Vanden Plas (England)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vanden Plas (England)

logo
legal form Limited
founding 1913
resolution 1967
Seat London
Branch Automotive industry

Vanden Plas (England) Ltd. was a British coachbuilder that was also run as an independent car brand at times. When it was founded, the company had ties to the Belgian bodywork manufacturer Van den Plas , but was organizationally and legally independent and outlived the Belgian operation for several decades. After the Second World War , Vanden Plas belonged first to the Austin Motor Company and later to the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and their successors. BMC has been using the name “Vanden Plas” for a few years since the late 1960s as part of badge engineering and finally as a designation for particularly high-quality equipment versions of the common group models.

history

Independent car body construction company

Bentley 3 Liter Vanden Plas Tourer (1925)
Bentley 4 1/4 liter tourer with Vanden Plas body (1936)
Alvis Crested Eagle Drophead Coupé with Vanden Plas body (1933)

Vanden Plas decided on a connection between the Belgian bodywork manufacturer Van den Plas and the British company Théo Masui Ltd., which is active in the same branch . back. Masui ran an automobile workshop in the London borough of Westminster . Van den Plas, a company founded in Brussels in 1870 , manufactured automobile bodies for high-quality chassis at the beginning of the 20th century, now based in Antwerp , for the Belgian manufacturers Minerva and Métallurgique , among others . When Métallurgique began to export vehicles with Van den Plas bodies to Great Britain in 1906, the body manufacturer became known there too. Van den Plas has repeatedly received favorable reviews in the British press. In order to benefit from the reputation of Belgian car bodies, Théo Masui and his business partner Warwick Wright acquired the rights to use the name “Van den Plas” exclusively in Great Britain in 1913. The Théo Masui Ltd. was then established in Vanden Plas (England) Ltd. renamed, the British company using a slightly different spelling of the name.

At the beginning of the First World War , the aircraft manufacturer Aircraft Manufacturing took over Vanden Plas including the personnel and all operational objects. Vanden Plas was involved in the production of aircraft in the following years. When the demand for aircraft subsided, the body shop was spun off . The company was named Vanden Plas (England) Ltd in 1917 . Two years later it resumed the production of automobile bodies , now with production facilities in Hendon . In the next few years, both Vanden Plas (England) and the Belgian company Van den Plas were represented several times side by side at British motor shows. However, there are no indications of a collaboration.

Vanden Plas (England) suffered from considerable economic difficulties in the early 1920s, which ultimately resulted in bankruptcy in 1923. The previous manager Edwin Fox took over the trademark rights together with his brothers Alfred and Frank and founded the company Vanden Plas (England) in 1923 after a management buy-out . The company moved to the Kingsbury district , where it had recently closed the factory Car manufacturer Kingsbury Engineering took over. Thanks to good contacts with the neighboring Bentley plants , Vanden Plas became one of Bentley's preferred body suppliers in the following years. In 1924, 84 bodies were built for Bentley, and by 1931 there were more than 700 bodies. Overall, Vanden Plas dressed more than a quarter of all Bentley models of the era up to 1931. Conversely, Bentley was by far the largest buyer of Vanden Plas bodies in the second half of the 1920s; At the same time, the company produced only a few bodies for chassis from Alfa Romeo , Daimler , Delage and Rolls-Royce .

When Bentley went bankrupt in 1931, Vanden Plas lost its business foundation. However, the management managed to enter into new agreements with various automobile dealers such as Jack Barclay and Warwick Wright in a short period of time. Vanden Plas regularly received larger orders for special bodies from them in the early 1930s. They primarily concerned Alvis and Invicta chassis ; in addition, bodies were also built for Lagonda , Rolls-Royce and again for Bentley, which is now a Rolls-Royce subsidiary. During this time, Vanden Plas built a reputation for exceptional style and high quality build.

During the Second World War , Vanden Plas manufactured aircraft parts for De Havilland .

