1961 Vanden Plas Princess 3 Litre Goes for a Drive

today I appear to be driving in someone's rather nice country house drawing-room yes I'm in a vanden plas princess 3-litre this is a 1961 mark 1 vanden plas princess 3-litre rather lovely Pininfarina designed lump of poshness and a beautiful example of badge engineering by BMC in the early 60s as it shared its shell engine running gear with the Austin a ninety nine Westminster and the Woolsey 699 two rather different cars which were rather the same in a funny sort of way but worlds styles individually using different grilles lights bumpers and color schemes to create their own unique take on the same underlying shape let's take a look around each of the three cars in the Pininfarina range got their own unique style thanks to the face that was changed on each car in this particular case got different lights different cowls spotlights horns hidden behind these big white impressive grilles and this very impressive peaked radio is a cow giving quite an imposing her stately grille from the dead on the front it looks kind of like a Volvo 140 from a few years later although the Volvo somehow manages to look friendly and welcoming where it just looks more stately and imposing and a bit like it's looking down on you here under the bonnet you'll find the BMC C Series engine 2912 cc's of glory in a straight-6 format which in this application is badged as a princess engine it's a simple and robust old unit it's a quite heavy engine and with the twinness news over there it will generates 103 horsepower and 157 pound-feet of torque that is good for an or 260 time not these cars are particularly nought-60 cars that will carry this heavy wood and leather Laden beast from naught to 60 in 16 seconds and give it a top speed of 99 miles an hour at the same time giving a respectable ish 21 miles to the gallon visually probably the most defining characteristic of the three bodied cars are these wings so so American so influenced by transatlantic style and rock-and-roll culture it looks a little bit out of place on a car which is aimed squarely so at the top of the market but it's worth styling was in those days all that marks the car at has been a little bit anachronistic and very much of its time it's a wonderful detail and it just looks so good and it just marks these cars out instantly if you're in traffic back in the 60s and you saw these fins moving through traffic towards you you might slow down a bit thinking might be a police Wolsey coming in the way and then we disappointed to find out your bank manager in his vanden plas before we go too much further with this review need to deal with the elephant in the room if I told you this car around chocolate and every car came the freight polar bear I'll get less comments than however I say this name if I say vanden plas vanden plas bond and plus it doesn't matter someone's gonna say I've said it wrong however I have checked this very thoroughly I've checked a number of websites out rates number of books and the most temple of all is rather wonderful I our online website which is a host of beautifully and thoroughly researched information the name vanden plas with flat sounding a's like in the 'no would park and it's hard s like in the word miss is a flemish dutch origin and the company was belgium it's a name it means or not of the pond and so using the flemish dutch belgian pronunciation it is vanden plas any comments saying i've got it wrong will be deleted or answered rudely because that is correct i have checked so there you can tell you're in a quality car it takes two hands to lift the boot up it she's not that heavy but is on quite a nice strong things that stays where you put it but it's not as big as you might imagine because looking at the link those big wings you think it's a really huge boot but really it ends just here it's not that big your your quarks carrying capabilities are severely curtailed by the fact the fuel tank runs full width between the wheel arches so it's a fairly safe location in case the car rear-ended or in some kind of incident but same time it does really kind of limit your your load space area it's nicely crafted throughout on the walls the back the floor everything it's being a VDP it's richly covered in nice stuff one thing it does stun me is this Jack look how tall this is how high-def can check this card to lift off the ground all the ride is fairly soft but it runs it is that soft 1961 car is basically that 50s car underneath there's no light in the boot no nothing else but look how thick this sound-deadening is this is sound deadening in the boot this isn't even you know sound deadening for the interior passenger area just think how thick the sound ending on the carpet is in the passenger area to make this thing a thing of luxury and beauty listen to this that clunk that thump shut that is the mark of quality isn't it that is the real in modern cars everything called perceived quality in cars of this era its actual quality the Farina body BMC cars whether it's the Austin which is up a self-made man who's made some money and wants something pushed to show that he's now the manager his own business the Woolsey which was a bit rakish also the police car and this this is the no even the poor man's rolls-royce this is the rich man's not using his rolls-royce today because they want something smaller car were the absolute