(first posted 2/23/2017) As we saw yesterday, Armstrong Siddeley stopped making cars in 1960, having weathered the ‘50s with increasing doubts and dwindling sales. That same year, another British automotive icon also went six feet under: Daimler were bought out by Jaguar. The fall had been a big one: from unchallenged royal barge in 1950 to the big cat’s dinner ten years later. But this Deadly Sin had more to do with people than with actual cars.
In the beginning, there was Daimler. The German company sprouted a British subsidiary in 1896, just when Parliament relaxed its laws on horseless carriages. The parent company and its British offshoot soon diverged, the former morphing into Mercedes and the latter being taken over by Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) in 1910. BSA was by then a well-established 50-year-old company that made everything from handguns to bicycles and small cars. Under BSA, Daimler cars flourished, becoming the official vehicles of the English monarchs for decades. Daimler became a proponent of the Knight sleeve-valve system for many of its cars, as well as a keen user of the Wilson pre-selector gearbox, combined with Daimler’s own “fluid flywheel”. The BSA group bought Lanchester in 1931, which focused on mid-sized cars. Under the BSA marque, the group marketed smaller cars, as well as FWD three-wheelers and a line of highly praised motorcycles.
Above: Consort standard saloon; below: twelve DE36s were used on the 1946 Royal South African Tour.
Despite the total destruction of the Coventry factory in 1940, Daimler kept calm and carried on. The 2-litre (10 HP) Lanchester LD10 was the BSA Group’s cheapest 1946 offering, a pre-war chassis with a new Briggs body. Well above, the prestigious Daimlers reigned supreme. The only real domestic competition were Rolls-Royce/Bentley. But Daimler had a fuller range than Rolls: they produced the modest 2.5 litre DB18 (renamed Consort in 1948), the swanky 4.1 litre DE27 and the gargantuan 5.5 litre 150 bhp DE36 straight-8, which was bigger, longer and even more expensive than the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.
Daimler DE27 saloon by Hooper
Daimler outsourced much of their body production, even post-war: Daimler’s only in-house design was the DB18 saloon. Hooper, which had been acquired by BSA (along with Barker and Carbodies), was particularly associated with the big Daimlers – and was, “By Appointment to H.M. the King,” the coachbuilder of reference. This was the age of “razor edge” design, when Britain’s large cars held on to conservative mid-‘30s styling with flowing fenders, massive chromed headlamps and upright grilles. This look suited Daimlers rather well, but it would have to evolve someday.
Source: Getty Images
Sir Bernard Docker (1896-1978) became the chairman of BSA in 1940. His father, Dudley Docker, had masterminded BSA’s take-over of Daimler back in 1910. The only son of a millionaire, Sir Bernard was a renowned playboy and big spender (he commissioned the Shemara yacht, one of the largest of its time, for £800,000 in 1938), but also a capable administrator.
Daimler DE36 ‘Green Goddess’ with Sir Bernard’s yacht in the background.
In 1948, Sir Bernard wanted something with a bit more pizazz than the usual staid Daimler style, something more contemporary. He commissioned Hooper to create a 20-foot green convertible on a DE36 chassis as a show car. The Green Goddess was hailed as a triumph of post-war British style and Hooper received orders for about eight copies. Sir Bernard kept the first one for his personal use, but at least Daimler got a few straight-8 sales out of the operation. But soon, Sir Bernard’s private life was to take a major turn, one that would also affect the future of BSA and Daimler.
Source: Getty Images
Nora Turner was born in 1906 to a working class family in Derby. She became a dancer and hostess in London in the ‘20s, displaying a talent for attracting older rich men: “Through my life, I set both my sights and my price high.” She was married to Clement Cullingham, the (greying) head of Henekeys wine and spirits, from 1938 to his death in 1945, leaving her £1.5 million. Soon, she remarried to Fortnum & Mason and Cerebos Salt Co. chairman Sir William Collins. “He was 69; I married him for his money,” Nora later admitted. When he died two years later, she was £6 million the better for it. She lived the high life in her Mayfair flat, where she entertained the West End’s glitterati in her own inimitable style: crude and nouveau-riche to some, fresh and lively to others. It was there, in 1948, that her famous pink diamond ring was stolen, later to inspire the first Pink Panther film. That year, she met Sir Bernard Docker and he soon proposed; they were married in February 1949.
1950 Daimler DE27 Barker limousine – also available as a hearse. Classy, but hardly exciting…
Keen to bring “a bit of glamour to the business of making motorcycles,” Lady Docker took an immediate interest in her husband’s business empire, particularly its luxury automobile branch – and he listened. There was legitimate cause for concern: by 1950, Daimler sales were slipping noticeably. The cars remained ensconced in pre-war style and technology, and competition was heating up.
King Ibn Saud’s DE36 wore a more exotic body by Saoutchik of Paris, circa 1953.
