Final Parking Space: 1962 Vanden Plas Princess DM4 Limousine (Potential Race Car)

As the Chief Justice Emeritus of the 24 Hours of Lemons Supreme Court, I consider my most important job to be convincing susceptible race teams that they should compete in vehicles never intended to get anywhere near a race track. Today, you will read the tale of such a vehicle (and the team that was most suited for campaigning it at High Plains Raceway), found in my favorite Denver-area car graveyard.

During the summer of 2023, Colorado Auto & Parts cleared out a nearby storage yard and placed an overwhelming quantity of 1930s-1970s iron in their regular U-Pull yard. There were first-gen Mustangs, 1940s Detroit machinery, Edsels, a 1965 Ford Fairlane Army staff car, a fire truck, you name it. There were classic English cars as well, including a pair of rough but recognizable Austin Princess DM4 limousines.

Meanwhile, Boulder-based Petrosexuals Racing wanted to build a new race car after their V-8-swapped Miata “Trashback” got crashed hard at Road America.

When you hear “V8-swapped Miata” you might assume that means small-block Chevrolet or Ford power. The Petrosexuals did indeed run a red-blooded Detroit pushrod V-8 in their car, but it was a Cadillac High Technology 4.9-liter engine out of a free early-’90s donor car. This combination proved both reliable and fast, despite what HT4100/4500/4900 haters say about this unloved engine, and the “Caddiata” still owns the fastest lap time for any 24 Hours of Lemons car at High Plains Raceway.

They also race a Chrysler Crossfire, which does surprisingly well for an overcomplicated DaimlerChrysler product with scarce parts availability.

Unlike some teams staffed with great fabricators and drivers, the Petrosexuals have an appropriately bizarre sense of humor. When I found out they were looking for a new race build candidate, I suggested that team captain Drew Wilson meet me at CAP to check out the Princesses.

First he took a look at the ’59, which was from the era during which these cars were badged with Princess as the marque (1957 was the final year for Princesses to get Austin badging).

Starting with the 1960 model year, the Princess became a Vanden Plas and stayed that way until the end in 1968.

Drew’s plan was to replace the new race car’s suspension with modern subframe-based hardware and its powertrain with something properly unconventional. Both the ’59 and the ’62 still had their original 4.0-liter Austin straight-six engines, originally designed for use in Austin trucks during the late 1930s.

The ’62 was in rougher condition and would have sold for less money (both cars were available at very reasonable prices), so Drew decided this car looked very promising and began taking measurements.

Much of the structure of a Vanden Plas Princess is wood, which presented certain challenges to the race car builder.

Naturally, the right-hand driver location would have to stay. I think column-shift manuals are excellent for road-racing as well.

After some agonizing, the Petrosexuals decided that the prospect of dealing with a wood-framed body was too daunting and went with a Mercedes-Benz W110 “Fintail” instead.

I must admit that I was slightly disappointed… until I learned about the engine they’d obtained to power this car! Can you identify it?

Sadly, both of the Princesses have been eaten by the crusher by now. At least someone bought a fender from the ’62 before that happened.

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