Vanden Plas Coachbuilders

The name Vanden Plas must forever be linked to that of Bentley, and Brian Smith's excellent trea¬tise on this famous coachbuilder shows just why. In the vintage section of this book, some other chassis do intrude, but it is almost all pure WO Bentley. Bentleys with standard Sports bodies, with Boat-tailed 2 seater bodies, with Flexible Saloon bodies, Drop-head Coupes, Limousines, Tour¬ers, they are all here in profusion. In the thirties, the Derby Bentleys did not have it quite so much their own way. Alvis and Lagonda, Daimler and Rolls-Royce appear in num¬bers, but the style always has the sporting flavour. It took World War Two to dim the vision of Le Mans, and with the post-war diminishment of wealth, Vanden Plas had to look elsewhere to sell its products. Its association with Austin produced the Princess, and it is with this name that Vanden Plas became motor car manu¬facturers in their own right with the 3 litre Princess and later 1100 / 1300 range, through to the Daimler Series III Double Six and Limousine, and it is this name that motorists recognise as quality of another era. Within the book are also reproduced extracts from the works order books, during the period 1919 to 1947, which allow reference to be made on body number, marque, principle colours, and occasionally registration number and customer.