Potentates and monarchs were being tempted by Cadillac and Rolls-Royce; Lord-Mayors and plutocrats were increasingly eyeing Austin Sheerlines or Humber Pullmans. Although several crowned heads (the Emperor of Japan, the King of Thailand or the Queen of the Netherlands) still ordered the odd DE36, the model’s intrinsic qualities were marred by occasional breakdowns, which started to erode that exclusive clientele’s loyalty. The 2.5 litre range was threatened by Lagonda, Alvis and Jaguar, all of which had powerful new engines.
Above: the Dockers unveil the Gold Car at the Motor Show; below: Lady Docker and her creation.
Daimler engineers needed time to respond to these challenges. In the meantime, Lady Docker decided to emulate Sir Bernard’s Green Goddess. At the 1951 Earl’s Court Motor Show, the Daimler stand hosted the first of the “Docker Daimlers” – the Gold Car, a DE36 chassis clad in a Hooper saloon body with £900’s worth of gold plating and 7000 six-pointed gold stars. Now people were finally going to notice Daimler! This was Lady Docker’s main gripe with the marque: “Whenever it is admired by the Italians or the French, they call it a Delahaye,” she despaired. That was quite true: Daimlers were virtually unknown in mainland Europe and the United States.
Hooper also made bodies for Daimler’s rivals…
Sir Bernard put his wife on Hooper’s board of directors. The fox was now right in the chicken coop. From now on, at every London Motor Show, a new Hooper-bodied show car would grace the Daimler stand, as Lady Docker sought to “bring glamour and happiness into drab lives. The working class loves everything I do.”
Unlike the Gold Car, the Blue Clover was saved and restored; it is now located in Seoul.
In 1952, the new Docker Daimler was the “Blue Clover” DE36 coupé, which featured lizard skin inserts on the seats, dash and around the steering wheel. This was only the beginning of Lady Docker’s reptilian genocide…
The Silver Flash was re-sprayed later on in its life. Mini-fins look quite nice on this car.
Above: the Dockers at the ’53 Motor Show; below: inside the Silver Flash, with red upholstery.
In 1953, the new Daimler 3 litre Regency chassis was graced with an aluminum coupé body with metallic grey and sky blue paint: the “Silver Flash”. Most of the interior (along with the bespoke luggage) was finished in crimson crocodile hide.
The Stardust was the ultimate self-propelled beauty salon, as Lady Docker demonstrates…
The 1954 Docker folly was called “Stardust”. It was a four-door saloon on the new large Daimler chassis, the DK400. Its body looked similar to the 1951 Golden Daimler, though the new chassis was noticeably smaller than its straight-8 predecessor. It reportedly cost £12,500 and featured 5000 silver stars on the doors and rear fenders, as well as a set of four specially-made suitcases finished in blue crocodile skin to match the interior. Seats were upholstered in fine brocatelle.
Lady Docker outdid herself for 1955 with the “Golden Zebra” DK400 coupé. Again, all the brightwork was gold-plated. But this time, the star attraction was the genuine zebra skin interior (because, as she said, “Mink is too hot to sit on.”) Furthermore, the wood inserts were replaced by ivory. Like the other Docker Daimlers, the Golden Zebra was featured at length in the period press – even US magazines could not avoid mentioning it, tongue firmly in cheek.
It’s fair to say polite society in Britain was appalled by the Docker Daimlers. They were seen as vulgar and excessive, the essence of the Ladyship’s parvenue attitude. The cars were featured in the tabloids as much as they were in the automotive press. Sure, it put Daimler’s name in the papers. But it also put a lot of people off the cars themselves, not least the Windsors, who switched allegiance to Rolls-Royce – at a time when these things mattered a great deal to quite a few potential customers. The working class, despite Lady Docker’s opinion, was probably just as disgusted by the Docker Daimlers as the aristocracy.
Meanwhile, Sir Bernard’s stewardship of BSA and Daimler was proving less than wise. The bottom rung of the ladder, the 14 HP Lanchester, was too expensive, bulky and slow; production was stopped in late 1953 for good. Daimler still needed a smaller car, so they took the Lanchester’s Barker body, grafted a Daimler grille a lights on it and called it the Daimler Conquest. It inherited the Consort’s old 2.5 litre 6-cyl. but sold poorly, still too expensive and now rather ungainly. A twin-carb version, the Conquest Century, was also offered. Feeling the trend for sporty open-top cars, Daimler also tried to market the Conquest Roadster, whose massive fluted grille and tacked-on rear fins looked like they belonged on other cars.
Above: Daimler Regency Mk II; below: Daimler DK400 limousine by Hooper
The upper-mid-range car, the 3.5 litre Regency, was hardly a success in its segment in the UK or abroad. At the top of the range, the 4.5 litre DK400 now punched below Rolls-Royce (or even Armstrong Siddeley) in terms of quality and speed, laboring under Hooper’s flowing “Empress” bodies.
Methinks the Lady doth spend too much….
But it wasn’t so much the cars as the image that the Dockers projected that BSA shareholders found increasingly objectionable. Also, the Dockers were costing the company a pretty penny. The Golden Zebra had cost a bundle in itself, but then Lady Docker (as in previous years) had it shipped to the French Riviera, drove it to Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly’s wedding in Monaco and when she returned to London, she sent hotel, casino, fuel, clothing and restaurant bills to BSA. She viewed it as a PR exercise. They started viewing it as taking the mickey.
