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Daimler Majestic

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75-603: The Daimler Majestic DF316/7 and DF318/9 luxury saloon was launched by the Daimler Company of Coventry in July 1958 and was in production until 1962. Edward Turner had been appointed Chief Executive of BSA Automotive in 1957 and promised new products, this car was to carry his new V8 engine still under development. The six-cylinder, four-door saloon, with new three-speed Borg Warner automatic transmission , power steering and vacuum-servo assisted four-wheel disc brakes

150-510: A Royal Warrant as "Motor Car Manufacturer to the Court of Prussia" by Kaiser Wilhelm II . Stratton also sold Daimlers to the Sultan of Johor . In 1911, he spent some weekends at Sandringham tutoring the new Prince of Wales on the workings and driving of an automobile. Stratton went into partnership with Daimler's commercial manager Ernest Instone in 1921. Stratton and Instone took charge of

225-416: A royal warrant as suppliers of motor cars. Undecimus Stratton met E. G. Jenkinson, the chairman of Daimler, in 1903 when Jenkinson's Daimler was stranded by the roadside. Upon seeing the stranded motorist, Stratton stopped his Daimler and offered assistance. Jenkinson was impressed by Stratton and by his motoring knowledge. At the time, Jenkinson was looking to replace the head of Daimler's London depot,

300-520: A 1-ton delivery van, lorries from 2 to 5 ton and a 40 hp omnibus. Buses and trucks were able to use the same chassis and engines and, as was common practice for commercial vehicles, then have bespoke bodywork fitted. The Metropolitan Electric Tramways ordering 350 double-decker buses in 1912 and engines were sold to the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC). The bus models were the 13 foot wheelbase CB (same chassis as

375-514: A Daimler chassis. The British The Motor magazine tested a Majestic Major with power steering in 1961 and recorded a top speed of 122.3 mph (196.8 km/h) and acceleration from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 9.7 seconds. A "touring" fuel consumption of 16.9 miles per gallon (imperial) was recorded. On the home market, as tested, the car cost £3166 including taxes of £955. Jaguar, which had taken over Daimler in 1960, announced their similarly equipped if less powerful new Jaguar Mark X saloon

450-657: A digest of Debrett ;" the Bombay agent supplied Indian princes ; the Japanese agent, Okura , handled sales in Manchuria and Korea . During World War I, the military took the normal production cars, lorries, buses and ambulances together with a scout army vehicle and engines used in ambulances, trucks, and double-decker buses. Special products included aero-engines and complete aircraft, tank and tractor engines and munitions. The first aircraft engine manufactured by Daimler

525-604: A director of DMG, proposed a union between the Daimler Motor Company in Coventry and DMG in Cannstatt in mid-1900 but the reorganised company was not interested in the merger and turned the offer down. Persistent financial troubles caused Daimler to be reorganised again in 1904. The previous company was wound up and a new company was formed to acquire the old one and pay its debts and winding-up costs. Under

600-460: A large car. It was faster than a Mark X Jaguar up to 80 mph (130 km/h) despite its 1,880 kg (4,145 lb) bulk, it has been said. Jaguar tested the engine in a Mark X which attained 135 mph (217 km/h). External differences from the Majestic included a D motif on top of the bonnet, cast-in V symbols on the ventilation air intakes, six inches added to the length of

675-562: A maximum speed of around 162 km/h (101 mph) (see Performance below). To help with the increase in the bore, the cylinder block was considerably enlarged to allow for the fitting of completely new liners: dry liners as present on the One-O-Four were absent on the Majestic. The Borg-Warner transmission required repositioning of the starter motor and consequent modifications to the crankcase and cylinder block castings. The crankshaft has four main bearings, integral balance weights and

750-665: A motor car factory, On 7 June 1895, Simms told the board of the Daimler Motor Syndicate that he intended to form The Daimler Motor Company Limited to acquire the British rights to the Daimler patents and to manufacture Daimler engines and cars in England. That month, he arranged for the syndicate to receive a ten per cent (10%) commission on all British sales of Daimler-powered Panhard & Levassor cars. At

