I had to watch this again after a couple of years because it features one of the best, most original, Princess Rs that I’ve seen. Beautiful patina that tells a story of enjoyment and care. What a gem.
I once owned RAN 77E for a number of years, using it as a daily runabout whilst my Buick was in warm storage, when i advertised it for sale Quentin Willsons brother had a keen interest in purchasing it, i ended up selling it to an old mate who lived in the same street here in Hartley Wintney, he kept it again for years, re painting it to its correct colour you see here.I remember RAN 77E as a kid on my paper round, sitting on the owner Mr Blackabys driveway
Thanks for the nostalgia trip. My dad had a two-tone green Vanden Plas Princess in the early 70's, I remember the smell of all that grey leather and the rumble of that big engine. Of course it rusted away in a few years, he replaced it with a Triumph 2000 in ice blue. I honestly thought he'd bought a spaceship.
Great to see a car like this preserved. Makes me grateful how much cars have evolved. These cars were lucky to get 10 miles per gallon and when driving were lucky to get within a meter of where you were wanting to go. Even in their day side valves were out even when it was the exhaust only. Nice to travel in as long as a petrol pump was nearby. The height of luxury in their day.
my dad used one as a daily driver for years, it did a lot better than 10 to the gallon... well unless you gave it some in which case it would happily drink fuel while propelling you dont the road at a great rate.
Could have bought a mint one owner of these in a car auction in the mid 70’s for £60. The bidders laughed at the guy for bidding on it! If only we’d known. That same night a Lotus Cortina was sold for £80. If only...... 😪
was at ashford auctions in the seventies and a gypsy bought a rolls royce for towing his caravan and when he drove off he had the biggest grin and waved at everybody one happy buyer .....
Isn't it a pity that all these wonderful old cars were not rustproofed properly,all vehicles from that era and from all manufactures suffered from the dreaded corrosion problem,my dad bought a new Ford Corsair 1500 in 1965 and in less than 5years it had rusted through the rear chassis legs and the front flitch plates where the McPherson Struts mounted,not a day passes when I don't long for the uncomplicated vehicles of yesteryear instead of the computer muck of today.
@@marklittler784 Yes they do. WHAT a tragedy that these beautiful old girls didnt have them otherwise there would be more about now. My first car was a 1969 Austin 1800. Ten years old and rotten as a pear. My current car is a 1997 Primera GX manual. Bought new by my late father that year. Still very little rust and has just passed its mot with just 2 new indicator bulbs needed. Not bad for a 22 year old car.
That colour scheme is reminiscent of the livery used on the streamliner passenger trains of the former Northern Pacific Railroad that served the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest of the U.S., that later became Burlington Northern, then BNSF Railway. It's a rather striking and pleasing combination.
As a boy I adored my uncle's Victor -unsure of the year - in black on silver. I think it was the beginning of a rift, as our neighbour owned a Ford Zephyr Zodiac, my dad a blood red Zephyr, and Mum, well a green PA Velox and then a green Cresta. So I can't argue with anyone about whether or not this Ford is better than that Holden vs this Chev - I've got my own demons to battle. Ain't no garage big enough......
We’ve raced loads of these over the years as they were plentiful then but now my brother restores them and you can still locate spares quit easily over the internet
Known as the poor man’s Rolls Royce back in the day! My dad had a few of the earlier 3litre model with the different rear lights. Nice example that, thanks for the memory..👍
Your dad was lucky to own the 3 litre version, because I can assure you they were the better car. When the 4 litre R came out it was beset with problems which BMC eventually sorted out but never recovered from, so the sales and production run was much shorter than it should have been, which was a pity because it had great potential.
Breathtakingly beautiful. My family had at least two of these during the 1960's, 70's and early 80's. In my opinion, the next best thing to riding in a Rolls. Rust their only bug bear.
True. My mother had 3 over 4 years and they were lovely cars to tide in. But yes, they rusted and the brakes could be trouble. I'd still have one though, if I could find a good one. Nearly as good as my father's Cloud III and then Silver Shadow.
+M Scott its a lovely looking car . very stylish and distinctive . as an example of its type it looks great . it was the design flaw new that was the issue not what it is now . if your of an age to remember them new as i am you dont see them through the rose tints that collectors see them now . these interiors are of a period not to be repeated .
