The Vanden Plas name comes from a Brussels coachbuilding business founded in 1870 by Guillaume van den Plas and his sons. A British company using the name was set up in 1913, and in 1923 the Fox brothers bought the rights and formed Vanden Plas (England) 1923 Limited, moving to Kingsbury in north London.
Between 1924 and 1931 Vanden Plas built bodies for more than 700 Bentley chassis, including many of the famous vintage Le Mans cars, and in the 1930s it supplied coachwork for Rolls-Royce, Lagonda, Daimler and others. Austin bought the company in 1946 and used it to build the large Princess limousines and saloons, and in 1960 Vanden Plas became a marque in its own right within BMC.
From then on the name meant luxury versions of BMC and British Leyland cars, finished at Kingsbury with walnut veneer, leather and picnic tables: the Vanden Plas Princess 3-litre and 4-litre, the Princess 1100 and 1300, and later the Allegro-based Vanden Plas 1500. The Kingsbury Lane factory closed in November 1979, after which Vanden Plas survived only as a top trim level on Austin, Jaguar and Rover models, last used on a British car with the Rover 75 in the early 2000s.
