(first posted 12/20/2013) An automobile used by a beloved member of the British royal family and other royalty, produced for 24 years, and which may have inspired one of the most controversial American automobile designs of the past several decades should be well known to car enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the Daimler DS420 Limousine appears to have slipped away from popular memory, seen and referenced by millions but with few remembering it specifically. Inspired by a chance encounter with one in Southeast Asia, here is a brief profile of this historic limousine.
The DS420 was a product of its era during the 1960s, when the British car industry was consolidating and Jaguar took over the upper-middle segment of the British automobile market, previously filled by numerous manufacturers such as Alvis and Armstrong-Siddeley. In 1960, Jaguar acquired Daimler, a far older and more established maker of luxury cars that had long been a preferred car of Britain’s aristocracy, used as official limousines by each British monarch from Edward VII to Elizabeth II until Rolls Royce became the favored make during the 1950s. Jaguar gradually phased out its legacy car and engine designs from Daimler, including the DR450 limousine, and in 1968 it introduced the entirely Jaguar-designed DS420 limousine. The DS420 replaced both the Daimler DR450 and the Vanden Plas Princess Limousine, produced by BMC corporate affiliate Vanden Plas, which like Daimler has become merely a nameplate for higher specification Jaguar sedans.
The design of the DS420 showed its origins as a Jaguar outfitted to serve as a Daimler limousine. With a chassis based on the platform of the flagship Jaguar 420G sedan and the XK twin-cam six cylinder engine, it wore the four headlight front end styling of 1960s Jaguar sedans with Daimler’s trademark fluted radiator grill shell. The only British competitor to the substantially more expensive Rolls Royce Phantom VI limousine, the DS420 was a well-accepted and successful model, lasting until 1992. It became the last car to use the classic Jaguar XK six cylinder engine, five years after its last use in the Jaguar XJ6.
Numerous royal families around the world used the DS420, the most famous user being the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She used the DS420 as her official car from 1970 to her passing in 2002, owning a total of five, including one of the last produced in 1992. Other royal users included the ruling houses of Denmark and Luxembourg.
Non-regal but noteworthy DS420 owners included Howard Hughes, who ordered one with an unusual centrally mounted rear bucket seat that he believed reduced pitching motions for him as the passenger; the Inter-Continental Hotel in Hong Kong, which purchased numerous DS420s to use as limousines for high end guests; and the funeral trade in the United Kingdom, which used the DS420 as both a hearse and as a limousine for relatives of the deceased. DS420s served in both roles in the funeral of Princess Diana.
Inside this particular example, the DS420 shows the usual concern for driver comfort in a period limousine: none. As in a Cadillac Fleetwood 75 of the same era, the chauffeur of a DS420 sits on a flat bench seat with a fixed, almost 90 degree vertical backrest and no adjustments at all, not even fore and aft. The chauffeur is expected to sit up straight at all times and put up with any discomfort. A change to individual seats with some adjustments in 1985 helped somewhat, but the comfort of the hired help in front still was not a priority.
Passengers in a DS420, on the other hand, sat on a chair-height sofa with almost infinite legroom in which to stretch out. Large windows gave a panoramic view of the common people outside, and the partition window gave privacy from the driver. For the royal or otherwise important passenger, the DS420 clearly fulfilled its design brief well.
The elephant in the room since the second photograph has been, appropriately, the trunk. You have seen it before on a far more common vehicle, beloved to some and hated by others: the 1980-85 Cadillac Seville. Although widely described as inspired by prewar Daimlers and traced here back to a 1967 concept inspired by a classic Hooper-bodied Rolls Royce, the “bustle-back” (“slantback” in modern urban slang) rear end of the second generation Seville has an obvious antecedent in the DS420, which was in production and conspicuously used (albeit mostly in the United Kingdom) at the time. This model must have been known to Bill Mitchell and General Motors stylists at the time, so it is likely that this car was a significant part of the inspiration for the second generation Seville design. A visit to London inspired Bill Mitchell’s creation of the first generation Buick Riviera, according to legend when a Rolls Royce appeared out of the fog; a visit to London with a sighting of the Queen Mum’s car may have inspired the Seville’s trunk.