best of the best from BMC they're taking on the the posh Rovers they were taking on the big hum both from the roots group that kind of thing expensive top-end vehicles if you're looking at Mercedes e-class BMW 5 but no not even e-cloth the s-class and 7 Series kind of competitors in the market of the day well maybe would be 5 Series because the police use them rather than there always is now I don't know things have become blurred to differentiate the VDP cars from their run-of-the-mill Farina's these had to have the most opulent and impressive interior you could imagine forget touchscreens iPads and interactivity in 1961 luxury meant country house drawing-room unfinished shells were sent from the Cowley production line down to Kingsbury North London where vanden plas were based where they would install their own interiors through all the trimmings and use their own unique paint combinations to give them their own special look and all the trim on the exterior the bright work was unique to these as well now the interior of this car is exceptionally posh from the floor up we've got thick thick carpet which is over far thicker sound-deadening then you find in the other brothers and sister than the range there's this fabulous burl walnut dashboard this is a huge slab of Tremont look how big this is it folds down below as well and the door cappings on all four doors are the same the headlining is this thick felt material giving more sound deadening giving more warmth in winter giving just a lot of air of just quiet comfort and hush and up here in the headlining as well as the very tiny rear view mirror we've got these semi-transparent perspex tinted Sun visors very nice on little chrome II surrounds and of course the seats this is like a semi bench seat fault these two individual arm rests up and you've got a full width seat if you really want to otherwise you've got a big comfortable throwing a chair but you sink into it's no no sporty pretensions and bucket seats here this is just a big slab of deep high-quality leather on I'm gonna say horsehair that's probably not as it is something equally posh though and very deep and comfy and those doors below the wood capping you've got this matching leather door card big door handle and grip and armrests so you could seating position of relaxed comfort only manual windows of course that was the standard in those days big chrome door handle to open the doors do that clunk again and they'll quarter light nice little coarser light just they're very pretty the dash top it's very very slim from the padded area with behind your knuckles down to the gloss itself it does have demystifies in it as well and a little ashtray on the top for your cigars supposed to be a pipe actually I suggest there's a very coachbuilt feel about the way that instruments and the switches are laid out in here and kind of recessed in little panels and things or not in some cases the speedo on the right which goes all the way to 120 is about two three centimetres recessed inside the dashboard and to the left as a matching circle hole which is going amps the oil your radiator temperature and your fuel gauge all just clustered neatly in there looking quite balanced the nice and down to the right of that you've just got a small with one warning light for the brakes to serve on it so I guess if the brake fluid level goes and servo stops working that will flash up SNH is one toggle switch side and headlights at F and F folk and fog front and front flash and I don't know something else in the center everything is just spaced out very much in the way it says I don't need to cluster things together I don't need to group things I've got all the space in the world I'm for this here and this here I don't care that it's that far from anything else it doesn't matter to me because I've got entire tree to live on the Smith clock at the top is an absolute thing at beauty it's a bit Art Deco II this kind of square face with the stretch dr. Gunn cut out for the hands behind the number plane and in the the wood as well it gives it a real 1930s feel really or maybe the early 40s perhaps and below that we've got the chrome fronted Motorola radio looks absolutely stunning and either side of the radio there are the heating and ventilation controls which is it feels quite novel to have down a car of this vintage so you've got your temperature on the left and the direction on the right is said to defrost and hots right now because it's about two degrees outside now we have a big glove box but I need the key to open that so it won't but I will call this the upper T shelf now in the centre we have got I'm sudden unexpected cluster of things heater pull turn off and on panel lights to dim that the wiper Park and in P delay in fast I'm gonna call that the choke out sonic is still quite cold a warning light cigar lighter heavily used and map light so I didn't like somewhere under the dashboard down there and this is an interesting one down here push for overdrive it's a three-speed column change gear shift on this car synchro missional three but overdrive on the top two so technically it's a five-speed gearbox finally down here in the center there's not much else of a column but there is your central tea shelf which is a large square leather-bound centre with rubber edges so if you have a teaspoon each mop it up quickly because they don't spoil leather but