Editing Austin Princess (section)

==Naming==
[[File:Voiture d'apparat Princess de la présidence de Malte.jpg|thumb|State car of the President of Malta]]
The first ''Austin Princess'' A120 was launched in 1947<ref>{{cite news | title=New Austin Cars | newspaper=The Times | date=14 March 1947 | page=6, col G | issue=50709}}</ref> as the most expensive flagship model in the Austin range at the same time as the A110 [[Austin Sheerline]] (designed during the war) which body was built on the same chassis at Longbridge, the A110 produced 10 less horsepower being fitted with a single carburettor. Both cars always had bodies that were massive and heavy in appearance. The Princess (model code A120) featured a body by the coachbuilder [[Vanden Plas]] and was a large [[sedan (car)|saloon]] or [[limousine]]. The car was offered with two distinct interiors. The "DM" or limousine type had a sliding glass partition between the driver and rear passengers plus picnic tables, and the "DS" was the saloon. The saloons were successful as a top-executive car, many Princesses (and Sheerlines, for that matter) were bought for civic ceremonial duties or by hire companies as limousines for hire. The standard saloon weighed almost two tons, was 16&nbsp;ft 9&nbsp;inches long and 6 feet 1¼ inches wide on a 10-foot 1¼-inch (the short) wheelbase.

The Princess model was updated over the years through Mark I (A120), Mark II (A135) and Mark III versions, the largest variation being the introduction of the long-wheelbase version in 1952 with a longer body and seven seats: apart from that the bodywork and running gear hardly changed, nor did the [[Austin D-Series engine|D-Series 4-litre straight-6 engine]]. The radiator was fairly upright in old-fashioned style and the car had separate front wings, but these cars were always more modern in style than the equivalent-sized [[Bentley Mark VI]] or [[Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud]] and, for the saloon, the price was just a little more than two-thirds of the Rolls-Royce.

From August 1957 the Austin part of the badging was dropped so it could be sold by Nuffield dealerships as "Princess". From May 1960, the Vanden Plas name was added in front of "Princess".

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