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Jaguar Vanden Plas
The company first appeared
in the United Kingdom in 1906 when Métallurgique
cars were imported with Vanden Plas coachwork.
These were generally admired and in about
1910 Warwick Wright, a British motor company,
purchased the United Kingdom rights to the
Vanden Plas name and established Vanden Plas
(England) Ltd. During World War I the company
became involved in aircraft production and
was bought by the Aircraft Manufacturing Company
based at Hendon, London. In 1917 a new company,
Vanden Plas (1917) Ltd., was formed. The company
seems to have struggled to get back into coachbuilding
and in 1922 went into receivership. The exclusive
UK rights purchase seems also to have gone
as in the early 1920s the Belgian firm was
exhibiting at the London Motor Show alongside
the British company.
Jaguar merged with the
British Motor Corporation in 1966 to form
British Motor Holdings (BMH) which in turn
merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation
to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation
in 1968. This broke up in 1982 and the Vanden
Plas name went with Jaguar Cars. Jaguar was
subsequently acquired by Ford. The North American
rights to the name were also sold on and also
now reside with Ford.
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