Having finally considered the rear end of the DS420, it is appropriate to address the end of the model. In 24 years of production, Jaguar/Daimler produced only 4,141 limousines and 903 chassis for hearses. A small number of royal family cars remain in service, receiving the care normally given to royal family cars. At the other extreme, many in the U.K. have ended their days in banger racing – a racetrack event for old cars with colliding and wrecking the cars encouraged. (According to one account, the first entry of a DS420 in banger racing occurred in 1985, and by November 2012, 207 hearses and a similar number of limousines had been destroyed in this way.) In between, many limousines have found second lives as wedding cars, often converted into landaulets; some remain in use with hotels, such as the featured car in Bangkok; and private collectors have preserved others. Being used mostly in rainy environments and very expensive to maintain and repair, it is likely that substantial numbers have already succumbed to rust and mechanical failures beyond economical repair. Having been owned by a small number of people, many of them not the sort who post on the internet a lot, this model has a very small web presence, but one is quite thorough: http://www.myds420.info/. One hopes that it and the survivors perpetuate its memory well into the future.
Quick and dirty proportion fix – I moved the B pillar back about 6 inches and wanted to move the C pillar back an equal amount but settled for a little less than half that.
Exterior proportions are for the proletariate masses.
+1
Simply put, smaller window for help. bigger windows for masters.
I like your mod and the driver probably could use more legroom. Speaking of which, why does the gal in back need so much? Car could be made more sporty… this being relative.
There’s so much vast legroom in back because typically these were equipped with rear-facing jump seats in the middle, which folded up when not in use, so there needed to be enough room for those seats plus legroom for both their occasional passengers and also the primary rear passenger(s) without anyone having to jostle each others’ ankles to fit.
there’s one puttering around lower manhattan on wedding duty. i’ll try to get a picture. up close, it doesn’t seem anywhere near as solid as a rolls from the same era.
Is it RHD or LHD? Never seen one outside the UK. Did they export them?
It was based on the 420G which was designed for the US market
Yes, they were made with LHD and some found there way to the US.
There is one down here doing wedding duty to, it belongs to a wedding limo rental place that has a couple of old Rollers and one of these, most of them have been converted to 350’s.
Where would our funeral directors, wedding hire guys and town mayors be without them?
And I hadn’t realised that the driver had to cope with such a limited space and configuration in what is actually a very big car.
Deep breath…
The gen 2 Seville is better-looking than this car.
There, I said it!
The Daimler looks like a bigger curvy Jag in the front, but then its tail is encased in boxy packing material. The Seville is sharp-edged front to back and also doesn’t seem as if it’s about to crush its undersized wheels.
Agreed, FWIW. But then Daimler’s styling budget was undoubtedly a wee bit less. They should have asked Bill Mitchell if they could borrow Wayne Kady, GM’s Master of the bustleback.
Or barring that, a set of firstgen Firebird taillights that could be deployed vertically on either side of the trunk opening, instead of those ones that look like they were intended for quasi-tailfin styling and then plonked on a flat surface here.
Those taillights started life on the MK X/420G, and also went on to serve duty on the smaller 420/Daimler Sovereign (the Jag Mk II-based Sov). They were designed for the guards to flow into them (420G pictured below), and certainly do look odd on the flat DS420 rear!
But isn’t it made easier when the Seville’s styling came years afterwards?
With 80s styling cues, rather than 60s styling cues. Not to say at all that this Daimler originated this bustleback look… But the Seville designers must’ve studied this car, as well others with the bustleback treatment. Including the handling of the two-tone paint treatment.
I think the modern term for it, used often in music, is ‘sampling’. Or owing a lot to another design.
Here’s our homage to Mr. Bustleback, Wayne Kady: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/the-cars-of-gm-designer-wayne-kady-slantbacks-and-bustlebacks-from-beginning-to-end/
The attached rendering by him is dated 1967, one year before before this DS420 appeared.
Thank you Paul. Very informative biography. Kady was quite talented. Always fascinating the way there is always a paper trail that must be followed with auto design and engineering. And obviously Wayne Kady was inspired by the designs from the 30s for the Seville. I’ve never heard of a lawsuit over automotive styling. Look at some of the clones emerging from China. I guess it’s also because stolen concepts are caught before they ever reach production and deals negotiated. As they are with model names for example. I do find the intrigue and the ‘real’ stories very interesting.
I don’t know what you mean about the top of the grill being awful. Do you mean the empty space where the mascot is missing? I think the fluted top of the grill is beautiful.
