Vanden Plas Princess R

Vanden Plas Princess R (1964-1968)
1967 Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre R
Overview
Manufacturer	BMC
Production	1964–1968
Assembly	Kingsbury, United Kingdom [7] South Africa [7]
Designer	Pininfarina
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size car
Body style	4-door saloon
Layout	FR layout
Related	Austin Westminster Wolseley 6/110
Powertrain
Engine	3.9 L Rolls-Royce IOE I6
Dimensions
Wheelbase	86 in (2,184 mm)[4]
Length	187.75 in (4,769 mm)[3]
Width	68.5 in (1,740 mm)[3]
Height	59 in (1,499 mm)[3]
Chronology
Predecessor	Vanden Plas Princess 3-litre
Successor	None

The Vanden Plas Princess R with its Rolls-Royce all-aluminium 175 bhp engine was announced in August 1964. With an unusually high power to weight ratio the car gave easy cruising at 90+ mph and was capable of 112 mph.

While there were some significant exterior alterations, the big change was under the bonnet where there was a result of more than two years technical collaboration between BMC and Rolls-Royce. The aluminium Rolls-Royce FB60 engine was a short-stroke version of the B series engine: 4, 6 and 8 cylinder units of which more than 30,000 had already been produced.^[8] The 6-cylinder engine weighed only 450 lb (204 kg).^[9] Its cubic capacity was 3.909 litres (239 cu in). Over-square: bore was 95.25 mm (3.8 in), stroke 91.44 mm (3.6 in); with a 7.8:1 compression ratio its output was 175 bhp (130 kW; 177 PS) @4,800 rpm. Twin SU carburettors were fitted. Both block and head were aluminium, tappets were hydraulic self-adjusting operating on overhead inlet and side exhaust valves. The counterbalanced crankshaft ran in seven bearings.^[10]

The 4-litre R was replete with polished walnut fascia padded top and bottom, hide upholstered seats with fully reclinable backs and polished picnic tables for the rear passengers. A new automatic transmission was provided, Borg-Warner model 8, its first use in a British car and Hydrosteer variable ratio power steering accompanied wider tyres. Externally the fog lamps were moved up by the grille, the hindquarters tidied extended and adjusted to look more substantial and the tailfins replaced by small corner-ridges.^[8]

Engine specifications

Pricing

The background to the pricing was that from April 1961 tax relief on company cars was allowed only up to £2,000.^[9]

The new car was priced on a par with the curvaceous Jaguar Mark X (albeit only the manual transmission model of the Jaguar^{[citation needed]}) and 50 per cent more than its apparent predecessor the 3-litre car. It was a major change of market positioning aimed at the growing prestige and executive market in Europe and the United States. However, its close appearance to its predecessor and its pricing (near to that of the Jaguar, which was bigger with a far more advanced chassis design and more prestigious, though itself without a useful market in the United States), doomed it to failure^{[citation needed]}.

• £1,346 (discontinued Vanden Plas Princess Mark II)
• £1,994 Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre R
• £2,022 Jaguar Mark X
• £5,517 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III^[8]

Production

Joint production capacity of 12,000 cars a year was provided, (although actual production was never more than a fraction of this) and final assembly and hand finishing was at the Vanden Plas works in Kingsbury London.

The Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre R remained in production until 1968, just ahead of BMC's merge into British Leyland. 6,687 vehicles were produced at Kingsbury and an additional 312 C.K.D. kits were exported to South Africa bringing total production to 6,999 units.^[7] It was the only mass-produced civilian vehicle from another manufacturer ever to use a Rolls-Royce engine.^[4]