Daimler Motor Company

This article is about the British automobile manufacturer. See Daimler for other uses derived from the German engineer and inventor Gottlieb Daimler

Daimler has, since 1896, been the motor car marque of the British Daimler Motor Company, based in Coventry. The company was a subsidairy of BSA from 1910 up until 1960, when it became part of Jaguar and the brand was used for their luxury models. It is now a subsidiary of the Premier Automotive Group, making it part of Ford.

As of 2006, its production is limited to only one model, the Daimler Super Eight.

Origins of name

Confusingly, the name Daimler is used by two completely separate groups of car manufacturers. The history of both companies can be traced back to the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, who patented an engine design in the late 1800s, built (together with Wilhelm Maybach) the first motorcycle in 1885 and the built first 4-wheeled car in 1889. This was the origin of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft ("Daimler Motors Company") which built cars from the 1890s onwards and sold licenses of its designs and patents to others. Gottlieb Daimler died in 1900. To avoid confusion and licensing troubles, the name Mercedes was adopted for the cars built by Daimler itself, in the early 1900s, while the name Daimler was last used for a German built car in 1908.

In 1924, the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft merged with Karl Benz's Benz & Cie. to form the Daimler-Benz car company which built Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks and agreed to remain together until 2000. In 1998 Daimler-Benz took over the Chrysler Corporation to form DaimlerChrysler.

History of the British company

The UK patent rights to the Gottlieb Daimler's engine were purchased in 1893 by Frederick Simms, who formed a new company, the "Daimler Motor Syndicate". In 1896 Simms and Harry Lawson moved into car production in the city of Coventry as the "Daimler Motor Company". From 1910 it was part of the Birmingham BSA company, producing military vehicles as well as cars.

Known as Britain's oldest marque, Daimler became the official transportation of Royalty in 1898, after the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was given a ride on a Daimler by John Scott-Montagu, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. The Royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had, like Daimler, also obtained their name from Germany, but changed this to Windsor during World War I.

Scott-Montagu, as a Member of Parliament, also drove a Daimler into the yard of the British Parliament, the first motorized vehicle to be driven there. Every British monarch from Edward VII to the current Queen have been driven in Daimler limousines although, in 1950, after a transmission failure on the King's car, Rolls-Royce was commissioned as the Royal Primary Carriage, Daimler being reduced to 'second fiddle'.

Since 1907, the fluted radiator grille has been the Daimler marque's distinguishing feature. The company acquired a Knight Engine licence in 1908 to build sleeve valve engines for its automobiles.

In addition to cars, Daimler produced engines for the very first tanks ever built in 1914 (called Little Willie and Big Willie), a scout army vehicle, engines used in planes, ambulances, trucks, and double-decker buses.

In 1930 Daimler took over Lanchester Motor Company, which made Britain's first production car.

During World War II, Daimler production was geared to military vehicles. After that war, Daimler produced the Ferret armoured car, a military reconnaissance vehicle, which has been used by over 36 countries.

Daimler was a proponent of the preselector gearbox. This was used in passenger vehicles and military vehicles.

Sir Bernard Docker was Managing Director of BSA from early in WWII, and married Lady Norah Collins in 1949. It was Lady Norah's third marriage, and she had originally been a successful dance hall hostess, already having married well twice, and already wealthy in her own right. The Lady Norah took an interest in her husbands companies and became a director of Hooper, the coachbuilders.

Lady Docker could see that the Daimler cars, while popular with the royal family, were in danger of becoming an anachronism in the modern world. She took it upon herself to raise the companies profile, but in an extravagant fashion, by producing show cars.

The first was the "Golden Daimler", an opulent touring limousine, in 1952, "Blue Clover, a two door sportsmans coupe, in 1953 the "Silver Flash" based on the 3 litre Regency chassis, and in 1954 "Stardust, redolent of the "Gold Car", but based on the DK400 chassis. At the same time Lady Norah earnt a reputation for having rather poor social graces when under the influence, and she and Sir Bernard were investigated for failing to correctly declare the amount of money taken out of the country on a visit to a Monte Carlo casino. Norah ran up large bills, and presented them to Daimler as business expenses, but some items were disallowed by the Tax Office drawing further attention. The publicity attached to this and other social episodes told on Sir Bernards standing, as some already thought the cars far too opulent and perhaps a little vulgar for austere post war Britain. To compound Sir Bernard's difficulty, the royal family shifted allegiance to Rolls Royce, perhaps influenced by the sort of newspaper coverage Lady Norah was attracting.