The inevitable showdown took place at the BSA annual general meeting of 30 May 1956. A group of key investors, including several large banks and insurers, were keen to tempt the Dockers out with a ‘50s version of the golden parachute, drafting a face-saving statement explaining Sir Bernard was to retire “on health grounds”. The offer came back within ten minutes with the word “BALLS!” scrawled on the page in red lipstick. The gloves came off and Sir Bernard was voted out without a penny – instead being presented with a £70,000 bill for his wife’s extravagant cars and dubious tax deductions. Lady Docker was chiefly miffed because it forced her to cancel her elaborate plans for her 50th birthday party.
Michelotti-penned 1955 Regency coupé by Ghia-Aigle: the prettiest Daimler of the Docker era?
Daimler tried to redress the situation by hiring Edward Turner to develop a family of new engines. The hemi V8s were finally launched in new Daimlers by 1959, but to little effect. The company’s bottom line had been too badly eroded by a decade of stagnation and decreasing sales. Besides, the new cars had brilliant engines, but they still had Daimler/Hooper styling, which remained atrocious.
The DN250, using the new 2.5 litre V8 and a modified Vauxhall body, did not survive the Jaguar takeover.
BSA were unravelling and started selling off parts of itself: in 1957, BSA Bicycles had been bought by Raleigh and BSA now needed to sell Daimler and its Coventry factory to salvage the consortium’s other operations. A deal was struck with Jaguar in June 1960, which spelled the end of Daimler as an independent automaker.
Above: 1959 Dart (renamed SP250 due to Mopar’s objections); below: Hooper’s sad last car, same chassis & year.
BSA and Triumph motorcycles lasted through to the ‘70s, but that branch also went under. All that remains of the once mighty BSA Group today is a small shotgun and air rifle factory in Birmingham. Hooper also closed its doors after having designed and built a handful of ghastly coupés based on the new Daimler V8 roadster (itself no oil painting), ending their glorious 150-year history on a sour and clumsy note.
1959 Daimler Majestic with the new 4.5 litre V8. Jaguar continued production (1961-68) with slight changes.
The Dockers, for their part, continued making headlines for a number of years. They were banned from Monaco in 1958 after Lady Docker tore up a paper Monegasque flag at a party because of a perceived snub from Prince Rainier. The couple gradually sold most of their possessions to pay for their Champagne-fueled lifestyle, ultimately moving to Jersey as tax exiles. They were booted out when Lady Docker was reported to have said that the islanders were “the most frightfully boring, dreadful people that have ever been born.” The Dockers spent their twilight years in relative discretion in Mallorca; he died in a nursing home in England in 1978 and she passed away in London five years later.
Above: Majestic-based Daimler DR450 limo (1961-68); below: Mk2 Jag-based Daimler 250 V8 (1962-69)
Daimler-badged cars remained in production for a long time after the Jaguar buy-out. Some argue the best Jaguar Mark 2s were the Daimler-badged models, whose 2.5 litre hemi V8 was a much better engine in many ways than the 2.4 litre Jaguar six. Jaguar kept the bizarre SP250 fiberglass roadster on the production lines for a while, as well as the 4.5 litre Majestic Major – the last “real” Daimler saloon, which had been launched just before the takeover.
Above: Daimler DS420 (1968-92), a Jag in drag; below: 2009 Daimler Super Eight, the last gasp saloon.
By 1969, the Daimler V8s were no more and the marque became a badge-engineered Jaguar – with the exception of the DS420 limousine, which was Jaguar-based but had unique sheetmetal. Daimler continued as a zombie marque for the next 40 years before Jaguar’s new owners, Tata, decided to mercifully put it to sleep in 2009.
Thank you for reading these British Deadly Sins. I’m sure there will be other installments coming soon, as the UK is a rich tapestry of automotive dreams and nightmares. Somebody could get the ball rolling on BL – lots to be said there. I will try to explore other smaller automakers and their DSs. A German edition is also probable…
One part of me believes that Daimler should have collaborated / been sold to Jaguar much earlier, while the other thinks Daimler should have at least gradually aped the example of Jaguar much earlier to remain relevant instead of going down the Docker Daimler route.
A shame the Daimler V8 was never developed further (outside of the odd 5-litre prototype unit) with a production run similar to the Jaguar XK6 or Jaguar V12 engines, the 4.5-litre V8 was said to produce more than the claimed 220 hp only because Daimler’s dyno machine could not go beyond 220 hp.
A 4-cylinder engine was even created by Leonardo Fioravanti from a 2.5-litre Daimler V8 for the Pininfarina 1800 concept, with unsubstantiated rumors that a 4.5-litre dieselized version of the Daimler V8 even was developed.
http://www.landcrab.net/mainframes/main_pinafarina1800.htm
Was quite shocked to discover the earlier Daimler SP250 prototypes featured roughly the same unappealing styling when searching to see whether a good-looking styling proposal was considered at some point early on during development. Much prefer the shelved Sir Lyons designed Daimler SP252 prototype that in retrospect should have been produced instead of the original SP250 as well as of course being powered by larger iterations of the Daimler V8.
