Grace, Pace and Space ..even more so than the Jaguar.

[Bfg]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

I don't think the Daimlers were originally sold with wires - it may not even have been an option? The average Homburg-hatted Daimler owner would have considered that too racey.

I'm no expert but Nigel Thorley says the pressed steel wheels with hubcaps and chromed rim embellishers were standard on the Daimler 2-1/2 and Daimler 250 (although their hub caps were of a different style on the later cars) but that chromed wire wheels were an option on the later (slim bumper) model.. Daimler 250.  You'll note from the photos the scrolled-D logo on three-sided spinners. The Jaguars had its name across their spinners ..which were two eared for the UK market.   

^ The chrome wire wheels on Tony's 87,000 mile Daimler 250 are probably original from the factory or Dealer.

I din't know the wire wheels weren't an option on the earlier Daimler 2-1/2 (fat bumper) model, as implied by Nigel Thorley.  Certainly a 1964 car of that model I'd previously owned had chromed wire wheels. I hadn't realised they had been retro fitted.  Every day is a school day !

Pete

[Bfg]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Good write up on Jaguar's Mk2 and the company here at AOR:

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/jaguar/mk2-jaguar/the-cars-jaguar-mk2-development-history/

 

" The Utah facelift was announced as the Mk2 Jaguar on 2 October 1959"  is under a photo, similiarly captioned "Utah facelift",  of a Daimler 2-1/2 (..with fluted grille) ..which Jaguar Cars didn't buy until mid-1960.  These cars, the Daimler derivative of their Mk.II, wasn't available before October 1962. 

 

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, Bfg said:

I'm no expert but Nigel Thorley says the pressed steel wheels with hubcaps and chromed rim embellishers were standard on the Daimler 2-1/2 and Daimler 250 (although their hub caps were of a different style on the later cars) but that chromed wire wheels were an option on the later (slim bumper) model.. Daimler 250.  You'll note from the photos the scrolled-D logo on three-sided spinners. The Jaguars had its name across their spinners ..which were two eared for the UK market.   

^ The chrome wire wheels on Tony's 87,000 mile Daimler 250 are probably original from the factory or Dealer.

I din't know the wire wheels weren't an option on the earlier Daimler 2-1/2 (fat bumper) model, as implied by Nigel Thorley.  Certainly a 1964 car of that model I'd previously owned had chromed wire wheels. I hadn't realised they had been retro fitted.  Every day is a school day !

Pete

The Daimler V8's were sold only through the existing Daimler dealer network I think - and would have occupied showroom space with the Dart and Majestic Major. I also think Daimler were still offering a  bare chassis/engine set-up at that point for coachbuilders. It really was the end of an era. 

I can image Daimler dealers to be a pretty stuffy bunch. The V8'S turned out to be very successful outselling easily the previous 'Conquest' model.

Thought in a parallel universe a Vauxhall/Daimler mash up would have been fascinating to own. 

[Bfg]

Time to get my hands dirty . . .

  

Up on ramps and with the bonnet open for squirting penetrating-lubrication fluid over every nut n' bolt and every linkage, as well as the back face of the bumpers and under the wings, etc.  I did the same with the door, bonnet and boot hinges and their locks, as well as the control cables / linkages for throttle, choke, heater, scuttle vent, etc. etc. 

