DJB has the only VP500 known to be on the road and features as Car of the Month for September 2009.
He brought it to Bl Day on Sunday August 2nd and it was nice to see a working example.
Here is the car's history in his own words:
In April this year, I was googling "Metro Vanden Plas 500" to find some pictures of VP 500s
and I found what I thought was an archived advert for the sale of a VP 500 at Willow Tree Cars in Diss, Norfolk.
So when I looked at the advert, I was amazed to see that it was currently for sale!
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I telephoned the garage and they confirmed it was still for sale so I arranged to visit them the next day.
I got the train to Diss, walked to the garage, test drove the VP 500 and promptly bought it!
Willow Tree Cars never registered the car in their name so it was still a one owner car!
After arranging for the insurance and tax,
I collected the car the following week and drove the 120 miles from Diss to Surrey.
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The history of the car... VP 500 number 406 was sold new by Kitchen Brothers Garage, Diss, Norfolk
to retired driving instructor George Turner from Diss on 9th December 1983
and was allocated registration number A521 LAH.
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Having covered over 68,000 miles by around 1998, sadly the car failed the MOT
and was sold to Willow Tree Cars in Diss.
They did a full service on it in December 1998 at 68,732 miles.
Over the next ten years, Willow Tree Cars kept the car in their workshop or in their car park,
and carried out various works on the car... new wings, new valance, some welding, etc,
and it passed the most recent MOT in September 2008 at 68,735 miles.
When I collected the car, the mileage was 68,741, so in just over ten years, it had only done nine miles!
I've now driven over 750 miles in my VP 500 including to the BL Economy Run in Ropley, Hampshire
and to the BMC/BL day in Peterborough.
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Recently, while the weather's been fine, I've used it daily to do around 15 miles each day.
The MOT is due at the end of September so I'm arranging for that to be done soon.
I've always been interested in VP 500s since my brother-in-law owned one (A267 VGN number 366)
which is now owned by Sean (mgturbo#261) who bought it from Grant (metroboy).
Over the years I've been lucky enough to see over 25 VP 500s and I now know details of 139 of them!
Of those 139, seven still exist with six being on SORN and my one being the only one still on the road!
The Metro Vanden Plas 500 was produced as an exclusive limited edition
to celebrate the build of the 500,000th metro on 15th September 1983.
Launched in October 1983 and building upon the already richly-equipped Metro Vanden Plas,
each VP 500 was finished in black with a gold coachline and 'VP 500' motif each side.
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Wide-rim alloy wheels were fitted with unique 'VP' centre badges
and each VP 500 was individually numbered with the identification number etched on the driver's door glass.
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Inside, the extra special luxury theme continued with 'Biscuit' leather seat facings
along with deep pile rugs over the high quality carpeting.
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Each VP 500 was also supplied with a VP 500 edition number document
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and a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne to complete the unique celebratory specification.
Back to Car of the Month.
