Vanden Plas Coachbuilders

Author: Brian Smith, Hardbound, 302 Pages, ISBN: 0901564427, 1st Edition, 1979, EXCELLENT CONDITION

The name Vanden Plas must for ever be linked to that of Bentley and Brian Smith's excellent treatise 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 Bentley. Bentleys with standard Sports bodies, with Boat-tailed 2 seater bodies, with Flexible Saloon bodies, Drop-head Coupes, Limousines, Tourers, they are all here in profusion. In the thirties, Bentleys did not have it quite so much their own way, Alvis and Lagonda, Daimler and Rolls-Royce appear in numbers, but the style always has the sporting flavour. It took World War II 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 manufacturers in their own right, and it is this name that the present day motorist recognises as quality of another era.