Perhaps follow up the future German Deadly Sin edition with Italian and Japanese editions down the line.
Fins aside, the SP 252 was certainly an improvement upon fishface.
Have to admit am not a fan of car tail-fins though am indifferent to the increasingly more subtle tail-fins variations which became popular during the 60s.
Would liked to have seen a fastback coupe version of the SP252 had it been produced.
A slight aside, what do you know of plans to use the 2.5 in Chapman’s Plus 2?
Not much beyond what is found in Brian Long’s Daimler SP250 book, where it was part of a proposed merger between Jaguar and Lotus with Lyons seeing Chapman as a suitable successor to take the helm, the latter in turn had no interest in road cars only in motorsport.
Given what the 1.6 Lotus Twin-Cam of capable of producing in road-going tune in the Lotus Elan / Elan Plus-2, one wonders how the 2.5 Daimler V8 would have been an improvement short of being significantly uprated.
Speaking of Lotus seem to remember reading an article stating that a 1.8-litre of the 900 Series engines was considered at one point during the 1973 fuel crisis only to be rejected by Chapman.
Nice, but a bit too MGB for a V8 Daimler…
One of the Lotus people referred to the SP252 prototype as a jumped-up Sunbeam Alpine though quite like the somewhat derivative if pleasing looks.
Either that or a more Mk2-based Daimler GT equivalent of the Jaguar XK150.
Now that you mention it, yes… Sunbeam rear mated to an MG front. It’s not bad, but not great either. The wheels look far too big for the car and the windshield looks like it came from the mid-’50s.
Good article in Jaguar World Magazine, July 2020 edition.
Lyons, designed most of the SP252’s bodywork.
Basing it on the Aston Martin DB4 Convertible.
Wow – The lady Docker’s excesses truly prove that old adage “Money can’t buy good taste” 😛
That Michelotti Regency Coupe seems to have a Karman-Ghia greenhouse.
Good eye, Uncle Mellow.
Love these stories!
I had never heard of these monstruous Daimlers. Guess their worth a whole lot of money nowadays …
I just remembered seeing one of these in the flesh! The, white, Golden Zebra Coupe is on display in the Dutch Louwman Museum. The ultimate Bling-Bling Car !
Absolutely fascinating article. In the mid-1950s, Daimler wasn’t exactly helped by the odd and puffy styling of the standard-body DK400.
Not many of these were made. Most were Hooperized to death.
The initial ones had a slightly different look, with a dipping wing line. They just look like overgrown FX4 taxis, to be honest.
The FX4 was designed by the same person.
I have seen a few Daimler Majestics in Australia. State Governors had them as they were appropriately British. (in Australia each state has a Governor who is a representative of the Queen, not an elected official. To this day Governors are still required to sign acts of Parliament). In my state, Queensland, the Governor got a Rolls Royce Phantom in 1972 and they still use it for ceremonial occasions and Royal visits, though day to day trips are made in a Holden Caprice, which is about as British as a hot dog!
The Daimler Sovereign of the early to mid 1980’s was really an upmarket version of the Jaguar XJ6. I was provided with one by Jaguar Rover Australia as part of the exit deal from my disastrous XJ–S experience. The Sovereign was a gr at car, reliable (who would have thought?!), comfortable even though the cabin was somewhat cramped, ran very smoothly and looked great. They could reinstate the name along the same lines as Mercedes did with the Maybach!
As for the Governors, what will they replace their Holden Caprices with, given that production of those ends very soon (if not already). They are likely to follow everyone else and end up in something German!
It’s not unheard of for British ambassadors and high commissioners to places small enough that they don’t rate a big Jaguar or Rolls to be issued a London black cab as a state limousine.
Are you referring to the present time? That’s a bit hard to imagine. I doubt any ambassador or high commissioner has been issued a RR in some time.
In the 70s-80s the British ambassador to Israel had to make do with a Coleman Milne Ford Granada limo stretch, like the below… No idea what they use these days (most likely a Jag).
Here’s the man who was governor of the Falkland Islands at the time of the Argentine invasion (1982), proudly modelling his ostrich-feather hat and government-issue London taxi.
LOL. That’s just sad.
We can still funnel our inner Glibert and Sullivan if required!.
The very model of a modern Governor-General.
I had found these cars alluded to in various things I’ve read over the years, but never found an article about them. Many thanks for your research. No wonder the firm went under.
I’m leaning towards the idea that the DE27/36 should’ve followed the lead of the Cadillac V16, Lincoln KB and senior Packards and simply never reappeared postwar. Resources could then be placed towards the Ten line, bulked up by US sales of a revived BSA Scout sports car, and the upper-midrange models.
They had to keep the royal patronage thing going, so at least one big chassis had to be in their line-up. Having two big chassis was probably not a wise move, but these were mildly updated pre-war cars anyway.
