1958 Austin Vanden Plas Princess

Limousine

Chevy 6

Automatic

DM412913

Clear

Gas

1958 Vanden Plas Princess Also known as the Austin Princess. Legal Registration is Austin as That Co. Built The Frame which matches the Vin tag on the firewall. The original cars came with an English truck 6 witl a column shift 4 speed. This has been changed to a Chevy 6 with an automatic and it runs. However as it has been sitting the tires need replacing and brakes need work (also from sitting) but I do start it occasionally and drive it up my rural road to keep it going. The tires hold air! It has a real Rolls Royce Grill and Flying Lady (by the way, price those 2 things alone on ebay and you will be astonished!) I have a Farm History Museum in Lake Isabella and as beautiful as this is it just doesn't match! My loss Your Gain. This also comes with Newly Rechromed Bumpers and extra parts pictured. 0 feedback bidders do not bid. Unless you have a good history, do NOT bid! I will add more pics info during the week but want to get this up tonight. Thanks for looking.On Oct-14-12 at 20:06:00 PDT, seller added the following information: While I am waiting for my other auction to end I will give you a history lesson on the Vanden Plas Company. In the Early years of the Bentley company The Vanden Plas company was the coach builder for Bently and Rolls Royce. That means that they built those beautiful bodies right up until 1942 as that point because of the War with Germany, England was too busy fighting Hitler, to produce many cars so Vanden Plas started building their own cars. The Company did so until about 1966. The last of those models ( 1965-66 ) were the only ones produced with Rolls Royce motors because of the long association with Rolls Royce. There ends the lesson. More later about this particular car.On Oct-14-12 at 23:26:33 PDT, seller added the following information: The Bad : Needs some wood repair as the main body of this old beauty, is hand crafted aluminum over wood, small areas i.e. part of the wood base for the front seat, an area about 6" and the bottom wood on the rear window and finally the screw holes , for the door locks,on both the doors and the body, need to be filled and retapped to tighten the mount for the door lock This all is relatively easy for even a half arsed cabinet maker. The interior door panels need replacement They are entirely flat and another easy chore,The seats are freshly redone done, in grey naga. " try spelling it!" "Oh, that sould be in the next section, the Good section, coming to you tomarrow!" Look for it on ebay, there's free advertising. Buenos Noches. Mark at the Southlake MuseumOn Oct-15-12 at 10:13:58 PDT, seller added the following information: The Good: The body on this fine old limo is nearly flawless ! It has only 2 small dings that I can find, one at the rear 2" and another just behind the door on the same quarter panel. on thr righr side. Both easinumy repairs. The doors need realignment as they both need the interior panels as mentioned earlier also a little tightening of the bolts to adjust, not overly difficult to do as the are easily accessable. After being taken out of service to the Royalty of England, this particular Limo served as a Wedding Car for LA based limo service for 25 years. It comes with a signed California pink, issued in 1988, also a DMV Bill of Sale. as far as I know it has been a 3 owner car. It does not have the original turn signal lights on the car, they are cheap plastic aftermarket marker lights for a camper, but included are two of the correct Lucas lights, 1ft & 1 rear so you can know what to look for in changing them out. It is also missing the bumper guards as the chrome shop they were sent to mistakenly sold them to a Rolls Royce owner, So it goes!Actually I like the look without the bumper guards but, thats my personal take on that issue. I do have one, that I will include. So again you can look for a match. Front and Rear Bumpers are freshly rechromed as well as many of the other parts that will be included in the sale. The trunk lid also had a ding and some rust in the bottom as is is steel, but I am including a replacement fron a 1961 Princess, that is aluminum. Also iincluded in this sale is a Zerox copy of the factory manuals, a rare find indeed. Finally, a tear sheet from an English magazine advertising these fine limos.On Oct-16-12 at 05:51:14 PDT, seller added the following information: The Ugly: She needs a new paint job. The good news is that she had a really thick paint job in the 70's and as any painter will tell you it's easier to remove. The original color was black.Because of the thick paint there is very little rust on the steel components. For those who don't know, the main body is aluminum but the front clip is steel ( fenders & hood ) Also, these cars came with hydro jacks built in on all 4 wheels, so if you had a flat, the car jacks itself up! I haven't tested it but, I imagine since the brakes need work from sitting, this may need attention also. I have tried to be as critical as possible on the condition of this car, any omissions on my part, are not intentional and if I can think of anything else I will post it. Thanks.On Oct-16-12 at 06:23:11 PDT, seller added the following information: P.S. I almost forgot, there are two breaks on the front grill at the very top, that you can't even see but, they will have to be reinforced from the backside, not too difficult, these are stainless steel and spot welded to the grill framework at the top. These are the 4th and 5th from the left side, which means they are loose at the top of the grille allthough they stay in place just fine, they would be easy to replace also, if you wanted perfect, but since RR grills from this era sell for $5,000. I don't know what the pieces go for. Another quick fix would be to add a grill badge that are typical of this era, I do have one from the 84 LA Olympics that I will include.On Oct-16-12 at 14:15:09 PDT, seller added the following information: I talked with Eastwood, we're old friends, and he said I could use "the Good the Bad & the Ugly" Years ago I had an art gallery above his restaurant, the Hog's Breath Inn,in Carmel, Ca. true story... Any way it's about Service for this limo: I also have residual parts from 2 other Princesses so, if you need something for this car later, you can email or call me! In answer to the question, not yet asked, no, I will not include them or sell them sepeately, except to list them on ebay for sale. I will be doing so starting this coming Sunday evening. Kind of like a car dealer, you can get those typically, hard to find parts, easily. Don't think it gets better than that for these rare cars.On Oct-16-12 at 22:09:14 PDT, seller added the following information: Finally, If the $500. deposit through paypal within the 48 hrs required is not recieved,within that time, it will be offered to the second highest bidder . That would be on Tuesday night On Oct-17-12 at 19:53:21 PDT, seller added the following information: Little details that I missed, The headliner is untorn and complete, it hangs down at the top of the windshield due to moisture, also has some wood damage to that area, but would be a simple fix. Because it was set up as a California Limo, a Rear air conditioning unit was installed. A definite plus. The original jump seats were removed, so it has a totally flat floor. The wood trim throughout has been redone, but whoever took them out last broke the corner on two, just need to be reglued and touched up. It has been sitting in the high desert for 2 years effectively solving moisture damage.The wood trim was removed to replace the door panels. In the pics they are not fastened in so look loose as a result. I do have the limo glass devider windows and they go with this sale. Finally, it needs the valve cover gasket replaced as it has a real nice aftermarket aluminum valve cover and they didn't put enough sealant on it. That's all Folks, I hope .