1965 Vanden-Plas Princess 1100
Built by one of the world's most renowned coachbuilders, placed onto a humble family compact. Only in Britain would me make a luxury version of a shopping car!
The Austin 1100 may have sold incredibly well, in fact it sold millions, but it never really set the world of automobiles ablaze. Designed by the same man who design the Mini, Sir Alec Issigonis, the 1100 was but a humble family car built by the British Motor Corporation under the number ADO16, being also unveiled through a number of other different guises, including:
- Austin 1100 and 1300
- Austin America, Glider and Victoria
- Innocenti IM3
- MG 1100 and 1300
- Morris 1100 and 1300
- Riley 1300 and Kestrel
- Vanden Plas Princess 1100 / 1275 / 1300
- Wolseley 1100, 1275, 1300, 11/55 [4] & Wesp
For this particular Vanden Plas Princess, 43,000 of these luxury variants were sold, distinguishable by the sculpted Chrome Nose that was to adorn nearly all of the coachbuilder's products, including an Allegro!
But although not amazingly over the top like other cars of the period such as the Jaguar E-Type and the Mini it intended to compliment, the 1100 did become a bit of a household icon for the average family car, finishing off production in 1974 after being Britain's best selling car year after year.
What replaced it though was less than stellar, that being the Austin Allegro.
In the world of comedy though, the Austin 1100 has become an icon of hilarity, thanks to its feature in the episode of Fawlty Towers called 'Gourmet Night', where the British motor industry's reputation for reliability does Basil Fawlty an injustice, and thus he proceeds to beat the living daylights out of the car with a tree branch, in one of British comedy's most iconic and famous scenes.
1965 Vanden-Plas Princess 1100
Built by one of the world's most renowned coachbuilders, placed onto a humble family compact. Only in Britain would me make a luxury version of a shopping car!
The Austin 1100 may have sold incredibly well, in fact it sold millions, but it never really set the world of automobiles ablaze. Designed by the same man who design the Mini, Sir Alec Issigonis, the 1100 was but a humble family car built by the British Motor Corporation under the number ADO16, being also unveiled through a number of other different guises, including:
- Austin 1100 and 1300
- Austin America, Glider and Victoria
- Innocenti IM3
- MG 1100 and 1300
- Morris 1100 and 1300
- Riley 1300 and Kestrel
- Vanden Plas Princess 1100 / 1275 / 1300
- Wolseley 1100, 1275, 1300, 11/55 [4] & Wesp
For this particular Vanden Plas Princess, 43,000 of these luxury variants were sold, distinguishable by the sculpted Chrome Nose that was to adorn nearly all of the coachbuilder's products, including an Allegro!
But although not amazingly over the top like other cars of the period such as the Jaguar E-Type and the Mini it intended to compliment, the 1100 did become a bit of a household icon for the average family car, finishing off production in 1974 after being Britain's best selling car year after year.
What replaced it though was less than stellar, that being the Austin Allegro.
In the world of comedy though, the Austin 1100 has become an icon of hilarity, thanks to its feature in the episode of Fawlty Towers called 'Gourmet Night', where the British motor industry's reputation for reliability does Basil Fawlty an injustice, and thus he proceeds to beat the living daylights out of the car with a tree branch, in one of British comedy's most iconic and famous scenes.