But I agree they should have made much more of an effort on the lower end of the range. The demise of Lanchester was criminal: it should have been reinvented as a cheaper modern 4-cyl. car instead of being allowed to wilt away. Without a competitive 4-cyl. sub-marque, the range was made to compete head-to-head with Jag and RR, and that was a pretty tall order.
Question the relevance of the Lanchester marque in the post-war era, not to say it should have necessarily been discontinued. Just that the flawed Lanchester Sprite project should have been developed much earlier, ditched the Hobbs transmission and instead utilized a 4-cylinder version of the Daimler V8 as opposed to the 4-cylinder version of the Daimler Conquest-derived engine (which appears to have pre-war roots).
To add on another element that have noticed with the Lanchester Sprite, in some ways it can be thought of as a smaller ill-conceived take on the post-war Mercedes-Benz W120 that in better circumstances could have underpinned a range of Daimlers as was the case with the overall Mercedes-Benz Ponton family.
Did however the W110/W111 family up to the W108 and W114/W115 carry over much from the Ponton family or were they all-new designs?
https://www.jaguarheritage.com/jaguar-history/jaguar-engineering/lanchester-sprite/
Before they went with the Ford V8, AC Cars were said to have been particularly interested in the Daimler V8 that had been under Jaguar then although talks dragged on and fell through. Maybe Daimler could have benefited from taking on the 1963 AC MA-200 prototype to develop a proper image changing Daimler V8 powered sports-car?
Were it not for their overwrought faces, the fixed-head Docker Daimlers would have been quite beautiful – if a tad ostentatious. For me, it’s the Green Goddess. This face on the Silver Flash would be a finer coupe shape than the Swiss attempt.
DN250 in original US-centric consideration. Given the sprightly nature of the Mark II 2.5, this was a real opportunity lost though neither body was satisfactory.
A 5 litre in a MkX… sigh.
The Vauxhall-based body was said to be notorious for rust that and the fact not only did Vauxhall flat out refused to provide panels for Daimler, but Vauxhall also had no records of any dealings with Daimler during the period of the DN250 project.
Agree with the 5-litre V8 Jaguar MkX, along with a Jaguar Mk2-based Daimler 450 as well as an earlier 2-door 4-seater GT coupe / convertible akin to a Jaguar Mk2-based Daimlerized Jaguar XK150 pitched above the SP250.
Curious that a 4.5-5.0-litre Daimler V8-powered E-Type and other 70s Jaguars were never considered given how well-receptive the US is to V8s (if the XK6 can remain in production until 1992 then it is also possible for the Daimler V8 to last in production for a similar amount of time).
NIH syndrome seems to afflict all nationalities. Jaguar bought Daimler for its manufacturing capacity, and inherited the V8 alongside. To their credit, they did look into developing it. I have read that the relative success of the Mark II 2.5 used up all the V8 manufacturing capacity, which might have hindered any further development. But lopping six seconds off the Mark X’s 0-100mph figure (with inadequate exhausting no less) would have completely overshadowed the XK unit.
Understand that NIH syndrome prevented Jaguar from fully exploiting the Daimler V8, it seems Jaguar preferred looking into developing a 60-degree V8 derived from the Jaguar V12 (producing a rough sounding engine).
Jaguar could have used Daimler V8 overshadowing the XK6 engine to their advantage had they been canny enough, since it slots perfectly between the XK6 and V12 engines as well as appeals to prospective buyers who would consider nothing less then a V8.
You’re right. The XJ saloon was launched with the promise of a V8 as well as the V12. Never knew that.
Yep PA series Vauxhalls particularly the early oval taillight models were shocking rustbuckets if you let them get wet,
Agree with the 5-litre V8 Jaguar MkX,
Apparently the Queen Mother asked Lyons for a Daimler version of the MkX, and he said “No, we will do something better” the DS420 Limousine, but with the Jaguar XK engine.
Still he cut his nose of to spite his face not putting the Daimler V8 into the MkX.
***
Jaguar could have used Daimler V8 overshadowing the XK6 engine to their advantage had they been canny enough, since it slots perfectly between the XK6 and V12 engines as well as appeals to prospective buyers who would consider nothing less then a V8.
BL, would have cut the V12 development money. Lyons, had already made sure that the XJ6 couldn’t take the Rover V8 engine.
“Somebody could get the ball rolling on BL – lots to be said there.”
British Leyland was pretty much a total disaster from top to bottom. It is covered in excruciating detail over at aronline.co.uk…
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/facts-and-figures/history/british-leyland-the-grand-illusion/
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/facts-and-figures/history/the-whole-story/
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/facts-and-figures/history/the-road-to-perdition/
The decline and fall of the British automobile empire would make a meaty tome.
Yes, there’s a lot out there on BL, but no CC series. I have maximum respect for the aronline series, but the focus is a bit more on the corporate / industrial relations side of the story and less on the actual cars.