In 1951 Jack Sangster had sold Ariel and Triumph Motorcycles to the Birmingham Small Arms group (BSA), and joined their board. The Docker Daimler era was soon to end. By 1956 Sangster was voted in as the new Chairman, defeating Sir Bernard 6 to 3, and he promptly made Edward Turner head of the automotive division. This then included Ariel, Triumph, and BSA motorcycles, as well as Daimler and Carbodies (London Taxicab manufacturers). Turner then designed the Daimler SP250 and Majestic Major, with lightweight hemi head Daimler 2.5 & 4.5 Litre V8 Engines

Some of the most significant vehicles produced by Daimler prior to their acquisition by Jaguar in 1960 were:

1896 First Daimler Vehicle
1926 The Double Six
1936-1953 Straight Eight
1938 - ? Daimler Dingo
1940- ? Daimler Armoured Car
1952-1971 Ferret Scout Car
1954-1958 Daimler Conquest
1959-1968 Daimler Majestic Major
1959-1964 Daimler SP250 (Dart)
1961-1967 Daimler DR450

Jaguar and British Leyland

In 1960, the Daimler name was acquired by Jaguar. The Daimler Majestic Major and the sporty Dart, already in production, were continued for a number of years, using the Daimler V8 engine. These were the last cars not designed by Jaguar to bear the Daimler badge.

The last car to have a Daimler engine was the Model 250 which, apart from a fluted grille, badges and drivetrain was otherwise indistinguishable from a Jaguar Mark II.

Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation, the masters of badge-engineering marques in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings (BMH). Not surprisingly, except for the Daimler DS420 Limousine introduced in 1968 and withdrawn from production in 1992, subsequent vehicles were badge-engineered Jaguars, given a more luxurious finish. For example the Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas was a Jaguar XJ-12 with the Daimler badge and fluted grille and boot handle the only outward differences from the Jaguar.

During that period, Daimler became the predominant double-decker bus manufacturer in England. At the same time, Daimler made trucks and motorhomes.

BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation to give the British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 and the Daimler marque stayed within that organization and its subsequent forms until 1982, at which point Jaguar (and Daimler) went their own way and the Austin Rover Group went the other.

Significant Daimler Models for that period include:

1959-1968 Daimler Majestic
1959-1964 Daimler SP250 (Dart)
1963-1969 Daimler 250
1968-1992 Daimler DS420 Limousine

Jaguar (Ford)

In 1989 the Ford Motor Company took over Jaguar and with it the right to use the Daimler name. In 1992, Daimler stopped production of the DS420 Limousine, the only model car it still produced that was not based upon a Jaguar model. In 1996 Jaguar Cars produced a "Daimler Century" model to celebrate 100 years of motoring.

In spite of the confusions with the name DaimlerChrysler, especially in America (to where very few Daimlers were exported), the name Daimler was still used until 2002. There were rumours of a distinctive Daimler car being planned by Ford, at some undetermined date in the future.

Significant Daimler Models for that period include:

1996 Daimler Century
1996 Daimler Corsica
2002 Daimler Super V8 for HM The Queen

Revival

In July 2005, after a three-year hiatus, a new Daimler, the Super Eight, was presented, with a 4.2 L V8 supercharged engine which produces 291 kW (390 hp) and a torque rating of 533 N·m (393 ft·lbf) at 3500 rpm. It is derived from the Jaguar X350.

2005- Daimler Super Eight

Daimler in the media

The Daimler was a popular British police car in the 1960s and was featured in British films and TV series of that era. During their first Canadian tour, The Beatles rented and drove a Daimler motorhome. A Daimler Limousine was the Queen Mother’s favorite car and, as befitted her position, was typically the car immediately following Her Majesty the Queen’s Rolls Royce, during official events. The funeral of Princess Diana featured a convoy of Daimler DS420 hearses and limousines and a Daimler hearse was used for the Queen Mother’s funeral as well. This is not to mention that the Queen's own car for personal use is a 2002 Daimler V8 Supercharged (based on the MkII XJ).

External links

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