That Kady sketch looks like a long-nosed Gremlin targa.
You may be right, but I don’t think the designers were necessarily going for a “beautiful” car. They wanted presence, and a certain establishment style. It might not be the most attractive car on the road, but as it sweeps up the gravel road to the stately home, there is a certain rightness about it. The Seville just woudn’t fit
Mind you, take the Daimler to the Seville’s natural hunting ground, and you would look pretty stupid as well. Pompous is a word that leaps to mind.
I agree. The gen II Seville with a 350 (gas) / 350 drivetrain and decent build quality might have meant a far more successful car and a re-write of the brougham’s future in the later ’80s.
Duh. Front drive. I imagine my tranny pick is a non starter.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and there’s no accounting for taste. This is the most impressive-looking limousine after the James Young Phantom 5 Rolls Royce. The rear lights are a stylistic problem – they look better on the rear of the Jaguar 420G or 420 or S-type from the sixties where they sit at the ends of tails which the Daimler is lacking (unlike the James Young RR Phantom), but I can live with this. The wheels don’t look too small, but they do on a 420G. Remember these cars had cross-ply tyres which had higher profiles, and these days they are fitted with radials.
The front half of the 1980-85 Seville is better, but the back half is definitely not! There, I said it and I’m glad.
I have long been struck by how small the wheels seem on these cars. I do like these, there is something so very British and proper about them.
Thank you for this very educational piece on a very rare and fascinating car. If you happen upon this one again, you might leave a note under one of the wipers suggesting that someone clean the whitewalls. Dirty whitewalls should simply not be tolerated on a motorcar such as this. 🙁
Throw some 26″ wire wheels on that sled! 🙂
The wheels look small because it’s a rather large car. The proportions are way off, so the car looks smaller (on photo) than it really is. Instead of a really large car with normal wheels, it looks like a smaller car with even smaller wheels. The beltline is very high, disguising both the height of the greenhouse and the length of the car. Imagine the car with a lower beltline, and the greenhouse would be taller and out of proportion. The car is 1.60 metres high, so the roof should be on eye level to a normal man. The car even looks narrow with all that height, though it’s almost two metres wide. In a way, they have done a very good job disguising the cars girth, though as said, the wheels are out of proportion to the rest of the car, making the car look like it has very small wheels.
Ingvar is right about the proportions. This is a very long car that looks shorter than it really is because the roof is very tall. Notice that the Queen Mother is exiting her car standing straight up, which cannot be done by an average size adult in a Cadillac Fleetwood 75 of that era, even with their elevated rooflines, or in a current Lincoln Town Car.
This car has great presence because of its height, and being able to enter and exit in a dignified way must boost the presence of the passenger greatly upon arrival at a destination. I doubt that anyone looking at this car in person would notice the size of the wheels since the car stands so tall.
That is the drivers job to clean and maintain the vehicle not the owners
+1
I had a close-up shot of the wheel covers, but did not post it because of the ugly dirty whitewalls. They may be the only whitewalls in Thailand, so whitewall spray cleaner is probably not a common item there.
Here’s another Daimler (black one), at the Hotel de Moc, on Wisut Kasat Road, Bangkok, near Sam Sen Road. It shared a parking shed with four Rolls Royces of various vintages. And there was a GT under a shroud, possibly a 1970s Ferrari or Maserati?
Wow.
Who lives there?
Hai Fat?
Haha! No idea if a James Bond villain is the owner of those cars. But the Hotel de Moc looks like a former grand residence of a really wealthy family, repurposed as a hotel. At least that was the vibe.
Still a few to be seen today as mayoral/wedding/funeral cars.
James Bond, M, and Moneypenny rode around in one of these at the beginning of Tomorrow Never Dies. Only time I’ve ever seen this car before.
Correct, one also gets blown up in the beginning of 1992’s Patriot Games, the 2nd Tom Clancy Jack Ryan movie.
I’ve found two decaying DS420 hearses in Cape Town. Click for a photo.
They still remain fairly impressive looking cars.
Very nice pic. I rather like the scalloping atop the grille. Unfortunately, the parking lights aren’t well integrated.
Don’t forget to include the BMW E65 (7 series) in the hideous bustleback MISTAKE.
Also the 6 series
The mark of a true Luxury car is a Chauffeur only peasants drive themselves and these have actual room in them unlike the squashed flat American stretched vehicles.