the rubber will stop it going to the carpet big enough to hold your thrilly to princess operation handbook China I would suggest is well worth a read and is full of extremely useful facts flashing indicator warning lamp bulb changing here we go let's move on to that right now here is your indicator switch in the center of the steering wheel with a green light that flashes when you're turning and his instructions on how to take that green cover off and change the bulb when it fails interesting steering wheel itself is massive it's an absolute bus wheel of a thing and it's got a semicircular horn ring so we do the whole behind as grilles whoa that's dignified that's like a cruise ship coming in I like that and because the indicators are up here and the lights are over here the only control around the wheel itself is this column change which is towards you and down for first away and up the second away and down for third and then towards you and up for reverse simples as they say and the last control is of course the dip main beam switch which the foot pedal down behind the clutch which I've always thought a slightly crazy and dolf thing to do and the last thing to look at on the dashboard is of course the lower T shelf this cars got a big plastic tray below the main dashboard where you can put mods and assad's is just tall enough for a small cup of tea a dainty cup of tea having a cup and saucer kind of cup that will fit on here so you've got three potential tea shelf areas in this car because it is landed gentry they will need to take tea at some point if you stop at three o'clock in the afternoon there'll be an array of cakes on the run side where if Sanders crusts cut off on the left T in the center that's how they're rolled in the 60s if your push and in my imagination I don't know why this would be but the passenger side has got a little kind of cubby hole in the door pocket the driver side hasn't gosh you sit high in these rear seats the same big hump of that door your system really really high up on this bench I'm surprised how how much altitude I have it's like I'm in the wrist hits of a discovery three or four looking from that kind of grandstand seating thing they have but now I'm in the back seat of a car where I can look over the driver's head virtually lucky the Headroom is impressive so I don't feel like I'm banging my head but it does mean that my knees are bent straight down and so I've not got a crunch or put my knees sitting up in an old position I won't get numb feet or pins and needles on a long drive so it's actually you know surprisingly comfortable and there is a nice armrest here let's turn this into two large comfy seats same lovely creamy blue gray leather again which is nice same big armrest and we've got a little less stigma kated cubby holes in the doors again same is in the front and of course same nice big chrome door handle menu window winders and little carpet do dogs didn't kick the the leather panel and scratch it no seat belts there are quarter lights and it looks like wood but I believe it's actually they thought I perhaps saw something similar ashtrays individually on both seats and up in the top we do have is rather nice art deco you're looking interior lights on both the B posts that is kind of it for the interior of the back it's just a large comfortable place to be and you bring your own entertainment or doesn't that thing grumble into life the old straight-6 e-series does have that kind of rock like quality to it doesn't it real thumping grumble chokes out a bit so it's running a little fast a couple of the quirks of this car the real quirks and possibly copyrighted features column shift and to reverse and because it's got a bench seat sort of the handbrake is down here on the right no power steering so it is quite heavy well it breaks are sharp so it's quite heavy at low speed putting out the car park once we get out onto the road it does lighten up an awful lot I think I notice of loitering a seat but for the simple reason there aren't any we die like men as they say this thing absolutely wafts it's just so quiet and refined in here that super thick underlay under the carpet and sound deadening really does work wonders making this thing just whisper quiet and must have met three-speed gearbox is always throw me a little bit when I'm going through a corners there's a gear I think I should be in a third gear in a five-speed or a six-speed car I'm always thinking I'll hang on should I be in second for this should I hang on in third because it's going to be a lower gear third gear I don't know see that felt too high fell too fast for the second gear I put it into the third felt bit too low gear I just need to say thank you to Sussex classics and cruelly down in in Sussex obviously for the loan of this car for the review today this car is currently for sale there you want to take a look at it check out their website in the link in the description below now we're on the road steering's lightened up a lot it's a certain disconnectedness to it it's cam and PEG steering so it's a little bit wooly to be honest but it does up other advances in the fact as independent front suspension with coil springs although the rear is alive rear axle on half elliptical Leafs so it gives a measure of good control as you corner and things but the same time is that kind of old comfortable waft eNOS from the rear okay