1965 Vanden Plas Princess 4-Litre 'R' Saloon

• Automatic transmission
• Previous long-term enthusiast family ownership
• An older restoration
• Well maintained

One of Britain's most illustrious coachbuilders, chiefly remembered for its sublime Vintage-era Bentleys, the firm of Vanden Plas was acquired by Austin in 1946 and re-invented as a marque in its own right some years later. From the late 1940s onwards Vanden Plas engaged in bodying top-of-the-line Austins, most notably the A135 Princess Limousine, before marque status arrived for 1960. However, something less grandiose was required in order for Austin to exploit the potential of the esteemed coachbuilder's brand in the much larger owner-driver market, so from 1960 onwards there was a Vanden Plas-badged version of the Austin A99 Westminster: the Princess 3-Litre. Mechanically identical to the Austin A99 and Wolseley 6/99, incomplete cars destined for the Vanden Plas treatment would be despatched from the Cowley factory to the coachbuilder's works in Kingsbury, North London where they were finished to the highest standards, gaining walnut veneer embellishments, special instruments, sumptuous leather trim and extra sound deadening insulation. When the Austin A99 was upgraded to A110 specification in 1961, gaining a longer wheelbase and more power, the Princess followed suit, becoming the 'MkII'.

The next phase of development saw the Princess offered with the six-cylinder Rolls-Royce FB60 engine: a 3,909cc short-stroke variant of that used in the Silver Cloud. Extensive revisions were made to accommodate the Rolls-Royce engine and the new model – known as the Princess 4-Litre R – was most enthusiastically received. Sadly, after the initial enthusiasm wore off, sales slowed to a trickle and only 6,555 cars had been built when the model was withdrawn in 1968.

This restored Princess R previously belonged for a long time to a family of classic car enthusiasts, passing through the hands of various family members while being used sparingly as part of their sizeable collection. The car has been maintained by Penguin Motors of Cambridge and comes with numerous bills relating to its restoration and maintenance together with photographs of the former. MoTs on file date back to 1995 and the car also comes with a V5C document.

The current vendor purchased the car at Bonhams' MPH auction in December 2021 (Lot 46). At that time we described it thus: "An honest car, very well looked after, this handsome Princess R drives very well (the automatic transmission works smoothly) and is the very exemplar of quality motoring." According to our vendor, the car remains in good condition throughout.