825-451: A particularly sensitive position because of the royal cars. Taking the position, Stratton soon found himself having to select better royal chauffeurs and mechanics. He quickly became an occasional motoring companion to the King . In 1908, through Stratton's Royal connections, Daimler was awarded a " Royal Appointment as suppliers of motor cars to the Court of Spain" by King Alfonso XIII and

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900-465: A persistent transmission failure on the King's car, Rolls-Royce was commissioned to provide official state cars and as Daimlers retired they were not replaced by Daimlers. The current official state car is either one of a pair which were specially made for the purpose by Bentley , unofficial chauffeured transport is by Daimler. Elizabeth II's own car for personal use was a 2008 Daimler Super Eight but she

975-457: A rounded rear window. There are two standard-sized headlamps at the front extremities with Daimler's usual pair of fog lamps or driving lights just above low-set bumpers . There are plain disc wheels . The usual Daimler luxury fittings included: heating and ventilating equipment, windscreen washer, cigar lighter, lockable glove compartment, two courtesy lights when any door is opened, special reading lights for passengers, spring-balanced lid for

1050-520: A special edition of the XJ40 using the Majestic name, at first in the US only, leather-equipped with steering wheel in interior colour and often red or blue piping. In the final XJ40 years the name Majestic was used for the special build LWB XJ40, of which only 121 examples were constructed. Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( / ˈ d eɪ m l ər / DAYM -lər ), before 1910 known as

1125-581: A torsional vibration damper mounted at the front. The top of the radiator was lowered 2 inches from the One-o-Four's. The styling of the Majestic is similar to, but wider and with smoother lines than the One-O-Four model it replaced. Interior width was increased by approximately 4 inches by extending the sides to the edge of the car. The handsome body is massive with a conventional high waistline —the doors later seemed to be high with narrow windows— and

1200-595: A week and producing Léon Bollée cars under licence. Lawson claimed to have made 20 cars by July 1897 making the Daimler Britain's first motor car to go into serial production, an honour that is also credited to Humber Motors who had also displayed, but in their case their production models, at the Stanley Cycle Show in London in 1896. The Daimlers had a twin-cylinder, 1526 cc engine, mounted at

1275-471: A well-located hypoid bevel driven 'live' rear axle using semi-elliptic springs . The Majestic's four-wheel Lockheed-servo-assisted Dunlop disc brakes were regarded as a first for a British production car. It was the first saloon car without any claim to a sportscar nature to be equipped with disc brakes. An emergency or handbrake was provided by fitting special pads to the rear brake discs which were operated by cables and rods. The engine, slightly larger than

1350-585: Is a large luxury saloon produced by Daimler in Coventry , England , between November 1960 and 1968. It was fitted with a 4,561 cc V8 engine and was offered as a much more powerful supplement to their then current Daimler Majestic . A substantially lengthened limousine version of the same chassis and bodyshell, the Daimler DR450 , was available from 1961 until the V8 engine ended production. Though

1425-539: The Daimler Motor Company Limited , was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry . The company bought the right to the use of the Daimler name simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft of Cannstatt , Germany. After early financial difficulty and a reorganisation of

1500-553: The Daimler-Knight engine which it further developed in the early twentieth century and used from 1909 to 1935, the worm gear final drive fitted from 1909 until after the Second World War, and their patented fluid flywheel used in conjunction with a Wilson preselector gearbox from 1930 to the mid-1950s. Daimler tried to widen its appeal in the 1950s with a line of smaller cars at one end and opulent show cars at

1575-485: The One-O-Four's , was an inline six of 3.8 litres (3794 cc), based on previous Daimler sixes with pushrod operated overhead valves and retaining the 107.95 millimetres (4.25 in) stroke, but with the bore increased to 86.36 millimetres (3.4 in) from the 82.55 millimetres (3.3 in) of the One-O-Four, giving a power output of over 147 brake horsepower (110 kW) at 4,400 rpm and produced 209 lb⋅ft (283 N⋅m) of torque at 2,800 rpm. The Majestic had

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1650-494: The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – founded by Simms – since 1907. However the merger was not a great success. By 1913 Daimler had a workforce of 5,000 workers which made only 1,000 vehicles a year. In 1911 Daimler had plans to create The Premier Motor Omnibus Company (running Daimler buses) and appoint Frank Searle (ex London General Omnibus Company ) as the managing director. However plans had to be scrapped at