three-point turn time visibility is pretty good steering is nice and light we going backwards bizarrely [Music] you can sort of tell why the police were enamored of these in the walls deform so you're wolves a leave form I can't say that word I know it don't pick me up on it it Scott's got such a big imposing presence and even though the nought-60 is 16 seconds that's not slow for the 1960s or the 1950's which was the kind of cars they would have been chasing it just feels rapid and powerful and such a high sitting position you can really see a long way over down the road really so there's a little tear bit canto I think it runs me right now which I can basically see over the roof of it that's quite a tall small car it's a very comfortable thing to drive if you're just gonna relax into these big leather armchairs drape your arm over the armrest and the cards are kind of meanders down the road if you're just letting it flow [Music] I've said this before but I do really like column changes they're really easy to use once you learn them times than any other gearbox really if you go from a four speed to a six speed you have to learn it for a second this is quite unusual car and it does have a manual gearbox because the kind of market this was salt to automatics really were very much the go-to choice because it was a big push car bank managers land in Gentry push probably all the drivers would have gone for the VDP option so it's quite interesting to find third pedal I absolutely love the sound of this car most of all as you're pulling away low revs low gears that kind of rumbling Thunder it says power dignity respect me respect my authoritah that doesn't say that at all that's very different entirely hello as you are pulling out you do have slight limit to the fact that although you've got great visibility around here there's six light or so it's a seven light car because he got caught on lights in all four doors and the rear window this little mirror here is kind of convex oh you're an amazing view on the back window but those little mirrors down there on the front I've said this before so many times I can't stand there I can see literally nothing I could spend all morning getting someone to move them for me and I would still see nothing there absolute pain that's why they call wing mirrors but wing mirrors in their truest form a rubbish what it's not rubbish on this car though are the brakes hold on to something that was barely a DAB on the brakes I didn't expect it to look upon us Lee I was expecting it to just stand there its nose it's got disc brakes on the front and drums on the rear and a big servo you may have noticed under the bonnet when we did the engine look around and this thing absolutely stands on its nose if you hit the brakes hard that being a luxury vehicle of the day they were throwing in what was the latest technology you know that an independent front suspension now the company Vonda Laplace actually dates back to 1898 where it said Belgian coachbuilders they were taken over they were bought out by the English manager Edward Fox in 1923 when the company was about to go under and become a British company then based in Kingsbury in London and after the war in 1946 there are again having slightly troubled times and that was when leonard lord of austin might not from ninety thousand pounds for the company which they accepted and then vanden plas became part of the range so the smell of this thing is just incredible 50s and 60s cars do have their own unique smell it's too young the stuffing they use in the seats and the carpet such a different material and in the wood the leather arts years of leather treatments and wood polish if I go in a National Trust property on wheels so the VDP princess 3-litre ran from 1959 to 1964 this particular car was built in early 1960 apparently and not registered though until 1961 in 1961 there was a facelift which made the car visually almost identical but actually about five centimeters longer and thrown a few more options like air conditioning and the famous picnic tables ever noise thinks of when they think of a abandon class became standard they're not on this car sadly as the BMC Empire emerged into the BL Empire and things moved on it stopped being a company in its own right in the end and became more of a badge it didn't die completely as Jaguars and Damons used it and let's not forget the notable high point of the Allegro VDP from the late 70s which is possibly exactly what's the Belgian originators of the company were dreaming of when they started in 1898 thank you for joining me today driving a very large heavy leather clad wooden paneled slice of rollin opulence it's been a pleasure to be in the wheel of this thing and I hope you've enjoyed watching if you have please hit like please hit subscribe it makes a massive difference to the channel I'll see you again next time in something very different

Channel: furiousdriving

Views: 127,406

Rating: 4.8402367 out of 5

Keywords: VDP, Vanden Plas, BMC, Princess, 3 litre, princess 3 litre, vanden plas 3 litre, Vanden Plas 3 litre, mark 1, mark one, series 1, series one, classic, car, british, old timer, straight 6, straight six, luxury, posh, upmarket, classic car, farina, farina body, car review, review, road test, test drive, blog, vlog, 1961, sixties, 1960s

Id: wh4kTu8_Ffs

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020