Blargh blarfgh blarga blarrgh I dislike anything American blarrgh blaaraggggrhhh. blargfgfghhh.
To be fair this works much better as a limousine than a low almost crawl into it format that American limousines became as they reflected the changes in normal cars. The new SUV based limousines are more like the early fifties or even prewar vehicles which predate the lower longer wider trend.
I have to agree with John H here. The “longer-wider-lower” era was a terrible development for American limousines. It emphasized style over the fundamentals of passenger comfort, and when Detroit made its 1960s cars into limousines it had to add elevated roofs (see the Cadillac 75 limousines of the era) to compensate, and even that modification only made up part of the difference. The 1940s Cadillac 75 (of Don Corleone fame) had height and seating position similar to that of the Rolls Royce and Daimler limousines of the 1960s, while the 1960s Cadillac Fleetwood 75 was much lower all around. SUV-based limousines of today are too far in the opposite direction, as they are so tall that they have to be stepped up into.
I feel the same way about all cars, regarding the “lower-wider” era. Which explains SUVs and CUVs and such. My Xb’s interior dimensions are quite similar to cars from the 40s.
Hey, don’t include the American Steinway model D there – the best of them are far superior to the Hamburg Steinways that Americans seem to think are more prestigious. I know you’re not being serious about American cars, but on that subject I don’t know how other commentators can possibly see nothing wrong with horrible imitation woodgrain finishes in, say, a Cadillac. If anything’s awful, that is.You won’t find that In a Daimler.
There was a story only a day or so ago in the Daily Mail about the royals gathering for the Queen’s Christmas luncheon this year. Many of them, including Prince William and Prince Harry were driving themselves with their significant others. Prince Charles and Camilla, of course, had a chauffeur.
When Jaguar designed this car, they consigned Daimler styling and Daimlers’ excellent V8 engine to history and built a pastiche of a 1950s Rolls Royce on a Mk X floorpan. Since the V8 Daimler could leave a Mk X for dead, it was never going to be wonderful, but it filled a gap, at a relatively affordable price. albeit without the build quality previously associated with the Daimler marque. But looking at this car, you wouldn’t expect the sophisticated E-Type derived suspension that lurks underneath – the real Daimler DR450 limo had a live axle at the back.
The top of the grill surround is awful. Or showing an awful reflection. Or something.
Am I the only one who reads “DS420” as “Deadly Sin, approved for production while high”?
LOL!
In the CC-effect, I bought the 1968 and mid-80s DS420 brochures last weekend and was reading them a couple nights ago. Interestingly, although the rear-most side window pivots out on the examples above, on the original 1968 model the window had a vertical split, and the front half wound down (picture below). The mid-80s brochure speaks glowingly of the sophisticated air-conditioning system for the rear passengers. The accompanying photo in the brochure shows the old 1960s MK X buttons of ‘Off’, ‘Heat’ and ‘Air’. Not my definition of sophisticated!
There are a few here in NZ, but they mostly seem to be performing wedding duty now. A certain DS420 remains in folklore here, due to a concrete worker who won the mayoralty of one of our larger cities in the early 1980s, and allegedly celebrated by towing his concrete mixer behind it.
He made the front page doing that scott
The website that I mentioned at the end points out how the brochures re-used old photographs for years, even some with mistakes in the captions and superseded features. Jaguar’s marketing budget for these cars must have been almost nonexistent.
This takes me back to the summer of 1978, when I visited London. I caught sight of the Queen Mum being driven away somewhere, and managed to take an admittedly crappy snapshot… You can’t see her, because that guy’s head is in the way, but it was the Queen Mum herself.
That is a fantastic bald spot however……
Mine’s bigger! 😉
Had I won the Powerball lottery earlier this week I would have purchased the finest 2nd gen Seville available and had it shipped to Chip Foose to customize. I would want to have all plastic panels recreated in sheet metal and leaded in, new bumpers created , and have the FWD drive train replaced with RWD drivetrain (like Jay Leno’s Toronado) using a 500CI real Caddy engine. The rest I think I would leave to Mr., Foose’s imagination. I like bustle backs!
The “bustleback” treatment was commonly referred to as the Empress Line and was a comparatively common rear-end treatment for UK luxury cars through the 1950s… I’m sure some other CC reader knows more than I do about the subject.