1725-471: The 1909 Dewar Trophy . Sales outran the works' ability to supply. Daimler's sleeve valve engines idle silently but they left a slight haze of oil smoke trailing behind them. These engines consumed oil at a rate of up to an Imperial gallon every 450  miles, oil being needed to lubricate the sleeves particularly when cold. However, by the standards of their day they required very little maintenance. Daimler kept their silent sleeve-valve engines until

1800-401: The 1968–1992 Daimler DS420 limousine, which had no Jaguar equivalent despite being fully Jaguar-based. When Jaguar Cars was split off from British Leyland in 1984, it retained the Daimler company and brand. Ford bought Jaguar Cars in 1990 and under Ford it stopped using the Daimler marque in 2009 when the last X358 Daimler models were discontinued. The X351 Jaguar XJ took its place and there

1875-509: The 1980s Jaguar's prices and quality were firmly raised. The Daimler Majestic was supplemented by Turner's 4.5-litre V8 Daimler Majestic Major in the same body announced at the 1959 motor show though production was delayed until the following year. The six-cylinder car was more popular though produced for half the period. A preliminary announcement on 26 May 1960 confirmed negotiations were nearing completion for Jaguar's purchase of Daimler and its factory. In 1989 and 1990 Jaguar Cars produced

1950-657: The 36 hp tractor launched at the June 1911 Norwich Agricultural Show, and its larger 105 hp version, the Foster-Daimler tractor (a joint project with William Foster & Co. ) following in January 1912 (mainly destined for the South American market). Both used Daimler sleeve-valve engines, the larger 6-cylinder tractor having a small BSA starter engine. In January 1912, new commercial vehicles included

2025-431: The 4 ton truck) and the 12 foot wheelbase CC, both with 40 hp engines. With the onset of WW1 CC chassis production was stopped and CB production was ramped up for trucks for the military. A half-ton delivery van was based on a 12 hp chassis similar to a car chassis. The railcar project utilised 2 of the large six-cylinder engines. Daimler had created a railcar in 1904, and though it went into service briefly it

2100-597: The Daimler patents. That month, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft lent Simms a motorboat with a 2 hp engine and an extra engine. In June 1891 Simms had set up a London office at 49 Leadenhall Street and founded Simms & Co consulting engineers. In May 1892, the motorboat, which Simms had named Cannstatt , began running on the River Thames from Putney . After demonstrating a motor launch to The Honourable Evelyn Ellis , Simms's motor launch business grew rapidly, but became endangered when solicitor Alfred Hendriks

2175-456: The Daimler showrooms at 27 Pall Mall, naming the business Stratton-Instone. Stratton died in July 1929 after a brief illness. His successors and Instone bought out Daimler's interest in 1930 and renamed the business Stratstone Limited. The following summer the future King Edward VIII rented Stratton's house at Sunningdale from his widow. Every British monarch from Edward VII to Elizabeth II has been driven in Daimler limousines. In 1950, after

2250-483: The Daimler was narrower and had a smaller frontal area with the quality of finish —and variety of all finishes— mass production cannot easily provide. Jaguar horsepower figures were deliberately quoted on a US standard and thus inflated a good deal. Daimler's customers saw Jaguars as cars for 'Cops and Robbers' and disliked their hint of cut-price luxury and rapid deterioration. Jaguar buyers may have regarded these if not all Daimlers as not just staid but super-stuffy. In

2325-461: The Majestic's production run. When announced in July 1958, the Majestic replaced the automatic version of the One-O-Four which continued in production with the pre-selector gearbox. An evolution of the preceding One-O-Four, the Majestic, like all new Daimlers following 1937's New Fifteen , was designed around that same massive cruciform-braced box-section chassis equipped with André Girling's design of coil-sprung independent front suspension with

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2400-542: The Major in those respects a mechanically advanced car for its time. Its body, however, was originally designed for the Majestic by Daimler subsidiary, the old coachbuilding firm Carbodies and they provided the bodies in conjunction with Park Sheet Metal. They were finished in cellulose paints allowing a selection of colours not available in the new synthetic finishes used by Jaguar. They were built at Browns Lane on separate hand-moved lines. The Majestic Major's turning circle

