Vanden Plas prototypes
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The coachbuilding firm of Vanden Plas had been purchsed by Austin in 1946, and thus became part of the BMC empire that was created by the merger of Austin and Morris in 1952. Until the end of the 1950s, the factory at Kingsbury in north-west London was chiefly used for the production of Austin's Princess range of large saloons and limousines, whose customers included heads of state and royalty.

Then, in 1958, BMC tried something new. Leonard Lord decided to send a batch of 500 Austin A105s to Kingsbury to be retrimmed to a high standard, and these cars were then marketed as the Austin A105 Vanden Plas. Following favourable press reviews, BMC decided to give the same treatment to its new Farina saloon, and by 1960, had decided to market these cars under the new marque of Vanden Plas Princess. For the following 20 years (until the closure of the factory in 1979), there continued to be at least one Vanden Plas model in the line-up of BMC and its successor companies.

Along the way, consideration was given to producing a Vanden Plas version of virtually every new Austin model. These galleries reveal some of the models that never made it into the showroom, plus some rather special, low-volume factory conversions.

The executive class

This is where it all started in 1959, with a replacement for the 2.6 litre Austin A105 Vanden Plas. Seven years later, a replacement was prepared, but it never got beyond the prototype stage. Enter...

The small saloons

In 1962, a private commission sparked the idea for a plushly appointed version of the Morris 1100. Launched the following year, the car soon won a devoted following in the marketplace. Enter...

The mid-sized saloons

Over a period of 10 years or so, BMC and British Leyland gave serious consideration to producing a mid-range Vanden Plas car, but none of these efforts ever reached the showroom. Enter...

This page was contributed by Declan Berridge

Copyright © 2002 Keith Adams