BMC/BL did some fantastic cars alongside bona fide basket cases, just like GM, Chrysler, etc. The MGB, the 1100, the XJ6 or even the Metro were probably examples of the former. A CC Deadly Sins series on BMC/BL might include the Austin 3-litre, the MGC, the Allegro and the Ital (for starters)…
Another DS treasure trove lies in the US independents. Henry J, Hudson Jet, Willys Aero, AMC Pacer, Graham “Sharknose”, Marmon V16… the list is long. But there are plenty of CC authors far more qualified than me to tackle these. I’ll stick to the side of the Pond I’m more familiar with.
I have tentative plans to do some BLMC DS articles and maybe even a few Greatest Hits but, frankly, the more the merrier! There truly is a treasure trove of vehicles to cover.
One car I want to cover is the Maxi but that seems to be one BLMC car that hasn’t been photographed and added to the cohort.
I did spot an 1100 a while ago and took plenty of photos… That’s much more on the Greatest Hit side of the spectrum.
No matter what I write though, it will never be as exquisitely detailed as those AROnline articles. It’s an excellent site.
The cohort doesnt work anymore or I could get you Maxi pics easily enough we have a British car museum locally that has at least one though Maxis are getting very rare even in NZ.
The 1100/1300 from what I understand was a hit in its home market for quite a few years. Here in the U.S., first as the MG 1100 Sports Sedan and later as the Austin America with a 1300cc engine, it did not fare as well.
On paper these cars should have been able to eat VW’s lunch. It made a bug look like a horse-drawn buggy in comparison. This was a modern FWD car that even had a 4-speed fully automatic transmission available, very exotic and high-tech for a 1960s import. (The automatic, like the manual, lived in the sump and shared the engine oil rather than using trans fluid. What could possibly go wrong?)
The problem was that under American conditions these cars started falling apart almost immediately. The automatic trans was pushed heavily and many did not even make it through the warranty period. Then there was a proclivity towards rust that would make even the early Japanese cars blush. I can remember Austin Americas just a few years old being offered for $50.
Have not seen one in decades now. A lot of those cars wound up as engine donors for Minis since the 1300 will drop right in.
BL’s next attempt at selling a volume car in the U.S. was the Marina, which is yet another sad story.
I had a friend that bought a few years old Austin America for a few dollars. It had the 4 speed auto which he had to shift manually, the trans was on it’s way out.
It was a cool looking, roomy little car, I had lots of room in the back seat even at 6ft tall. If it been built properly and was durable it would have been a hit for sure. A very nice design, let down by it’s poor quality.
While toiling away as a dishwasher at an upper crust sorority while in college, circa 1961, a Daimler SP250 was parked out back in the parking lot just beyond the kitchen door. British Racing Green. Wacky looking car, that one was. But it also managed to suggest a certain richness. The wealthy don’t have to worry about what other people think.
With the swift decline of the British empire post WWII, more plebian tastes prevailed and these automotive follies no longer fascinated, (even if Royal pomp continues to carry on).
Daimler SP250 Dart
Wacky looking car, that one was.
One positive though, it inspired Derek Meddings to use its profile in the 1989 Batman film, for that movies Batmobile. Also adding elements from the Ferrari Testarossa, and Thrust 2.
Fabulous Magpie, was Meddings, saw the 1962 Ford Seattle-ite 21 concept and thought hmm, “now if I put those elements in to a Rolls-Royce Limousine”, “Pastel Pink Sylvia, no problem”,
“Oh that’s FAB, Derek”
Looking at the Docker cars, I find the Blue Clover to be fairly tasteful and quite good looking from the rear. I would really like to see the interior, but I had no luck on Google images. Fast forward three years later to the Golden Zebra. Yikes! That car is foreshadowing the 1970’s “pimp mobile” aesthetic too well, if you ask me…
The fun part about the Dockers was that they were just as disastrous to the BSA motorcycle side as they were to the cars. A line of scooters that was supposed to compete with the Vespa and Lambretta (it wouldn’t have, the Brits could never get past the idea that you don’t build scooters like motorcycles – too expensive and heavy) was cancelled just as production was to start because Lady Nora hated the color scheme of the prototype.
Fortunately for BSA, the motorcycle business didn’t start to slide until after 1959, so the damage the Dockers did to the bikes wasn’t as immediate as what they were doing to the cars.
That’s very interesting. I wonder how she managed to end up with so much influence? Dictating luxury automobiles is one thing, but motorbikes? I’m guessing she must have viewed that side of the business as “beneath” them, or some other similar line of thinking.
BSA was lucky in that, despite the comment about it being fun to run the motorcycle business, she did consider motorcycles rather beneath her. Scooters were another matter, as even back in the Fifties they were appealing to a much more trendy set. And her decisions manage to kibosh BSA’s already questionable plans to compete in that market.
Then again, she may have inadvertently done BSA a favor. The company’s problem (and it wasn’t only BSA, it was the rest of the British motorcycle industry, too) is that they could never get a grip on the concept that scooters were, by design, built lighter and different than motorcycles. The motorcycle manufacturers, rather than come up with a completely different design, were essentially designing step-thru 250cc motorcycles with full bodywork.
What designs did make it to market were completely snowed under by the Vespas and Lambrettas.