2475-466: The Major was announced and displayed on 20 October 1959 at the London Motor Show , the car on the show stand was a prototype and production did not get under way until November 1960. It was offered as a supplement alongside the slightly shorter 3.8-litre Majestic released in 1958. Both cars used the same chassis and bodyshell, the Major having an extended boot as well as the new engine which

2550-549: The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII , was given a ride on a Daimler by John Douglas-Scott-Montagu later known as Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. Scott-Montagu, as a member of parliament, also drove a Daimler into the yard of the Palace of Westminster , the first motorised vehicle to be driven there. Daimler had sold the Prince of Wales a mail phaeton in early 1900. In 1902, upon buying another Daimler, King Edward VII awarded Daimler

2625-720: The Thames where the Thames Electric and Steam Launch Company, owned by Andrew Pears of Pears Soap fame, had been making electrically powered motor launches, were purchased to be used to service Daimler-powered motor launches. Investor Harry John Lawson had set out to use the British Motor Syndicate to monopolise motor car production in Britain by taking over every patent he could. As part of this goal, Lawson approached Simms on 15 October 1895, seeking

2700-492: The Trusty Oil Engine Works, a company in receivership whose six-acre site at Cheltenham included a foundry, a machine shop, and testing facilities. Simms recommended buying the works immediately since, with ready facilities and the availability of skilled workers, they could start up in a very short time. Instead, at the first statutory meeting of the company, held while Simms was overseas, Lawson persuaded

2775-465: The board to buy a disused four-storey cotton mill in Coventry which was owned by Lawson's associate Ernest Terah Hooley . Despite Simms' later protest and pleas to sell the mill and buy the Trusty Oil Engine Works, Daimler stayed with the mill as the site of Britain's first automobile factory. Delayed delivery of machines kept the factory unfinished throughout 1896 and into 1897. During 1896 Daimler sold imported cars from companies for which Lawson held

2850-461: The car which gave it a longer boot and longer bumper returns, and twin exhaust pipes. Front seats could be supplied as individual adjustable seats or as a bench. Turner 's engine produced a conservatively rated 220 bhp (160 kW) at 5500 rpm and 283 pound force-feet (384 N⋅m) of torque at 3,200 rpm. By comparison a Jaguar Mark X also claimed 220hp but used a different scale of measurement . The chassis of Majestic Major

2925-545: The car. One of the passengers fractured his skull in the accident and died in hospital three days later. Under an agreement dated 22 September 1910 the shareholders of The Daimler Motor Company Limited "merged their holdings with those of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) group of companies," receiving five BSA shares in exchange for four ordinary Daimler shares and £1 5s plus accrued dividend for each £1 preference share . This deal

3000-423: The chairmanship of Sir Edward Jenkinson, Daimler hired American electrical engineer Percy Martin as works manager and socialite Undecimus Stratton as the head of the London depot, and promoted Ernest Instone to general manager. Jenkinson was succeeded in 1906 by Edward Manville , a consulting electrical engineer. Known as Britain's oldest car manufacturers, Daimler was first associated with royalty in 1898 when

3075-609: The combustion chamber in which the piston travels." The Royal Automobile Club held a special meeting to discuss the new engine, still silent but no longer "Wholly Knight". The Autocar reported on "its extraordinary combination of silence, flexibility and power." Daimler stopped making poppet-valve engines altogether. Under the observation of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), two Daimler sleeve-valve engines were put through severe bench, road, and track tests and, upon being dismantled, showed no visible wear, earning Daimler

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3150-705: The company in 1904, the Daimler Motor Company was purchased by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in 1910, which also made cars under its own name before the Second World War . In 1933, BSA bought the Lanchester Motor Company and made it a subsidiary of the Daimler Company. Daimler was awarded a Royal Warrant to provide cars to the British monarch in 1902; it lost this privilege in the 1950s after being supplanted by Rolls-Royce . Daimler occasionally used alternative technology:

3225-624: The company sold their launch works at Eel Pie Island at a loss of £700 or more. Ongoing difficulties with the Great Horseless Carriage Company and the British Motor Syndicate caused Lawson to resign from Daimler's board on 7 October 1897. He was replaced as chairman by Henry Sturmey , who at the time was five days into a motor tour in his personal Daimler from John O'Groats to Land's End . On arriving at Land's End on 19 October, Sturmey became

3300-560: The condition that Daimler and Maybach rejoined DMG. This was agreed in November 1895 and the Daimler-Maybach car business re-merged with DMG's. Daimler was appointed DMG's General Inspector and Maybach chief Technical Director. At the same time Simms became a director of DMG but did not become a director of the London company. According to Gustav Vischer, DMG's business manager at the time, Simms getting Daimler to return to DMG

3375-438: The first person to make that journey in a motor car. Gottlieb Daimler resigned from the board of the Daimler Motor Company in July 1898 having never attended a board meeting. Sturmey opposed the appointment of a proposed successor who, according to Sturmey, held no shares and knew nothing about the automobile business. A committee was brought in to investigate the activities of the board and the company. The committee summed up

3450-527: The front of the car, four-speed gearbox and chain drive to the rear wheels. Because of Daimler's financial difficulty in July 1897 Daimler began asking Lawson's Great Horseless Carriage Company to settle its accounts with them. In the same month, they refused to send working drawings of their 4 hp motor frame to DMG in Canstatt. Lack of co-operation with the Canstatt firm caused Simms to resign as Daimler's consulting engineer that month. Also in July 1897,

3525-507: The last moment, and instead the Daimler managing director, Percy Martin , created the Daimler commercial division, with Frank Searle as its head. Daimler had been involved with various commercial vehicle designs for some time, and this brought vans, trucks, buses, tractors and railcars under the same division head. All vehicles used the Daimler sleeve-valve petrol engines, many using the 105 hp 15.9 L sleeve-valve straight-six engine . New product announcements followed rapidly, with

3600-493: The late 1920s AEC and Daimler commercial division formed the Associated Daimler Company to build commercial vehicles. The association was dissolved in 1928 with each company retaining manufacture of its original products. By 1914 Daimlers were used by royal families including those of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Japan, Spain, and Greece; "its list of owners among the British nobility read like

3675-630: The licences. Cannstatt supplied engine parts but the delivery of working drawings were delayed for months. Four experimental cars were built in Coventry and a Panhard van was dismantled and reverse engineered . Some Daimler engines, with details redesigned by works manager J. S. Critchley , were also made in 1896. The first car left the works in January 1897, fitted with a Panhard engine, followed in March by Daimler-engined cars. The first Coventry Daimler-engined product made its maiden run in March 1897. By mid-year they were producing three of their own cars

3750-485: The luggage compartment which is illuminated when the car sidelights are in use, etc. A car tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1958 had a top speed of 100.6 mph (161.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 14.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 19.3 miles per imperial gallon (14.6 L/100 km; 16.1 mpg ‑US ) was recorded. The test car cost £2495 including taxes of £832. The two cars had similar specifications but

3825-579: The main RAF testing ground for aircraft built in the Coventry district. Although Daimler tooled up for production of the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.4 bomber the aircraft was cancelled due to poor performance. The last wartime aircraft produced was the Airco DH.10 Amiens bomber when they were building 80 aeroplanes a month. Daimler Majestic Major The Daimler Majestic Major DQ450

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3900-464: The management of the business as being inefficient and not energetic and suggested that it be reorganised and run by a paid managing director. When Evelyn Ellis and another board member did not run for re-election, they were replaced by E. H. Bayley and Edward Jenkinson, with Bayley replacing Sturmey as chairman. Sturmey resigned in May 1899 after Bayley and Jenkinson had reorganised the business. Simms, as

3975-642: The mid-1930s. The change to poppet valves began with the Fifteen of 1933. A Daimler 6 hp was involved in the first motor accident in the UK to be recorded as having involved the death of the driver . A young engineer was killed in 1899 when the rim of a rear wheel of the car he was driving collapsed under heavy braking in a turn on a sloping road in Harrow on the Hill . The driver and his four passengers were thrown from

