1970 Vanden Plas Princess 1300

[@Barbarapape]

The Vanden Plas models were always the best they could make. With those small chips attended to and a good valet and some tlc on the seats and steering wheel you will have a close to a mint car, far better than the average sample. Some collector will have a car to be proud of. Far better than todays plastic everywhere models.

[@davidbutter7433]

Lovely car ,I remember driving one when worked at the local garage in 1974, when I was 17, remember de waxing the austin/Morris 1100s,1300s when they arrived new from the factory and making up the number plates ,there were so many quality cars around then,humber super snipe ,4ltr r vandenplas Jensen interceptor, rovers jags ,all locally owned by the customers ,even a Austin Healey 3000 ,happy days

[@Barbarapape]

@@davidbutter7433 The cars made then had a classy feel and apperance to them that is sadly lacking today. Today they use far too much low quality plastic that falls apart after only a few years and looks terrible. Who will want to buy them in the future?

[@davidbutter7433]

@@Barbarapape exactly that's so true even the bumpers to day cant withstand a bump because they are plastic,

[@Barbarapape]

@@davidbutter7433 I have a body shop around the corner from me, and most days you see modern cars there minus their plastic bumpers, once they splinter you can only replace them. Plus modern car door panels are so thin that the slighest knock leaves unsightly dents, the dent removers make plenty of money out of them.

[@nygelmiller5293]

​@@BarbarapapeI heard that plastic bumpers can be invisibly welded. I suppose in some cases that IS the case. But if they're splintered you can't. They're just "sacrificial". These are ABS plastic, but there used to be POLYPROPYLENE bumpers, like on the marvellous Morris Ital. Those were flex, being like washing up bowls. So if you scraped another car when parking, you could feel you were touching - but there wasn't any harm dine! And Ford had bumpers on the Sierra where they were backed by a thick dense layer of foam - to cushion anyone unfortunate enough to get hit.

[@1mgvideo]

I owned one of these, a J-reg as this is. I sold it for about £50 for restoration. I've owned 16 classics but never realised their value at the time. What a fool I was!

[@jennydonne8946]

This is a beautiful car

[@nygelmiller5293]

Looks like a perfect car to me!

[@jonriley8342]

When and if I win the lottery I’ll be buying a car from you lol. Beautiful presentation x

[@ianfoster6907]

nice walk around 👍as an owner of one of these cars (not concours by any means 🙂) it makes a nice change to watch a video and not be picking faults out to myself. cars with cover sills fitted, seams filled etc this one stands head and shoulders above the rest and is a credit to the owner 👍

[@Uswesi1527]

Back in 1975 , I and a friend, driven from Lancaster , Lancshire , to Exeter , Devonshire , about 8 hours drive, but it was very comfortable, leg room in the back , surprisingly, was large.

[@Straker1923]

My late aunt had an identical car...even in brown, in 1976, it was K reg, so either '71 or '72? I had a '74 Dolomite in red which was nice too. But I think I would have swapped mine for hers given the chance! haha

[@muckle8]

The automatics on these are better than the manual versions , much smoother to drive and being 4 speed don’t give anything away either - lovely little daily classic or show vehicle/Sunday special

[@nygelmiller5293]

I've just thought how sensational this would look, with different mirrors.(chrome of course) It needs those bullet shaped ones - round would look nice with the round headlights, and round foglightd foglights! foglights@ foglights!

[@vincentl.9469]

i would move the mirrors to the doors -regardless of of whether that's authentic

[@davidhall2327]

Exhaust was leaking/blowing.

[@martinjones12]

Still available??

[@emeraldviking3637]

Previously restored

[@htimsid]

How do you know?

[@richard9444]

I worked on these they where built better

[@vincentl.9469]

the leather seats extra padding inside, wood trim, made it heavier than the standard BMC 1300 . MPG was 30 to 35 , not good for a medium size car

[@richard9444]

@@vincentl.9469 petrol was cheaper then 🤣, wish I had one now

[@golden.lights.twinkle2329]

I'm surprised these weren't painted in a two-tone colour combination. Brown is not a very desirable colour.

[@nygelmiller5293]

Oh, I don't know - I do like it with the lovely contrasting interior. But I would defy anyone to not like the ones in Damask Red. Do you know it? A tarnish red. Looks so good against the chrome! I think there is a rose called that- hence the name of the colour!

[@ObsoleteOddity]

@@nygelmiller5293 yes, my father had the same colour combination as the one shown in this video, but I have seen the damask red and it is absolutely beautiful!

[@gennettor8915]

The most luxurious version of one of the worst cars ever built in Britain.

[@nygelmiller5293]

To Gennetto. Okay then, explain why Britain's best selling car for 10 years was the "worst" Obviously a lot of people didn't think so!

[@gennettor8915]

@@nygelmiller5293 This typical Len Lord piece of rubbish was at the time about all you could get for little money (this one was a bit more expensive model; probably why it survived). But they were so badly built that the survival rate, in view of the enormous production and sales figures, was the lowest of ANY car.

[@ObsoleteOddity]

@@nygelmiller5293 absolutely, my father who is 97, owned one of these in the late 70s and early 80s - and he still talks about it to this day, was the best car he ever had. Even I have very fond memories as a child, sitting in luxurious comfort in the backseat on our travels to London.

[@fenderac3049]

@@gennettor8915 Some people do talk bollocks and you take the biscuit! This car came off the production line at Longbridge as all the 1100/1300's did and the VDP's were then sent down to VDP Kingsbury works in London to be trimmed out. You obviously didn't see Ford Cortina's & Anglia's of that period or Vauxhall HA Viva's and Triumph Heralds of the same period, they virtually rotted as they left the show room and weren't that good a car build wise. It was Fred Connally of Connally leather fame who asked Vanden Plas to make him a luxury version of this car for his own personal transport, this car was shown at the 1963 Motor Show and BMC then decided to put it into production. Oh yes, I had 4 1100/1300 including 2 VDP's from 1968 to 1974 and none of them of them rusted and were extremely reliable cars.

[@vincentl.9469]

@@fenderac3049 you had to keep an eye on the Hydrolastic suspension and subframes. The VDP would have been quieter and smoother esp. in automatic form. average consumption for the 1300 VDP would have been 35 mpg. The styling was great on these - Italian styling. I think like all classics you have to avoid comparing them to modern cars..the wing mirrors look very odd now. I would have put them on the doors - as now