Daimler V8

[Strugs]

Just bought this beauty to give to my dad for a well-deserved retirement present..



NBA Sportcars down at Dunsfold have serviced and recommissioned her, and she's now with Winspeed for a bit of specialist attention and then my dad will be on road in her!

A car I've always loved, so I'm hoping I'll get to drive her frequently too!!

[undred orse]

Lovely car. I had one for a while but not as nice as that one. Golden sand? The best colour

I think it was originally registered in Swansea or thereabouts. Any info on the original owner?

[Strugs]

undred orse said:

Lovely car. I had one for a while but not as nice as that one. Golden sand? The best colour

I think it was originally registered in Swansea or thereabouts. Any info on the original owner?

Thank you! She needs a bit of love, but she's a good solid base to start from..

Yep, 'WN' is Swansea and now the 'secret is out' we can start some research on it. There's not much history with the car, but I quite enjoy the detective work!

[lowdrag]

I assume it is an auto since manual O/D cars are hens' teeth. But no matter, a lovely engine and sooo smooth.

[mikey77]

Your lucky father! And you.
I have fond memories of mine - and driving around with the window down just for the sound effects. I even used it as a hack for work at one time. Lovely. Faster than you might think, too...

[TR4man]

That's a lovely gesture for your Dad.

Looks like a Triumph Herald and a Suzuki Whizzkid in the background.

[theadman]

Can you have a word with my kids please?!;)


Love the car - looks quite 'un-messed about with' from the picture which is always the best starting point. Colour is spot on too, particularly with a tan interior. Most in Golden Sand now seem to have red, but the tan is so '60s.

What a great gesture!

[Strugs]

lowdrag said:

I assume it is an auto since manual O/D cars are hens' teeth. But no matter, a lovely engine and sooo smooth.

Yep, it's an auto. Would have preferred a manual personally, but definitely better for dad as an auto.

mikey77 said:

Your lucky father! And you.
I have fond memories of mine - and driving around with the window down just for the sound effects. I even used it as a hack for work at one time. Lovely. Faster than you might think, too...

This one has a relatively recent replacement stainless exhaust and she sounds amazing.. And, yes - she really does go rather well! I've put about 60 miles on her between buying her and giving her to dad and every trip left me with a massive grin. I'm amazed how short the gearing is, though - for ages I thought she wasn't dropping into top but no, all is well.. I've read elsewhere that 70mph is about 4k rpm! Methinks we'll be staying off the motorways!

[Strugs]

TR4man said:

That's a lovely gesture for your Dad.

Looks like a Triumph Herald and a Suzuki Whizzkid in the background.

Thank you.. he deserves it! And it's not as if I don't get some benefit from it!

Behind that little Japanese thing is a Lamborghini Diablo under a cover.. well.. most of one anyway!

You can also see a reflection of my own 'toy' in the side of the Daimler..

theadman said:

Can you have a word with my kids please?!;)

Love the car - looks quite 'un-messed about with' from the picture which is always the best starting point. Colour is spot on too, particularly with a tan interior. Most in Golden Sand now seem to have red, but the tan is so '60s.

What a great gesture!

The tan is really original and is in pretty good nick. In fact, both NBA and Winspeed have been really complementary about her overall (which is lucky!). In fact, they've both said they've seen cars that people have paid a lot more for that are in far worse condition.. I've taken that as a complement anyway!

[lowdrag]

Strugs said:

This one has a relatively recent replacement stainless exhaust and she sounds amazing.. And, yes - she really does go rather well! I've put about 60 miles on her between buying her and giving her to dad and every trip left me with a massive grin. I'm amazed how short the gearing is, though - for ages I thought she wasn't dropping into top but no, all is well.. I've read elsewhere that 70mph is about 4k rpm! Methinks we'll be staying off the motorways!

You can always up the rear axle ratio. That will reduce the revs at the expense or acceleration but in a Daimler I can't see that being a worry. Much better cruising though.

Edited by lowdrag on Tuesday 6th December 07:15

[Strugs]

lowdrag said:

You can always up the rear axle ratio. That will reduce the revs at the expense or acceleration but in a Daimler I can't see that being a worry. Much better cruising though.

Edited by lowdrag on Tuesday 6th December 07:15

Definitely something to consider. I guess it will depend on how my dad ends up using it. It's definitely not a 'daily' and I guess it should be fun for him to seek out A and B road alternatives to get to his destination as long as he's not in a rush!

[undred orse]

Strugs said:

Thank you! She needs a bit of love, but she's a good solid base to start from..

Yep, 'WN' is Swansea and now the 'secret is out' we can start some research on it. There's not much history with the car, but I quite enjoy the detective work!

I suspect that she was supplied by Fletcher's who were for many years the Swansea Jaguar/Rover/BL dealers.Sadly long gone now and their old showroom on Carmarthen Road has been redeveloped into a DIY outlet/bingo hall etc.

Let me know if I can help with any local info as my father was also in the trade during the 1960's onwards and may have some info about any garages/people you come across.

Our old V8 was also from Swansea registered in 1964 with only one owner and 51,000 miles until we bought her.Unfortunately she wasn't in the best of condition underneath and had some damage to a rear wing which had caused the owner to stop driving.She was eventually sold to Hurst Park in about 1999 as a proper restoration was beyond us due to health problems and she needed a lot of work.She is now on the DVLA with an export marker so I suspect I'll never see her again.Miss you BCY488B.

Good luck with your research and the car - I'm sure your wonderful gesture will make his year.

p.s. love your Gallardo(?)

[Strugs]

undred orse said:

I suspect that she was supplied by Fletcher's who were for many years the Swansea Jaguar/Rover/BL dealers.Sadly long gone now and their old showroom on Carmarthen Road has been redeveloped into a DIY outlet/bingo hall etc.

Let me know if I can help with any local info as my father was also in the trade during the 1960's onwards and may have some info about any garages/people you come across.

Our old V8 was also from Swansea registered in 1964 with only one owner and 51,000 miles until we bought her.Unfortunately she wasn't in the best of condition underneath and had some damage to a rear wing which had caused the owner to stop driving.She was eventually sold to Hurst Park in about 1999 as a proper restoration was beyond us due to health problems and she needed a lot of work.She is now on the DVLA with an export marker so I suspect I'll never see her again.Miss you BCY488B.

Good luck with your research and the car - I'm sure your wonderful gesture will make his year.

p.s. love your Gallardo(?)

Thank you very much - a very kind offer! An application to the DVLA will be going in..

Oh, and I wish it was a Gallardo! No, it's a Vauxhall VX220..

[GT6 Jonsey]

Mate of mine had a rather rare but scabby manual 250, wasn't the manual OD box lifted from a Triumph TR 4 ?

[Allan L]

GT6 Jonsey said:

Mate of mine had a rather rare but scabby manual 250, wasn't the manual OD box lifted from a Triumph TR 4 ?

I don't know, but it's likely the SP250 gearbox was used and that had a lot of commonality with the TR - useful to know when repairing one as TR parts were cheaper than (identical) Daimler ones. 40-odd years ago so probably no longer the case.

[Strugs]

So.. Chris Window at Winspeed has finished working his magic (for now.. plenty more to do!) and dad finally got to drive her (my kids have christened her 'Gwen' because of her plate..) today. Apart from underestimating the effort required at the (non-PAS) wheel I think he enjoyed it! I still think he's a bit overwhelmed to be honest!

What I was really interested to hear from Chris, though, was that he felt this was one of the quickest Daimler's he'd driven.. and he's driven a few that have been fettled by Russ Carpenter.. so I'm more intrigued than ever now to dig up some more history on the car!