1965 Vanden Plas Princess R

Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | December 11, 2021

Vanden Plas was actually a coachbuilder that was founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1870. A London branch opened in 1913. Multiple iterations of the company existed up after bankruptcies, etc., and eventually the name was bought by Austin in 1946.

Beginning in 1958, Vanden Plas marketed cars as a marque in their own right, and this continued on through about 1968. Later Jaguars used Vanden Plas as a model/trim name. The Princess R was the second-generation model of the Vanden Plas Princess, and it was built from 1964 through 1968.

Power is from a 3.9-liter Rolls-Royce inline-six that made 175 horsepower. Top speed was 112 mph. This badge-engineered Austin cost as much as a Jaguar Mk X when new. So, it didn’t fare all that well. Only 6,999 were built. Footnote: this was the only non-Rolls-Royce production car to use a RR engine. It now has a pre-sale estimate of $11,000-$16,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $16,599.