Having read a few on-line reviews the PlusGas, Holts Rustola and WD-40 seem to attract most favourable comment.  In my own little test I haven't yet assessed which fastening comes loose easiest but I have observed ; PlusGas was the most expensive but then seemed to offer consistent & good pressure to the very end of the can, as well as having a particularly accurate squirt (using the pin-pointer tube) into places that weren't accessible (for example when aimed at linkages or fastenings 18" away down behind the engine). The Holts Rustola I haven't tried yet because it doesn't accept a tube for pinpointing where I want to lubricate. Without it, the spray came out a bit too fanned out.  The WD-40 was the cheapest to buy (from Euro Car Parts it was just £6 for a 600ml can). I found its squirt seemed a little too much and so it splashed more and wasted more. Then as the can reach half empty/full the spray became inconsistent. Later on it would only spray when the can was upright, which is inconvenient when laying/working under the car.  Annoyingly, the pin-pointer tube kept on coming out of the spray head and the outside of the can became slippery with lubricant. The SAS (with PTFE) ..when using the long pin-point tube off the PlusGas, sprayed as fine mist. This seemed economical and was useful in certain places where I wanted to inject a broad mist of lubricant, for example on top of the front suspension's bottom spring pan.  The GT85 (with PTFE) is physically the smallest sized can, despite claiming the same 400ml capacity as the PlusGas. Its pressure is less and its small size is perhaps easier to handle with or without the pinpointing tube. I'm sure you all have your own preference so I'll not draw a conclusion, save that getting the penetrating fluid / lubricant where you want it, in the small quantity you want, together with consistency of spray when you're in awkward positions - relates to value and ease of use.  Maybe, at times, these attributes are as important as the product's ability to do its penetrating/lubricating task.  Accordingly I think I'll veer towards PlusGas and SAS for future purchases. 

   

^ not bad nick for a car first registered in January 1968, but there's plenty of scope for tarting up, maintenance and improvement.   Nice to find clean air filters in the canisters, and newish looking jubilee clips on the still supple rubber hoses.  The clutch has been replaced recently, and the brakes are very well sorted, tyres are likewise very good (save the spare), and there are still the manufacturer's paper labels on the stainless steel exhaust. Someone's spent some sensible money on maintenance of this car

   

^ rear wheel arch spats are each in amazingly good condition, but mice appeared to have taken up home in the rear seat's foam.  I don't know if they are still in there ..but if they are - they won't be feasting for very much longer.!

      

The weather was bright when I first arrived at the storage unit, and then it rained consistently ..until I'd packed up to come home.  Hey ho it could have been very much worse. 

Pete

[lesapandre]

I wonder if these had better body preparation than the equivalent Jaguar? 

I'm assuming the cars were built up at the old Daimler factory from bodies in the white being delivered from Pressed Steel- rather than coming down the rather crowded lines at Browns Lane?

Car looks great. Good news on the brakes.

[lesapandre]

A bit more online research brought up this:

"All machining, engine and axle production would be moved to Radford [the Daimler factory].  With space released at Browns Lane, a new production line was installed and a new paint facility (bought 2nd hand from Mulliner Body Works) was set up."

So looks like they shuffled products between factories to free up more space at Browns Lane to make all the Daimlers there. Must have involved a lot of reorganisation. 

Source:

https://www.jaguarheritage.com/daimler-history/when-jaguar-bought-daimler/

[tooSavvy]

I bought GT-85 as it gets good reviews on cycle forums = lubes + frame rub down...

*Well cheepz, on eBay, MY No.1 priority 😉

Lovely mottah M9

👍

[Bfg]

Lots of minor jobs to do around the car, starting with rubber suspension parts under the car, and I wish to have her repainted, but I'd also really love to fit a sliding fabric sunroof, like the attached photos. Has anyone got a used / repairable Webasto, possibly about 35" wide x 45" long ..typically Rover sized.. that I might buy ?

 

And has anyone personal experience of fitted one ..to a car with such a rounded roof ?  I'd be glad to hear from you with advice. Jaguar used to offer these from new, as a special order option, and the inside of the roof was reinforced at its cut edges by the factory. I have a copy of Webasto's fitting instructions, but not of Jaguar's reinforcement. Perhaps someone can help.

 

Cheers, Pete

                                                                   .. please excuse the wire wheels and white wall tyres ..which look very American

 

   

[Asimo]

Don’t fit a fabric sun-roof, they are the pits!

All sunroofs are a bad thing but those horrid flappy, leaky, creaky Webasto abominations have been the premature end of so many cars.
You wouldn’t fit one to your house, so don’t fit one to your car!