I had a Wolseley 6/110 and almost free of rust but one wing should have been replaced must have done a good job as no visable rust all the 14 years i owned it! and reliable.
The trouble with these cars is that they were totally out of date when launched. It would have made a reasonable car in 1951, but 1967? When you could have a Mk2 Jag or a Rover P5/P6?
Yeah but it's a gentleman's carriage. Pipe & Slippers and all that. A lot of English cars were slow to develop the latest design ethos in the sixties, outside Ford and Vauxhall, and maybe the Rover P6.
My friend's father had one of these in the late 1960's. It had a Rolls Royce engine and it felt just like travelling in a Rolls. It was really quite too, so this one must have a leaking exhaust.
I have two of these RR engines and I am Supercharging one, fitting a Manual 5 speed Tremec, Ford 9" rear end, Jag XJS complete front end with Rack & Pinion / into a stripped out Princess, will be used as fun club sporting event vehicle. I purchased the Princess as a stripped out vehicle, excellent body no rust, apparently a previous owner was in the process of fitting a V/8, at this stage I have to have a flywheel made, the Bellhousing lends itself to an easy as said gearbox adaption, why am I doing it? Because I can and I believe the engine needs to be shown for what it could have been 'A Sleeper Engine with far more performance potential in it then most folk can imagine, better made with a tougher bottom end and much better oiling system then any XK type 6 cyl Jag Enginel ' It Revs and it breathes. This engine deserved to be fitted to something special rather then an old design rough riding Buck Jumping Healey. The Princess I have , I would prefer to fit the Engine to something else however I think with the weight out of the Princess and the puffed 4.0 litre Alloy RR engine which is far lighter then any C series engine or XK engine, it will go very well.
Terry Handley my brother is just finishing off restoring a 3 litre VDP and also has an A99 which is mint - we had loads of 4 litre and 3 litres VDP over the years and they are a sound car
Beautiful car in every respect, but I would be very nervous about driving or parking it around the city. Far more idiots behind the wheel these days than in 1967 !
One of these typical British cars that gave the British motor industry her good reputation before the BL disaster kicked in. Simple, solid, stylish. Big torqy lump of cast iron under the bonnet. Bullit proof Borg Warner 3 speed automatic. Somewhat dated styling, with pressed Sheffield steel sheets. Still with several lubrication points. And a lot of leather and wood inside. But the competition was Rover, Jaguar, and Bentley; even in the UK. Wpuld I have bought this? Maybe, but probably would have went German; a Mercedes W108 220 SE. Same quality, same price range, but more advanced.
My brother had an old English white vdp in the 70’s , he also had a sunbeam alpine , but sadly champagne taste light ale money meant they were lemons not peaches.
Its so easy to forget but BMC was not the only show in town there was also Rootes and Chrysler making cars in Britain. My dad had an imp sports which had the same braking system as the van den plas and was the first car I drove and would do its 0 to 60 in unde 12 secs.
British cars are backward insofar as tinted windows go. Tinted glass debuted on american cars as way back as 1949, having first appeared on the Cadillac. I guess the mostly cloudy and rainy english weather obviates the need for sun and glare relief. But tinted windows add a cool and classy ambience to the car within and without.
Beautiful example. Carefully presented by (see reflection at 1:45, 2:29) James May's adenoidal cousin, and nicely filmed with a potato in glorious 240p.
The Princess would have been great ten years before, but by 1967 it was completely obsolete and people were looking for far more sexy things. The Mercedes W109 was already on the market, including the rocketship 6.3 litre which was launched that year. The BMW 3.0 Si and the Jaguar XJ6 were only one year away. Compared to any of those direct rivals, the Princess looks like a dinosaur on the verge of extinction.
Yes, my pronunciation of ‘Plas’ has always been wrong!....I can’t seem to change my ways of many years for being very British with the way I say the word. Must try harder in future!
The auto box was nothing more then a slush pump. Manual was better and you could specify that you wanted a manual and not an Auto. IN the Southern Hemisphere this engine was a total disaster, as they would over heat and cook the head and sometimes the block. The radiator wasnt desgined for Australian and South African conditions.
Haven't had the first beer for the day have we ? SHOCKING camera work ..... Shaky and as fast as fuck ...... Luckily the car will sell on its merits ..... Not on your selling procedure ...... 😒
13mpg is not much fun, but a stunning car nonetheless, unlike the bloated filth that's made these days. A modern family saloon would make this car seem quite small, i.e. a hideous Mini Clubman which looks like a dead fish on a beach.