Subsidiaries of Austin, BMC and successors

After the end of the war, the management, which still consisted of the members of the Fox family, tried to resume body production, but was initially unsuccessful. An agreement with Rolls-Royce surprisingly failed, and there were initially no other orders. In 1946 the company was sold. The Austin Motor Company was looking for a manufacturer for a new upper class model that should be incorporated into the corporate structure. The choice fell on Vanden Plas. The Fox family sold the company to Austin for £ 90,000. When the new owner merged with the Morris Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1952 , Vanden Plas also became part of the new group. Vanden Plas remained a formally independent company within the group until 1967; thereafter it became a mere division ("Division") within the British Leyland Motor Corporation , which in turn had emerged from the BMC through several mergers.

In the Austin and BMC era, Vanden Plas had a changeable position. Initially, the company continued to operate as a mere body manufacturer, later it became its own car brand. In the 1970s, however, the independence disappeared completely, and Vanden Plas became a pawn in the badge engineering policy of the BMC group as a mere label. In 1980 this phase also ended; after that British Leyland and the successor companies Rover and Jaguar only used the term Vanden Plas to denote particularly high-quality equipment variants.

Built at Vanden Plas: Austin Princess IV

Bodywork supplier for Austin

From 1947, Vanden Plas manufactured the Austin A135 Princess , a prestige sedan with a 4.0 liter in-line six-cylinder engine that was available in wheelbases of different lengths. The Princess was the top model in the Austin range and later in the BMC range. Chassis and engines were supplied by Austin. The bodies were standardized; Over the years some details have changed again and again. For the most part, the Vanden Plas bodies took up some stylistic elements from contemporary Rolls-Royce models. The Austin models were much cheaper than the limousines from Crewe.

The direct competitors were the large sedans from Daimler ( DE 27 , DE 36 and Regina ) and Humber ( Imperial ). Some Princess models served as state coaches in the British colonies. By 1959 there were four series of the Princess. After that, the marketing of the vehicle under the brand name Austin ended.

Besides the Princess, Vanden Plas did not manufacture any other bodies. In the Austin era, only a few unique items were created, mainly exhibits.

Independent automobile brand

Standalone model: Vanden Plas 4 Liter R
Badge Engineering: Vanden Plas 1300 (ADO16)
Modified Allegro: Vanden Plas 1500
Not in series production: Vanden Plas version of the ADO71 ("The Wedge")

1960 made the BMC Vanden Plas an independent car brand. Vanden Plas now represented the top within the corporate hierarchy and was responsible for the upper class segment. The model policy was two-pronged. On the one hand, Vanden Plas manufactured a few independent models in the first few years that had no direct counterpart in other brands of the BMC group. At the same time, BMC also marketed conventional mid-range vehicles, which had received a modified radiator grille and high-quality interiors, as Vanden Plas models. These badge engineering models made up the vast majority of Vanden Plas production. After BMC became the British Leyland Motor Company in 1968 , the independent Vanden Plas models ran out immediately; Vanden Plas was now only represented in the area of ​​badge engineering.

The Vanden Plas Princess 4 liter sedan was one of the brand's independent models . It was offered from 1960 and was the successor to the Austin A135 Princess Series IV discontinued in 1959. The model was technically the same as its predecessor, but had a slightly redesigned body. With this model, BMC served the representative limousine segment in the 1960s. It was discontinued after Jaguar and Daimler had also been included in the group through the merger to form BLMC: This enabled BLMC to cover the luxury class market with the more prestigious Daimler sedans. Another model with a certain independence were the Vanden Plas Princess 3 Liter and the Vanden Plas Princess 4 Liter R , which had a body derived from an Austin, but technically had the special features of a six-cylinder engine developed by Rolls-Royce. It was the construction that was intended for use in the Rolls-Royce Rangoon model, which was ultimately not realized . Production of the 4 liter R ended in 1967.