And it’s one of those things where a little goes a long way – a ’78-80 Malibu sedan just hints at it and looks great.
The 1982-87 Lincoln Continental also hinted at it, and IMO was a far better “tribute” to the whole bustleback thing than was the 2nd gen Seville.
Aha! I have driven one or two of these. You either fit the driver’s compartment or (more likely) you don’t. Headroom no prob, legroom tight. The ideal chauffeur would have a longish back and shortish legs and arms. The air conditioning in earlier versions was reserved for the paying customer in the back leaving the perspiring chauffeur sweltering in the front as a result of heat soak from the engine bay. Some owners allowed their wheelmen to drive in shirt sleeves in summer. Jolly decent of them, what?
The lack of air conditioning in the front does not say good things about how the British treated the hired help back then! The Cadillac Fleetwood 75 of the same era had a similarly uncomfortable and fixed driving position, but at least it used the standard dashboard with the same outlets for ventilation and air conditioning as standard sized Cadillacs.
Just watched the video for “Stolen” by Dashboard Confessional and there’s a DS420 in it (briefly).
Oddly, it’s in a role where one of this week’s Matador wagons might’ve been better car casting..
What a hideous car. The Seville looks so much better. If I was head of state I would want a imperial crown Ghia or a mid 70s Lincoln like Kim jong ILS car. Perhaps with out the giant picture and with a 77 front grill.
Imagine living in a country where you have to look at that ugly mug all day every day. I’d have thought that would be enough to start a revolution! Ha!
Well done for catching this one, khun Lobelt. I know it well, as I used to live on that street in BKK.
I’ll share an oddity from the same street (soi Langsuan, in central Bangkok), that I used to see from time to time.
If you look closely, the badge says “Chidlom XJ4” — now Chidlom is the nearest BTS (Bangkok elevated metro) stop and a street name. XJ4, of course, relates to the taillights and rear bodywork of this car, which look like they used to be on a Jaguar XJ40… But it’s a Ford Granada (if I remember correctly)! Can’t find a pic of the front end, but it has a mock XJ40 grill also. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to do this weird thing.
That is the most awesome find of the decade Tatra87! It’d be based on a Mk IV Ford Cortina/Taunus, one of my top-3 favourite cars. Whoever did this to it had a lot of time on their hands! Not my cup of tea, but I applaud their vision!
This is moving into uncanny valley territory.
Incredible find, Tatra87. How long did it take you to figure out what the car was, after the initial realization that looked like a Jaguar from a distance but was a bit “off”?
Such a creation can exist, parked on the street, only in a place where highly skilled labor is cheap – which describes Southeast Asia.
My cousin and her late husband (native Glaswegans both) were driven off in one of these Daimlers after their wedding in 1977. Definitely a step up from the Lincolns, Cadillacs, and stretched SUV limos here. Still, no complaints about the nice ’54 Chrysler my wife and I were driven off in.
If I remember correctly, Daimler designed this car to be basically the exact same proportions as the then current RR Phantom. Apparently, when the British royal family switched from Daimlers to RR in the 1950’s, it was quite a shock to some because Daimler had always been the choice of the “old money” crowd in the UK while RR was the car for the “new money” types who were much more keen on flashing their new found wealth with their cars. Unfortunately for Daimler though, apparently there had been just too many times when the Daimlers had “failed to proceed” when in use by the royals, obviously something they weren’t going to put up with for long!
Royals in the past also used the Humber Imperials for Transport argueably better cars than Daimler produced and with Thrupp Maberly coachbuilt bodywork.
I have a 1975 Daimler DS420 VanDen Plas for sale here in Dallas Texas 972 480 1968
If u want any info about my Daimler DS420 limo for sale text me at 9724801968
Hey Ryan, do you still have the Daimler? Just came across your post, and your phone number no longer works. I’m in Texas as well.
yes we still have it 214-564-4301
There’s a guy in Alberta Canada who has 2 for sale, most the parts are still there just need to make 2 into 1 for a guy who’s interested.
It’s $3,300 Canadian so about $2,600 US.
Another idea – the proportions work well for a pickup truck! (with extended doors left over from my earlier chop since that image was still on my computer)
A picture I took of One at a recent car show near Palm Springs.
An imposing and elegant car when seen in the metal, particularly when painted black.