You’ve probably had this said before, but I for one would like to see a CC article from you detailing the collapse of the British Motorcycle industry. You obviously have too much knowledge on the subject to limit yourself to the occasional comment.
I’ve had a couple of ideas long simmering as articles:
1. Some short articles on British motorcycles, like this series.
2. Life as the son of a Chevrolet dealer in the 50’s and 60’s.
Now that I’m essentially retired (I only work Tue-Thu, and am beginning to wonder how long that is going to last), I’m starting to bug myself n getting off my lazy ass and start writing.
+1 on the Brit bike series.
Really enjoyed these articles, the Jowett was the only one I had been familiar with.
Thank you again, for a great trio of articles. Really, really enjoyable reading.
Have really enjoyed these articles, many thanks.
I’m never sure whether this is an urban myth, but the story is that the Daimler Conquest was so-named because its price (ex-Purchase Tax) was £1,066, reflecting the date of the Norman invasion and the Battle of Hastings?
That squib aside, it is quite unbelievable that the shareholders at BSA allowed the Dockers to get away with it for so long. An extraordinary failure of corporate oversight, given that the Dockers’ misbehaviour was carried out in full view of the world.
Sadly, however, they were just the sickly cream on top of the bad management cake in 1950s Britain. Running a public company as a private fiefdom, and failing to amalgamate myriad small businesses wasn’t just a car industry problem, it ran across the whole spectrum of the business world. (Take a look at the Alec Guinness Ealing comedy The Man In The White Suit for another insight into this.)
The failure of UK management to behave like entrepreneurs and capitalists with an eye to the changing world market was what led directly to the Labour government of 1964-70 forcing through a series of industrial mergers to try and create world-beating companies. One result of this strategy was British Leyland, but I’m afraid that’s the harvest sown by people in the 1950s who shouldn’t have been put in charge of a bike rack. (BMC’s George Harriman also springs to mind.)
Thanks for 3 good accounts of 3 great marques and their contrasting failures. There are many more British deadly sins, not all from the 1950s, to consider, of which the ultimate is surely Rover, from 1976-2005.
Thanks to your fine research, you are filling in gaps in my automotive history knowledge with fine articles on the carmaker’s Deadly Sins. I learn much and enjoy each installment.
For what its worth, this 1951 Daimler DE36 Hooper limousine showed up for sale in the car corral at the 2001 Hershey. The sign in front claimed it was the famous Lady Docker Gold Car. If so, somewhere along the line the front ‘wings’ were changed to the conventional style. The old boy selling it fit the car: pompous, boorish, haughty…..
The profile, they are impressively long…
Bill Mitchell must have encountered one of these in the 1970’s. “Hey, Look, its a new Seville!”
Wow! Thank you so much for these pics!
I could well be the actual car. From what I read, after the Dockers’ downfall, BSA tried to recoup their losses by selling the Docker specials. The Gold Car was a particular cars though, as it had so much real gold on it that they (allegedly) tried to get the gold back and resold the car without its original fittings.
As a result, there are no modern (and precious few colour) photos of the Gold Car, which someone described as “ripe for restoration” in one source I came across.
If this is what happened, then this might be it. The body and chassis certainly seem to be the correct type.
The Gold Car was a particular cars though, as it had so much real gold on it that they (allegedly) tried to get the gold back and resold the car without its original fittings.
The UK Treasury issued a not for export order on the Gold Car.
Their was that much Gold Leaf, that duty would have to be paid on it.
The Gold had to striped from the Car.
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Interestingly, it is thought that this episode, inspired the “Goldfinger” plot point, of the Rolls-Royce body being remade in Gold, for smuggling to Switzerland.
One dark evening in the early sixties, I was exploring the local North London suburbs on my motorcycle when I came upon a curbside down-at-hell “Docker” Daimler. I could never understand what it was doing there in that state. Having read Tatras’ article I realise that it was actually one of the Green Goddesses – the headlight treatment was the giveaway. No idea what colour it actually was , the street-lighting wasn’t particularly good.
I hadn’t realised until now that it was the Docker cars that switched the Royals from Daimler to RR.
Lady Docker can claim some, but not all of the credit for the Royal change of favour. There was a prototype Bentley known as the Scalded Cat which Prince Phillip managed to get a hold of and thoroughly enjoy driving. This led to the order of a bespoke Phantom model limousine specified with driver’s seat that could be moved back to accommodate the Prince’s taller frame. Ordered in 1948 prior to his wife’s accession, it also predated Lady Docker’s conduct.
In 2002, the Queen switched from Rolls-Royces to Bentleys. I’ve done a little desk research, but cannot find out why – this was during the period that R-R and Bentley were separating, and becoming subsidiaries of BMW and Volkswagen respectively. Bentley presented the car to HM to mark her Golden Jubilee.
I’ve never seen a VW Bentley I’ve liked the look of, and sadly the Queen’s limo is no exception. It has a definite touch of the Mitsuoka, looking like a parody of the real thing. I guess in part, that’s about security, just as POTUS’s Cadillac beasts look as though they’ve been drawn with the thick edge of a magic marker.