In addition, the name Vanden Plas also appeared in high-priced versions of various high-volume models from the BMC Group and its successors:

  • The Vanden Plas Princess 1100 and Vanden Plas Princess 1300 were luxury versions of the compact vehicle BMC ADO16 developed by Alec Issigonis . This series was sold under almost all group brands, with engine variants and body details often being combined with one another. The Vanden Plas version was positioned above the Wolseley version ( Wolseley 1100 and Wolseley 1300 ) and was the most expensive version of this construction. The Princess had a brand-typical chrome-plated radiator grille with vertical struts and an arrangement of the front lights that attached to the Princess 4 Liter R remembered. In the interior, leather covers for the seats and real wood paneling of the dashboard were part of the standard equipment. The Princess 1100 and 1300 went through all the technical development steps of the ADO16. The last Princess 1300 rolled off the assembly line in 1974. The vehicles are sought-after collector's items today.
  • The Vanden Plas 1500 introduced in 1975 and the 1750 were modifications of the Austin Allegro (BMC ADO67). They replaced the Princess 1100 and 1300. The Vanden Plas version of the Allegro also had its own radiator grille and an interior made of wood and leather. The first two series of the Allegro were available as a Vanden Plas variant. On the occasion of the introduction of the third Allegro series, which had wide bumpers made of black plastic on the outside, a Vanden Plas prototype was developed on this basis; However, the model then no longer went into series production.
  • British Leyland also developed a Vanden Plas version to mark the introduction of the BLMC ADO71 mid-range model, commonly known as "The Wedge" in 1975, which was initially sold as the Austin 1800 and 2200, Morris 1800 and 2200 and Wolseley 2200 with heavily modified front section. However, the car was only created as a prototype and remained a one-off. Series production was not started. Instead, British Leyland discontinued all Austin, Morris and Wolseley versions just six months after the market launch, and in September 1975 presented an outwardly and technically identical unit model that was simply referred to as the Princess . In this way, Van den Plas' former model name became an independent brand in the BLMC Group.
Austin Ambassador Vanden Plas
For the US market: Jaguar Vanden Plas (1990)

Equipment lines

Since 1972, in addition to the Daimler DS420 chauffeur limousine, there has also been a particularly luxurious version of the Daimler Sovereign and Double-Six from the Jaguar XJ series , which were painted and equipped in the Vanden-Plas plant in Kingsbury until 1979. From 1982 these cars were offered in many export markets as Jaguar Vanden Plas. Rover used the name Vanden Plas for luxuriously equipped versions of the SD1 sedan, and at times the Austin Ambassador , the successor to the Princess, was also offered in a Vanden Plas version.

When Jaguar was privatized in 1984, the rights to the name Vanden Plas for Europe were granted to the Austin Rover Group, because they named the top models in their model series with this name. Since Austin Rover had withdrawn from the US market and the Jaguar Vanden Plas had become very popular there, Jaguar was allowed to use the Vanden Plas name for the rest of the world.

While Rover soon abandoned the use of the name, the top-of-the-range Jaguar sedan was called Vanden Plas in North America until 2002. The Jaguar XJ Series II (X300) can be cited as an example, the “Daimler” version of which was sold in the USA as the “X300 Vanden Plas” for licensing reasons. In 2006 the name was revived for the US top model with a naturally aspirated engine.

literature

  • CR: Vanden Plas. A fragment of the past in the modern world of British Leyland . Motorsport Magazine, October 1974, p. 48 ff.
  • Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 .
  • Heiner Stertkamp: Jaguar - The complete chronicle from 1922 to today. 2nd edition, Heel-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89880-337-6 .

Web links

Commons : Vanden Plas Coachwork  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Vanden Plas  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The addition of brackets "(England)" was part of the company name.
  2. ↑ The Bentley factory and the Van den Plas factory were adjacent. See CR: Vanden Plas. A fragment of the past in the modern world of British Leyland . Motorsport Magazine, October 1974, p. 48 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Nick Walker: AZ of British Coachbuilders 1919-1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 177.
  2. ↑ a b c C.R .: Vanden Plas. A fragment of the past in the modern world of British Leyland . Motorsport Magazine, October 1974, p. 48.
  3. ^ A b Nick Walker: AZ of British Coachbuilders 1919-1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 178.
  4. ^ History of Vanden Plas (England) at www.aronline.co.uk (accessed October 6, 29017)
  5. ^ A b Nick Walker: AZ of British Coachbuilders 1919-1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 179.
  6. ↑ Illustration of the prototype of the Vanden-Plas-ADO71