IT’S A strange name that is familiar to most and has been used on several motor cars over the years is still being used today on the top of the line Jaguar models in the United States. They are Daimlers in the UK and the rest of the world but it was decided to use the name Vanden Plas in lieu of Daimler to avoid any potential confusion with the Mercedes models of Daimler-Benz. “Of the Pond” is the literal translation of Vanden Plas – actually Plas means any size body of water ranging from a puddle to an ocean – in fact the Dutch translation of “to pee” is “een plas doen” so the plas could mean pee. More confusing is that Vanden Plas is not Dutch, it’s Flemish, and hailing from the part of Belgium that is non French speaking that is close to Holland. Almost all surnames are derived from some noun and usually a profession of some sort but perhaps not in Flemish. Anyway the name Vanden Plas is derived from the Belgium Coach-building firm of Carrosserie Van den Plas which was formed in 1898 by Guillaume Van den Plas and his three sons, Antonine, Henri and Willy. An English subsidiary of the firm was formed in 1913 named Vanden Plas (England).

Vanden Plas Princess

After the first World War however the company gradually foundered and went into receivership in 1923. The name and the goodwill of the English company was acquired by Edwin Fox who was formally a manager at the defunct company. Under Fox and his two brothers the company (now renamed to Vanden Plas England 1923 Limited) prospered and had an enviable reputation for providing coach building services for Bentley and Alvis and also doing work for De Haviland’s emerging aircraft industry. Just as post WWI was unkind to the Belgium Company, WWII was unkind to the English Company and after making a valuable contribution to the second world war effort the immediate post war period saw the company in financial difficulty.

In 1946, sensing an opportunity Leonard Lord of the Austin Company made an offer of £90,000 for the company which was accepted and Vanden Plas became a subsidiary of Austin. After years of being in the low to mid-range motor car business Lord was eager to expand his Austin enterprise into the luxury class and after working successfully with Bentley and Alvis and also providing coachwork for Rolls Royce, Daimler and Lagonda, the Vanden Plas Company were well equipped to design and build the coachwork for Leonard Lord’s new luxury model. This new car, designed around Austin’s new six-cylinder chassis was launched as the Austin A120 Princess. Development of this car steadily followed with the Austin Princess II debuting in 1950 and the Austin Princess III in 1953 and also a long wheel based limousine version which found favor with Royalty both in Britain and overseas.

In an attempt to give these cars greater status the Austin name was dropped and the Princess name was promoted to marque status and the next model was called Princess IV. Sales were reasonable but not exceptional, after all Britain was not fully back on track financially after the effects of the war but as the other luxury car makers were getting their businesses back to normal business the Princess sales started to decline a little. Reacting to this downturn Leonard Lord had an idea and this idea is still working well today, he shipped 500 of his Austin A105’s from Longbridge to his Vanden Plas factory in Kingsbury to have them re-trimmed to coachbuilders standards and marketed these cars as Austin A105 Vanden Plas. It was the first time Lord had used the Vanden Plas name on his vehicles and soon more emphasis was paid to the re-trimming side of the Vanden Plas business. 1960 saw the merger of Austin with the Nuffield Corporation which in turn owned Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley and the resulting company was to be known as BMC.

The re-trimming business continued but now the Vanden Plas name was promoted to marque status and the Princess name demoted to model status. The first car to bear the name was the Vanden Plas Princess 3L which was launched in 1960 and ran until 1964. The limousine was still in production and from 1960 was to be called the Vanden Plas Princess 4L Limousine and was still popular with the Royalty. In fact this limousine gained notoriety after a failed attempt to kidnap Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips when they were riding in one. As for the re-trimming side of the business, it still continued with BMC’s popular 1100 series, this Issigonis/Pininfarina designed motor car was so popular in Britain and Europe it was badged as a Morris, Austin, MG, Riley and Wolseley and now the top of the line Vanden Plas Princess 1100.

I can’t think of any car ever that has been graced with so many names, a testament to a great little motor car. 1964 saw the end of the Princess 3L but was replaced with even greater grandeur, it was the Vanden Plas Princess 4L R and top of the line stuff here, it had Rolls Royce power with the 3,909cc RR F60 engine. This car was a breed apart in its day could outperform most cars with smoothness and comfort to match, a jewel of 1960’s British workmanship. Approximately 7,000 were produced from 1964 to 1968 and most of them are still around, today they have a strong cult following.

BMC became British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966 after the merger with Jaguar and in 1968 BMH was swallowed up by British Leyland which was to be the beginning of the decline, for BL as they were known as; single handedly destroyed the British Motor industry. One of their first of many bad decisions was to render the Vanden Plas Princess R as surplus to requirements even though it was selling quite well. The car was ready for a facelift for sure but that was all. It would be the end of the Vanden Plas marque status for six years  until it was revived but with much less success with the VP 1500 model but the Princess name was never used again. Using the VP name in the re-trimming continued with Austin, Rover and even a Mini using it.

The Vanden Plas trademark is owned by TATA (through Jaguar) for use within the USA and Canada, and as (UK 1133528, E2654481) to MG Rover Group Ltd for use in the rest of the world. It is believed that Nanjing Automotive may have purchased this from MG Rover, however the trademark has not been recorded as reassigned. This is why Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas models are branded as Daimlers in Britain. The last Rover to use the Vanden Plas name was the Rover 75 Vanden Plas, a long wheelbase limousine model.

Whether the Vanden Plas name means anything or not, it doesn’t really matter for most people familiar with the cars bearing the name, it means Top of the Line and deservedly so.

Happy Motoring

You can contact Phil through Leo Lewis at leolewis12@yahoo.com
or PO Box 5691, Oxnard, CA 93031.