear brake cylinders, pipework and master cylinder. The cylinder head has been converted to run on unleaded fuel. Externally, the car has had the benefit of a full respray, whilst the interior has the original upholstery, carpets and West of England cloth headlining, which is generally in good condition for the year although there is a small repair to the passenger seat. The dashboard and door cappings have been re-veneered.

The motor car comes with a history file that includes two V5C registration certificates, a V5 document, numerous previous MOT test certificates and road tax discs, and invoices for much of the restoration work done.