4050-416: The new company, all the former partners would have to agree to the transfer. By this time, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach had withdrawn from Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft's business to concentrate on cars and engines for them. Simms offered to pay DMG £17,500 for the transfer and for a licence for Daimler and Maybach's Phénix engine, which DMG did not own. Simms therefore insisted that the transfer be on

4125-419: The next day. The Daimler Motor Company Limited bought The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited from Lawson's British Motor Syndicate as a going concern. Simms was appointed consulting engineer to the new business but was not to be on the board of directors, possibly because he had become a director of the Cannstatt firm. One of the duties assigned to Simms was to find a suitable location for the factory. Simms found

4200-600: The other, stopped making Lanchesters, had a highly publicised removal of their chairman from the board, and developed and sold a sports car and a high-performance luxury saloon and limousine. BSA sold Daimler to Jaguar Cars in 1960, and Jaguar briefly continued Daimler's line adding a Daimler variant of its Mark II sports saloon . Jaguar was then merged into the British Motor Corporation in 1966 and British Leyland in 1968. Under these companies, Daimler became an upscale trim level for Jaguar cars except for

4275-487: The purpose and a major re-design and refinement of Knight's design took place in great secrecy. Knight's design was made a practical proposition. When unveiled in September 1908 the new engine caused a sensation. "Suffice it to say that mushroom valves, springs and cams, and many small parts, are swept away bodily, that we have an almost perfectly spherical explosion chamber, and a cast-iron sleeve or tube as that portion of

4350-547: The rear licence plate holder. Attracted by the possibilities of the "Silent Knight" engine Daimler's chairman contacted Charles Yale Knight in Chicago and Knight settled in England near Coventry in 1907. Daimler bought rights from Knight "for England and the colonies" and shared ownership of the European rights, in which it took 60%, with Minerva of Belgium. Daimler contracted Dr Frederick Lanchester as their consultant for

4425-402: The right to arrange the public flotation of the proposed new company and to acquire a large shareholding for his British Motor Syndicate. Welcomed by Simms, the negotiations proceeded on the basis that this new company should acquire The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited as a going concern, including the name and patent rights. In order that the Daimler licences could be transferred from Simms to

4500-573: The same meeting Simms produced the first licence to operate a car under the Daimler patents. It was for a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  hp Panhard & Levassor that had been bought in France by The Honourable Evelyn Ellis, who had three Daimler motor launches moored by his home at Datchet . On 3 July, after Ellis bought the licence, the car was landed at Southampton and driven by Ellis to Micheldever near Winchester where Ellis met Simms and they drove together to Datchet. Ellis later drove it on to Malvern. This

4575-535: The standard for all manufacturers instructing RAF mechanics. Having its own body shop, Daimler had the woodworking ability to build complete aircraft. By the end of 1914, they had built 100 units of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c . These were followed by the BE12 and RE8 . Daimler purchased an open field beside their Radford factory, cleared the site, and made it available to the Government, who turned it into

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4650-487: Was "no mean feat". The sale of Daimler Motor Syndicate to Lawson's interests was completed by the end of November 1895. The shareholders of the Syndicate had made a profit of two hundred per cent (200%) on their original investment. On 14 January 1896 Lawson incorporated The Daimler Motor Company Limited . A prospectus was issued on 15 February. The subscription lists opened on 17 February and closed, oversubscribed,

4725-426: Was 42 feet (12.8 m). The car was not one for manoeuvering in tight spaces; 4.5 turns lock-to-lock were required. Power steering, initially optional, became standard after October 1964. Late versions were supplied with a limited slip differential and an alternator. The bodies were of all steel construction. Despite being coated with zinc phosphate, they rusted more rapidly than expected of coachwork on

4800-640: Was a close link between the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Daimler commercial division. Daimler secured sole marketing rights for any AEC chassis other than those required by AEC's owner (the London General Omnibus Company), and in exchange AEC were to fit Daimler engines in their chassis. This agreement was made in 1912, and continued until AEC war service vehicles had to have the Tylor engine fitted. In