[Image: By S. Foskett – Personal photo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=851529%5D
I suppose neither parent company troubled the Battenbergs.
Cannot agree enough with regards the current Bentleys. There’s not a handsome one in the whole melted-look bunch; which contrasts completely with the razor sharp and stately Rolls – their fastback being the only unappealing one of the range for me.
Thick edge of a magic marker… spot on observation.
I presume the switch to Bentleys was down to the fact that Bentleys are made in the old RR factory, and the big ones use RR motors. Royces on the other hand are built in a new BMW UK factory, by folk with no RR heritage, and use BMW motors.
I find the larger Bentleys reasonably attractive ( the GT needs more space between the front wheels and door).
Even when you’re the Queen, I dare say a free limo is better than one you have to purchase?
I presume the switch to Bentleys was down to the fact that Bentleys are made in the old RR factory, and the big ones use RR motors
No. Rolls-Royce/BMW declined the offer to build the new State Limousine. They said we are too stretched designing our new models to take on such a prestigious commission.
That’s why it was Bentley.
If Bentley, couldn’t have done it, it would have been Lagonda.
If Lagonda couldn’t have done it, it would have been a Daimler.
Though has Ford owned both marques at the time it could have been both.
They might even have thrown in a Lanchester 6×6 version of a Range Rover, as well.
I hadn’t realised until now that it was the Docker cars that switched the Royals from Daimler to RR.
It was the failure of the Daimler Limousine carrying King George the 6th to an official engagement (Gearbox problem reportedly) that was the downfall.
Replacement Rolls-Royce was ordered soon after.
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The Queen Mother, always had Daimler’s.
“Shemara” was a bit bigger than your average yacht!
The previous Mr Tata, said he wanted to launch a new Daimler model, and not just a rebadged Jaguar.
I’m sure there are enough rich people in the world, that would to want to own a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lagonda, Mercedes-Maybach, and a luxury SUV, (not counting the Sports Car Marques).
Maybe, their will be a new royal Daimler. That would certainly help with the New York court ruling on the name belonging to Daimler-Benz.
And Lanchester, as the Ultimate Luxury SUV.
I believe Frederick Lanchester worked on 4×4, as well as Disc Brakes, Turbo & Supercharging and many other automotive developments.
Not forgetting his invention of the Accelerator Pedal / Gas Pedal.
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Though, I think it will probably be a Bentley Corniche (especially after all that hard work recreating the 1939 version, designed by Georges Paulin and built by Van Vooren
Ogle designed for the Daimler SP250 the body that eventually found its way onto the Reliant Scimitar GT. I wonder whether Reliant were intended to have moulded the body for Daimler? The Scimitar chassis was very similar to the SP250 chasssis which in itself was remarkably similar to that of the Triumph TR2.
In fact the SE4 Scimitar used Triumph Mayflower from suspension/steering components just as the TR2 did. I found this out in conversation with Messrs. Alford & Alder, the manufacturers of those parts, from whom I also gathered that the TR6 components were bolt-on replascements which I subsequently proved to be true.
Now we know where Aristotle Onassis got the idea for whale-scrotum-covered bar stools for his yacht.
The BSA name is back again, like Jaguar (Tata) now and Indian company (Mahindra). They launched a new retro-style motorcycle using the Gold Star name a few years ago, and it is being released in North America this year. Note: it is liquid cooled.
Daimlers last effort under the Lanchester brand was called Leda horribly underpowered and overpriced people keep finding them and asking really good money for them with few takers, Conquests are still on the road in fair numbers but are really a styling disaster up close, Ive seen several Majestic Majors they were in their day a fast car, faster than any Jaguar sedan and the MK2 Daimler 2.5 V8s are no slouch either and are not as expensive as a genuine MK2 Jag if you want one.
Fascinating story I missed the first time around. The Dockers saga could be a movie — perhaps a new cinematic vehicle for Madonna, to complement her previous roles as those darlings of the working class Eva Perón and Wallis Simpson. (Paging The Lord Lloyd-Webber…)
(My mistake, I had thought Madonna had played Wallis Simpson in W.E., which I haven’t seen, rather than just directing and cowriting it. Still, Lady Docker seems very much within her cinematic wheelhouse.)
One minor point: Isn’t Lady Docker’s first name spelled Dorah, with an “h”?
“Lady Docker” is such a…curious name for a woman who married repeatedly for money, who cares about her first one?
A real lost cause. Daimler/Jags were sold in Europe and became a bit of a snob value success. In the recent BBC TV series The Gold the parvenu solicitor drives a Daimler. Tata did mumble about doing something with the brand, but this has now gone cold. The success of Bentley shows the market Jaguar missed .
So many American companies (Nash, Hudson, Packard, Kaiser, Willys, Studebaker) had difficulty designing and tooling-up a new engine, whereas it seems there were a plethora of English firms with much smaller sales volumes which had no trouble doing so. Perhaps this was an issue of tooling for volume production. Still, it’s interesting, the contrast in capabilities. It sounds like Diamler came out with a number of new engine designs in the same time that an American independent could manage none, or maybe 1.