1965 Vanden Plas Princess 4.0R

In the early 1960s, BMC spent some time talking to Rolls-Royce, in general terms, about merging some of their mutual interests. The only concrete result was that Rolls-Royce developed a special version of their six-cylinder 3,909cc engine for BMC to power their much revised Princess saloon. The new car was the 4-Litre Princess R, and rumours persisted that the R was meant to stand for Royal.

Automatic transmission was standard, the suspension benefitted from a massive new front cross-member, and there was even more attention to sound-deadening. The body shell was changed in many ways; there was a new roof panel offering more headroom, no peaks over the front and rear windows, a more upright rear window and the rear end was smoothed out by eliminating the fins and providing horizontal tail-lamp clusters. Perhaps the most important change however was to the price - which was £1,994, compared with £1,474 for the 3-Litre in the UK market. By 1967, production was down to 200 cars a year resulting in the Princess R being quietly withdrawn from production at the beginning of 1968 after just 6,555 cars were built.

Offered here today is an exceptional one-owner from new Princess 4-Litre R that has benefitted from a thorough 3 year restoration from January 2008. The result is outstanding. The restoration was under the direction of respected experts at The Village Garage, Northants. The car had arrived with them partly dismantled, and with the body having been cut away to expose areas of corrosion. New parts were hard to find, this meant that much of the metal work had to be painstakingly created by hand to achieve a perfect fit. Once satisfied that the body was completely rust free, a healthy coating of "Masons Black' over Grey paint was applied and polished until the highest standard of finish was reached.

New brake lines were fitted along with new shoes and cylinders and a new exhaust system fitted. The shock absorbers were replaced along with new bushes. New tyres were fitted to the freshly painted wheels to complete the finish.The engine bay was stripped of its ancillaries and each item was inspected and refurbished as required. The car was then lightly run in for months to iron out any issues. "CNH 737C' then returned to the Village Garage in March 2011 where new carpets and underlay were fitted. The chrome-work has since benefitted from professional re-chroming at a cost of more than £2,400. The result throughout is faultless.

It is incredibly rare to find a Vanden Plas Princess 4.0 R in such exceptional condition. It is almost impossible to find a car offered for auction with its original buff log book and later V5 document both confirming that there has only been one keeper of the vehicle since its registration in September 1965. Further features of this car include the original un-used spare tyre from 1965 in the boot, the hardbound Owner's Handbook is amongst the history, and the fitment of a fresh high-quality Exide battery with 3 year guarantee meaning she'll start on the button for the new owner to take home from the auction, insurance permitting.