[Matty]

I can see the appeal Pete, but I can also see what Asimo is saying. If it were possible to make the cut on the roof skin so fine then store the piece, it may be possible to have a good man weld it back in in the future, but even a slitting disc is one mill thick. That's quite the gap on thin sheet to fill without blowing the edges away.

Does look good in that photo mind. End of the day, your car your rules!

[Bfg]

18 hours ago, Asimo said:

Don’t fit a fabric sun-roof, they are the pits!

All sunroofs are a bad thing but those horrid flappy, leaky, creaky Webasto abominations have been the premature end of so many cars.
You wouldn’t fit one to your house, so don’t fit one to your car!

Bought as a rag top, my other car is a TR4 with a Surrey top, I wouldn't dream of making that into a closed saloon car. 

   

And in my present home I miss having the patio window..   ^ If I had the money I'd have one of these,  or this ^^   ...and employ a window cleaner !

or on the cheap ..one of these ^

Imho., the premature end to millions of cars, was not due to any form of sunroof ..that was never fitted, but rust creeping up from the underside and dissolving the sills, structural mountings, the bottom of the doors, wings and wheel arches.  I certainly acknowledge the fact that many sunroofs leaked, particularly those retrofitted where a hole was cut through a thin roof panel and no return flange was welded in, so when a fabric sunroof was fitted the edges of the roof panel flexed. 

I'd also suggest that cars of the 60's are now rarely used as daily drivers left out in all weathers, so destructive leaks should not be the same extent of problem that they once were. 

Pete

 

[xkjagnz]

This one is for sale in NZ, at a mere $124990 (about 65 k pounds) 

Beacham Daimler /Jaguar Restoration with a 4 litre v8

Modern mechanics and stylish exterior

[HMC]

Theres always a viewt 

[Rocket88]

6 hours ago, xkjagnz said:

This one is for sale in NZ, at a mere $124990 (about 65 k pounds) 

Beacham Daimler /Jaguar Restoration with a 4 litre v8

Modern mechanics and stylish exterior

Shame about the interior 

[Asimo]

31 minutes ago, Rocket88 said:

Shame about the interior

And the engine.

And the wheels.

Wires on a Daimler? Just say no.

[Matty]

Just a shame if I'm being honest

[Rocket88]

At least they haven’t “ electrified “ it…..😱

[lesapandre]

Oh - plenty of MK2 body tubs to go round still. In the long tradition of modified MK2's which started as soon as the car appeared. Coombes started it and lairy MK2's were racing in the 60's.

Vicarage have been doing this for years in various forms - not my taste either but it saves another car for another day and someone is enjoying themselves. 

At least it is an Jaguar/Daimler. I'm not sure what a modern Jaguar is for these days - and Daimler as a British brand is long gone. So at least it shows what can be done - I expect the engineering is well done. Probably cost £100,000++ to  create.

[Matty]

16 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Oh - plenty of MK2 body tubs to go round still. In the long tradition of modified MK2's which started as soon as the car appeared. Coombes started it and lairy MK2's were racing in the 60's.

Vicarage have been doing this for years in various forms - not my taste either but it saves another car for another day and someone is enjoying themselves. 

Very much so. Bit of a hypocrite myself really. Never been able to leave owt alone fully.

[lesapandre]

3 minutes ago, Matty said:

Very much so. Bit of a hypocrite myself really. Never been able to leave owt alone fully.

In the US these MK2 sometimes got GM-V8's transplanted in. They occasionally turn up for sale.

I wonder what age  the DVLA would consider that Daimler to be.

[Matty]

1 minute ago, lesapandre said:

In the US these MK2 sometimes got GM-V8's transplanted in. They occasionally turn up for sale.

I wonder what age  the DVLA would consider that Daimler to be.

Dunno. Wonder if it works off the points style system as mentioned on here before? Or possibly just the age of the shell?

[Bfg]

Not to my taste ..but then what I do with my cars is not to other's idea of good taste.  

