The Austin Princess

Andrew Whyte has sent in this article about the Austin (Vanden Plas) Princess. Written by Bill McCoskey of Maryland, USA, Andrew has added his own comments to it about his own 1963 example. As a 'displaced Englishman' living in Minnesota, I get the feeling the car serves as a little..... no, BIG reminder of Old Blighty!! I really enjoyed reading it and have included it in full.

'In 1947 Sir Herbert Austin purchased Vanden Plas in order to build a luxury car and the Princess Saloon was born. The first two Princesses went to the Queen (then Princess) Elizabeth in 1952 and the last saloon was built in 1957. The Queen subsequently purchased two more Princess saloons because she liked them so much. The limousine version continued to be made until 1968, badged "Vanden Plas Princess" under the Austin company, who marketed the vehicle as their flagship car, ahead of Jaguar and Daimler. As the BMC days came to a close, it was decided to drop this grand old vehicle from the range, and the last one was built in 1968.

The Princess is indeed a collector's dream. Solidly built throughout with simple construction, they weather well, have an interesting history, offer great bang-for-the-buck (low price, terrific looker!), and have excellent resale value.

Only 1500 were ever built. Each one took about four months to hand - build by a small team dedicated to that one car. The frame (chassis) is wood with an aluminium casing which allows for flexibilty and strength, provided you watch for dry rot.

For the technically minded, the 243 cubic inch (about 4 litres) straight six engine runs strong. The design was virtually unchanged from 1938 when it was first used in the Austin 2 Ton and 5 Ton trucks, and later in Bedford trucks and the short lived Bristol CV6. With a single barrel Stromberg DVA 42 carburettor, a well tuned Princess gets about 20 miles to the gallon, not bad for a vehicle that weighs about 3 tons. Eleven quarts of oil are required to keep the engine well lubricated. The whole thing rests on coil springs at the back and leaf springs at the front.

The workings are neither metric or imperial, but whitworth. Fortunately, the technical manual and the owners manual are both available for $75.00 per set, and there is even a showroom brochure for $35.00.

With a 132 inch wheelbase, the Princess was designed for luxurious motoring. The car is only one inch short of 18 feet long and is 6'2" wide and 5'10" high. The rear doors are hinged at the rear to allow graceful entry and egress. Rolling along on 7.5" x 16" tyres, the Princess requires 45 feet to turn around, making it a good car not to take on a rally.

Now this vehicle in particular. All I can find out about it's past is that it was shipped into the USA by an older couple who used it mostly for weekend touring, until the mechanical difficulties with the transmission made it impractical. They donated it to a vocational technical school, where we saw it quite by chance as we drove by one day. It is right hand drive, so it was not built for the US market, which actually suits me fine, because the car is liberally sprinkled with "Made in England" badges, and even has a "bonnet" pull to release the hood catch. It is a thoroughly British vehicle.

The Body number is 10391 and the chassis number is V-DM4-15578.

Other than the transmission problems, the car is in great shape for a 33 year old. Not a spot of rust to be seen, no dry rot that I can find, firing reasonably smoothly now that I have put new spark plugs in. The interior is perfect, apart from a little wear and tear on the driver's seat.

It would appear that the radiator (grille) is not original, and is probably the work of one Bob Swann from Florida. He carried out some very nice restorations of Rolls Royces, and also "converted" some Princesses to Rolls'. Whether we restore the vehicle with it's original Austin radiator is a point of discussion, but is one that needs to be decided fairly soon as there are not many original radiators left. Personally, I think the Rolls-Royce radiator looks good as it is.

Currently our vehicle is missing first and reverse. I am also reliably informed that it has a fourth gear, but I am yet to find it. It is a column mounted manual gearchange and has the most forgiving clutch of any vehicle I have ever driven. A rebuilt transmission has been identified and reserved in Silver Spring, Maryland and should be installed this winter, ready for the spring touring season.

The colour of the interior (light tan) indicates that it is the original interior, though the exterior may have been black at one time, according to a gentleman with whom I was talking who now owns David Hume's old Princess, the one he had while British ambassador in Washington DC. He also owns the Princess that was kept by the British government in the United States, for the exclusive use of the visiting Royal Family and their guests. Our vehicle is upholstered in leather throughout, has the sliding privacy glass between the driver and the rear passenger compartment, and even has a rear window privacy curtain which is drawn by a lever by the driver's seat.

The trunk opens to create a handy picnic table and is large enough to accommodate a good sized wicker hamper and several bottles of rather nice champagne. The spare tyre is kept in a compartment below the trunk area which is accessed by sliding the whole license plate area downwards, between the rear bumper and the car. A pair of jump seats in the passenger area allows additional seating and also conceals the hatch for the twin batteries.

Instrumentation is brief and to the point, laid in a walnut dash. The mileometer shows 15000 miles, whatever that means, and the only other instrumentation shows engine temperature, fuel, oil pressure and amps. The car is started by turning on the ignition key and then pressing a "crank" button, which is quaint. The steering wheel telescopes for chauffeur comfort, but does not have seat belts for chauffeur safety.'

A fascinating read, Andrew. It's good to see an account of one of the more unusual vehicles. If you can help Andrew track down more information about his car or the model in general, click on the link below.