4875-431: Was also seen to drive herself in other smaller cars. Since 1904, the fluted top surface to the radiator grille has been Daimler's distinguishing feature. This motif developed from the heavily finned water-cooling tubes slung externally at the front of early cars. Later, a more conventional, vertical radiator had a heavily finned header tank. Eventually these fins were echoed on a protective grille shell and, even later, on

4950-753: Was an evolution of the design introduced in 1937 with the Daimler New Fifteen . As with the New Fifteen and several derivatives in between, the Majestic Major had a cruciform-braced box-section frame with conventional coil-sprung independent front suspension and a live rear axle on semi-elliptic leaf springs. As with the Majestic, there were four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes with a vacuum servo. The combination of an imported Borg-Warner DG (Detroit Gear) 250M automatic transmission, power steering and Dunlop's power disc brakes on all wheels made

5025-425: Was engineered by Dudley Docker , deputy-chairman of BSA, who was famous for previous successful business mergers. Daimler, a manufacturer of motor vehicles, had a payroll of 4,116 workmen and 418 staff immediately before the merger. BSA produced rifles, ammunition, military vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles and some BSA-branded cars . The chairman of the combined group was Edward Manville , who had been chairman of

5100-457: Was found to have been illegally taking money from the company. Hendriks severed his connections with Simms & Co. in February 1893. Simms' Daimler-related work was later moved into a new company, The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited, which was formed on 26 May 1893. Following the success of Daimler-powered Peugeots and Panhards at the 1894 Paris–Rouen competition , Simms decided to open

5175-399: Was hardly a success. The new project in 1911 was of advanced design with the drive engines charging accumulators which could be used to provide a power boost, or to drive the vehicle in the event of engine failure. The bodywork was completed in 1913. The war interrupted the testing though it fared well, although it wasn't a commercial success and in 1921 the railcar project was dropped. There

5250-407: Was lighter and much more powerful. The engine transformed the staid Majestic into a high performance car capable of 120 mph (190 km/h). Motor Sport magazine described the Major as having "sports car performance", while The Autocar stated that it appeared "almost as a sports saloon" and that it was stable directionally at high speeds and could be cornered safely very fast for such

5325-403: Was mechanically up-to-date for its time, but it had a heavy coachbuilt body of outdated construction on a separate chassis which kept the car's mass well above more modern designs and made it difficult to manoeuvre, despite the modern steering. The styling was already becoming outdated when the car appeared and became increasingly dated as lighter cars with monocoque construction appeared during

5400-510: Was no Daimler variant. Jaguar Cars remained in its ownership, and from 2000 accompanied by Land Rover , until they sold both Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors in 2008, who formed Jaguar Land Rover as a subsidiary holding company for them. In 2013, Jaguar Cars was merged with Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover Limited, and the rights to the Daimler car brand were transferred to the newly formed British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover . Engineer Frederick Richard Simms

5475-733: Was supervising construction of an aerial cableway of his own design for the Bremen Exhibition in 1889 when he saw tiny railcars powered by Gottlieb Daimler's motors. Simms, who had been born to English parents in Hamburg and raised by them there, became friends with Daimler, an Anglophile who had worked from autumn 1861 to summer 1863 at Beyer, Peacock & Company in Gorton , Manchester . Simms introduced Daimler's motors to England in 1890 to power launches. In an agreement dated 18 February 1891, he obtained British and Empire rights for

5550-779: Was the 80 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary. With no drawings available to them, Daimler's Gnome engines were reverse-engineered from an engine delivered to them on 7 August 1914. Daimler later built the RAF 1 and 1a air-cooled V8s, the RAF 4 and 4a V12s, the Le Rhone rotary, and the Bentley BR2 rotary alongside other manufacturers. Production of RAF 4 engines gave Daimler experience in building V12 engines which would be appreciated when they later designed and built "Double-Six" V12 engines for their large cars. Daimler trained air force mechanics at its works and its training methods became

5625-457: Was the first long journey by motorcar in Britain. Simms later referred to the car as a "Daimler Motor Carriage". Later in 1895 Simms announced plans to form The Daimler Motor Company Limited and to build a brand-new factory, with delivery of raw materials by light rail , for 400 workmen making Daimler engines and motor carriages. Simms asked his friend Daimler to be consulting engineer to the new enterprise. Works premises at Eel Pie Island on

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