I checked the external dimensions against the new Jaguar F-Pace. The height, width and ground clearances are all very close: F-Pace is plus 2″, plus 4″, plus 1.5″ respectively, so allowing for thicker crash protection, probably similar inside. With a 0.7m/28″ increase in wheelbase it should pretty much match the internal space.
Ah well, had to have a go. The front door is the standard F-Pace length, depsite the way it might look. Rear door might be a bit big though… The roof went up an inch or so to give it some more curvature to avoid a straight stretch in the middle look and the tail is XJ style (you wouldn’t want a hatch on a Limo). I added about 4″ ahead of the front wheel too; the bonnet looked to short otherwise.
The favorite vehicle of the Danish royal family is a DS420, known as Krone 1 (Crown 1).
Let me see, vulgar and hideous stretched American limos or the Daimler, no contest, I would be embarrassed to be seen in an American stretch limo, leave that to drunken hen parties
Seville bustelback, why did they do that? the style goes way back on British cars, look at the Austin Princess Limo of the 50/60s and other coachbuilt Daimlers.
A limousine is a hard thing to style, ample evidence is provided by the American Limo industry who turn cars into Dachshund motors. By necessity it has an excessive wheelbase, but at least the Daimler is elegant.
Some have mentioned no air conditioning in the front for the driver, in the UK air conditioning is virtually superfluous and an unnecessary complication when you have opening windows. It comes with most cars now, buy second hand and it always needs gassing as it is hardly ever used, I just rip off all the unnecessary weight and suddenly I can see the engine
Its all a bit academic anyway, I view these things as commercial vehicles as who would want to drive one or own one?, it would be a right pain just to park the dam things , let alone the fuel consumption
PS there are still plenty of Daimler Limos around, quite a few in my home town for weddings and funeral use
This Daimler really is not a bustle back. The late 1930’s (about 1938) Rolls Royces were bustle backs (or some were). The Seville is closer, but also is not really quite there either. The Daimler Empress models were quite good for styling and a bustle back.
The British class system on wheels. Sparse non-adjustable front seat,probably with no a/c for the working class driver, and luxurious rear seat accomodations for the ruling class passenger. A car the owner doesn`t drive, but gets chauffered around in . .
The idea of any limousine is to cosset the rear seat passengers and make them feel special, the driver is a paid employee so of secondary importance, but wouldn’t it put the lives of the passengers at risk on a long journey if they uncomfortable, that would be a daft thing to design in.
Has anybody actually sat in the front seat of one of these to attest that they are uncomfortable as it doesn’t look to bad to me, they are huge cars
I bet there have been more limousines sold in the US than in the whole of Europe, I seem to remember the Sedanca de Ville or town car was a popular body style , open front compartment for the chauffeur.
The rich lord it over their employees all over the world, not just in Britain. Its the same in Europe and the US, please don’t try to tell me there isn’t a form of class system based on money elsewhere.
Frequently on this site fun has been made of the British car hierarchy being class riddled, can anyone explain how general motors was any different
The British class system is dead and buried, has been since the 80s
My earlier comment about lack of legroom up front was a gut reaction to what appears to be a short front door for a limo. But the fact is, I don’t know. Could well be a comfortable and spacious place to sit, helped by a steering wheel that appears to be positioned fairly close to the windshield. I once sat in a ’37 Packard 138-CD limo and could barely squeeze behind the wheel despite my not being a wide fellow. It was pretty clear which end of the car was of greater concern to the designers.
There have always been lots of limos in the U.S.. What strikes me about the Daimler is how open the greenhouse is, perhaps to allow people to see their royalty? In the U.S. the tradition has mostly been about privacy, with wide C-pillars, small backlights and these days, darkened glass. And unfortunately from probably the Eighties on, sometimes cheesy design. The Brits seem to take limo design very seriously, at least the limos that get lots of public exposure.
I’m surprised at the low production figures because I saw so many of these cars when I was living in the UK, usually when funeral processions were passing by. Our Governor General (representative of the Queen) had a white one for many years, but it was replaced by an S-Class in the early 1990s. The Daimler survives in a private collection and pops up at classic car shows every now and then.
The mid eighty’s styling of the caddies does go back to Daimlers but a little farther back. 1948 London auto show which a Daimler DE 36 bodied by Hooper coachworks is accredited with being the inspiration of the designers. This body style was known as the razors edge by some.