By coincidence I'm presently trying to choose a new colour for my own car. It's the first time I've ever afforded to have a full respray (a friend's prices) and will all the beautiful colours under the rainbow - the choice isn't easy.  Most likely I won't be choosing a greenish mint interior though.  My Daimler was opalescent silver (light grey) from the factory with red leather, and as you can now see she's filthy-cat-from-the-coal-bunker black, which I know from prior experience is a sod to keep clean.  

Tbh., I'd love a really dark-opalescent-blue, or perhaps an almost black-green which to my eyes suits the conservative persona of a Daimler, but then those shades of colour would be equally as difficult to keep clean.  I also happen to like a lighter colour inside the engine bay and under the car. 

I was very tempted by the opalescent maroon but right now I'm looking more and more at the metallic / opalescent colours of the later XJ6 Jaguar range. They did a lovely sage green both as a light tone and a darker one, a choice of light or mid range blues with a tinge of gun-metal, and even their sandy gold was tastefully rich and warm.  I'm still undecided, but the red seats in my car will most likely remain.  And then I see a photo of a silver Daimler with red seats and that reminds me of the Jabekke record breaking TR2 ..and that opalescent ice-mint colour looks good too.   Of course any colour I look at is subject to the photographer, the weather / ambient light and reflections, and to this computer screen.  Hey ho the decision is not made yet.  I'm sure I'll be happy with whichever ! 

I will of course be working to a budget quite unlike Beecham's.  I also see no point in adding a more powerful modern engine to a car that must still have the finer traits of 1960's narrow wheelbase handling and steering.  I also feel the old XK Jag engine was a delight to open the bonnet for, whereas matt black engine shrouds simply don't float my boat. It makes me wonder if there's an electric motor under the vacuum-formed cover ?  ..sorta like a Scalextric Jagwaar-Dameler.  Nor does a fat steeling wheel or a centre console of dozens of black buttons that you can't find by feel when driving at night.  It looks to me as if they've placed a mk2 body shell on a different Jag, and lost all but the body lines of the experience of owning a classic.  Wire wheels were a sporty extra (in stark contrast to the fat air-bag steering wheel) and to me are out of context on a Daimler, and I'd still prefer an open sunroof (webasto type) to air-con.   But aside from that .... 🤪

Now where was I ? oh yes, decisions, decisions, what colour ?  ..I'm veering towards a lighter opalescent almost Wedgwood blue. . .

[Matty]

Found a good owner this. By the time you're finished with it, it'll be mint.

[Mally]

I cut a hole in my Brand new* Dutton Sierra. Thought about it long and hard first. It was fine but leaked after 6 months.

In your case I reckon a non factory roof modification would lower the value dramatically.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Light colours work well on the mk2/Daimler. 

[Bfg]

50 minutes ago, Mally said:

In your case I reckon a non factory roof modification would lower the value dramatically.

 I have no kids,  nor wife,  and I'm in my late 60's  ,  so ...  

..just kidding  😃

[Bfg]

3 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Light colours work well on the mk2/Daimler. 

I cannot disagree with that 😎   very nice and looking like fun .

[artdjones]

13 hours ago, xkjagnz said:

This one is for sale in NZ, at a mere $124990 (about 65 k pounds) 

Beacham Daimler /Jaguar Restoration with a 4 litre v8

Modern mechanics and stylish exterior

That steering wheel 🤮

[Matty]

40 minutes ago, Bfg said:

 I have no kids,  nor wife,  and I'm in my late 60's  ,  so ...  

..just kidding  😃

Aye, you're in your late 60s but you know how to do memes. I'm 42 and don't have a bloody clue 😄

[ETCHY]

15 hours ago, xkjagnz said:

This one is for sale in NZ, at a mere $124990 (about 65 k pounds) 

Beacham Daimler /Jaguar Restoration with a 4 litre v8

Modern mechanics and stylish exterior

FUGLY