@@adwest68 I suspect Rolls-Royce couldn't give those engines away, so they were pleased to do a deal with BMC, or BMH, or whatever they were. Like Amstrad going for 3" disk drives.
@@jackpontiac52 If BMC had made a small Rolls Royce, even with Vanden Plas finishing off the bodywork, it would have been a travesty like the small Volvos made in Holland by DAF. I remember when this came out one of the motoring magazines went into raptures about the inlet-over-exhaust layout, implying it was nearly as good as a twin overhead camshaft hemispheric cylinder head: a master class in special pleading!
Beautiful car, reminds me of a posher Morris Oxford. Please could you get a proper holder for your phone though. I got motion sickness due to camera darting everywhere. I found it hard to focus on anything taking a lot of enjoyment out of the video.
It's not a posher Morris Oxford, but rather a posher Austin Westminster - a size bigger than the Oxford or Cambridge. This one's in good condition, but really they weren't anything much when new. An RR engine gave some distinction but overall the car was a class or 2 below a Jaguar and even more below a Rover P5 or P5B.
My Father designed the Princess Coronet and the "Vanden Plas" and "Princess" Lettering :-) He still has the hand made prototypes he fret sawed out of aluminium sheet, He was with the company to the end, ending up as "Manager of design and engineering development"
Very nice to know this about your father, as a young lad in 1972 I worked at the local garage as apprentice, one of these ,the 4litre R was owned by one of the customers ,a very nice Mr Busby, drove it a few times lovely old car ,they certainly don't make them like this anymore, I know things have to move on but these cars could be worked on without a diagnosis being plugged in and were not covered in sensors waiting to fail ,happy days
Lovely car, one much admired in my youth but never had enough money to buy or run it... shame about the awful camera work though! Rule no.1 in filming is to KEEP THE CAMERA STEADY!
@@taketimeout2share If you were really interested, you'd be in touch with the company talking to them about it, not putting a daft "I've got the dosh" comment on the 3½ years old YT review.
@@bradleyjamesclassics closest to this I owned would be a Fiat 1100 and a C class. This is arguably a size or class larger and that means it's not gonna fall within my buying requirements but you never know where the future takes us.
JJ Woody - thank you Woody....I was planing to ask Steven Spielberg if he needed an assistant so I could learn some skills to keep my RU-vid audience happy. I’m getting better as I used to point the camera at the sky when I first started
It’s rubbish ... awful! Makes me wonder why you eulogised over it so much. Basically an “upmarket Farina” ... Austin Cambridge or Morris Oxford, it sounds awful on tickover. The doors made that nasty “ting” when you opened and closed them, reminiscent of the likes of the old Austin/Morris 1100 models, and this is at odds with the leather trim and wooden door cappings. The “silly” badges stuck on the front wings look just that, as do the ridiculous Union Jack carpets which you describe as patriotic. I doubt whether this was a standard colour scheme at the time of production, so denying its authenticity, and what happened to the coach lines which were on these cars as new? Finally, for a top of the range, large engine model ... no rev counter? hmm 🤔 If anybody buys this then they seriously need to question their sanity
Thank you for that response, Bradley James Classics. I suppose the sarcasm was to be expected, seeing as you would have had no defence mechanism regarding my comment. Anyway, nothing to worry about (on my behalf). You don’t know who I am, or what I do, but I’m sure that the bad press to follow over the next few days will do your business no end of good
Brian Chaston - we had our usual monthly company meeting on Friday at BJC HQ...it gives me particular delight to advise you that you have won our monthly award of ‘Idiot RU-vid comment of the month’.... Your initial comment was the usual boring type that we see daily from your average clueless keyboard warrior and these people always get our stock reply.... However what won you this months award was upping your game and stating ‘you don’t know who I am’.....this has us all in fits of laughter and reminding of an Internet sensation (see link below) Can you kindly let us know where to send your certificate to please?....an email address is fine as it’s possible to send the certificate as a file that you can download and print yourself. I would like to thank you for the laughs you have given us all here at BJC. We think you earned our idiot award with your amazing comment regarding ‘who you are’....we all loved it and have all spoken about all week. Perhaps you can learn some more quips from the video link and possibly get even better? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r0dcv6GKNNw.html
