Daimler 2.5-litre V8

A great combination of Daimler engineering and Jaguar style.

When Graham and Theresa Fillmore married in 1998, their carriage for the occasion was an Opalescent Silver Blue Daimler 2.5-litre V8. They bought that very car some four years later, and PPA 508E now performs the same function for their company Morse Wedding Cars, where it is one of the most popular cars on their fleet.

The Daimler 2.5 V8 made its debut on the 8th October 1962, by which time Daimler had undergone a very challenging period of readjustment. For all their flamboyance, the infamous Docker show cars which had astounded and/or horrified visitors to Earls Court from 1951-55 failed to mask declining sales, and there was a growing sense of the marque becoming an anachronism to post-war motorists. The historian Brian Sewell put it succinctly when he wrote: ‘Daimler’s refusal to acknowledge change had most to do with its decline.’

Worse still, the introduction of the Jaguar MkVII in 1950 caused a seismic change in the British luxury car market. Here was a vehicle that may not have been quite as well-furnished as Daimler's DE36, but it combined sports car manners with a high level of appointments, and all for just £1693. Daimler attempted to win customers with their highly agreeable 1953 Conquest, but it was an expensive machine by the standards of the day.

A further problem, as Michael Sedgwick noted in his seminal book Cars of the Fifties and Sixties, was that the market for upper-middle- class touring cars was already fast vanishing. When the last of the Conquests ceased production in January 1958, many a chartered accountant or barrister had opted for the Rover P4. Meanwhile, the Jaguar MkVIII was the transport of choice for HM The Queen Mother, film stars, property developers and Goodwood habitués alike.

And so it came as no surprise to industry observers when, on the 26th May 1960, Daimler’s parent company BSA sold the famous concern to Jaguar Cars Ltd for some £3.4 million. Browns Lane issued mollifying statements to the effect that they had no plans to cease building what was still one of Britain’s most illustrious cars, but aficionados remained suspicious. Surely the name would go the way of Lea Francis or, possibly worse, enter a period of badge- engineered decline as with Riley or Singer?

In reality, Jaguar was eyeing the Radford factory in terms of XK motor production as the authorities had refused planning permission to expand their own works. In securing this they also inherited a line-up consisting of the 3.8-litre Majestic, plus three recent models all powered by a new V8 engine – the SP250 (aka the Dart), the Majestic- Major and the DR450 Limousine.

Development of this new engine had commenced in October 1956 under the auspices of Edward Turner, the MD of BSA’s Automotive Division, and Jack Wickes, the chief draftsman of Triumph Motorcycles. At that time the only two mainstream British V8s had been engines from the Standard Flying Twenty and Ford Pilot. It was the Cadillac ohv unit that influenced Turner and Wickes most though, while the aluminium cylinder heads with hemispherical combustion chambers were further inspired by power from the Triumph Thunderbird 650 motorbike.

Daimler had planned the

2.5-litre V8 as the basis of the SP250, and in 4.5-litre form for the Majestic Major and the DR450. The smaller engine was also destined for the DP250 coupé and the DN250 saloon. The latter was a bizarre combination of Daimler running gear and Vauxhall Cresta PA- derived coachwork to serve as a Conquest replacement. The Radford works constructed a prototype, and one engineer recalled that it went like a rocket while on test. Unfortunately, photos illustrate a car somewhat akin to Robert Morley dressing like Marty Wilde, and it isn’t easy envisaging such a vehicle appealing to denizens of Henley or Winchester.

Neither the DP nor the DN was to survive the Jaguar take- over, but Daimler’s sales team strongly urged their new masters for a more compact alternative to the Majestic Major. The logical solution was to fit the Turner motor into the Jaguar Mk2 engine bay and Project ZX530/112, based on a Mk1, was underway as early as November 1960. A more up to date prototype eventually joined it, and Technical Director William Heynes gave a favourable report to Jaguar’s

management in February 1962.

Daimler made only eight 2.5s in that year, and by 1963 it was priced at £1568 19s 7d. This was more expensive than the Jaguar 2.4 at £1475, but cheaper than the 3.4 at £1589 and the 3.8 at £1684. The list of extras included reclining front seats for an additional £16 6s 3d and the popular option of power-steering at £66 9s 2d. As compared with its parent model, the 2.5 V8 featured a split front bench (from the Mk1) instead of bucket seats. There was also no centre console, and Borg Warner 35 automatic transmission was standard equipment.

The new Daimler caused quite a stir for a number of reasons. It was the first Daimler car with monocoque bodywork, and the marque had not offered a reasonably compact saloon since the demise of the Conquest. Furthermore, there was the inevitable controversy surrounding the 2.5’s origins. In the early 1960s, many traditional motorists of the James Robertson Justice School of Deportment regarded Browns Lane products, if not precisely cars for spivs and wide-boys, then certainly somewhat déclassé. As William Boddy of Motor Sport pointed out in 1964:

'The V8 saloon upset the purists because it was so obviously a 2.4 Jaguar with the Daimler SP250 V8 engine. Today such people are just as upset, especially when they learn that these socalled Daimlers are built in the Jaguar factory, the power units being sent across, as it were, from The Daimler.'

At the same time, several enthusiasts wondered how the Daimler compared with its Jaguar stablemates in terms of performance. A top speed of nearly 113mph made the 2.5 faster than the 2.4, and

Boddy praised the Daimler as: ‘A very fast, accelerative, safe and restful car, typically British from a famous Coventry company, which is refreshing in an age of American take- over bid.' Similarly, Autocar thought the Turner engine gave the new saloon ‘a true individuality’, the writer going on to conjecture that it could well find favour in overseas markets (the USA in particular) as well as at home. In the event, motorists in the

States were never offered the 2.5, but the Daimler certainly appealed to home market customers who, in Graham Fillmore’s view, were probably middle-aged types who aspired to a slightly more youthful image. You could imagine a Raymond Huntley-style banker with dreams of becoming the life and soul of the Residents’ Association ordering a V8 saloon rather than a Humber Super Snipe. He might even tune into the BBC Light Programme at weekends.

However, there is no denying

that the Daimler brand was slowly losing its identity. The SP250 ceased production in 1964, which Graham regards as a premature decision, saying: ' William Lyons appreciated and was probably jealous of Daimler’s engineering.’ The SP252 sports car project was cancelled, as were plans for a MkX powered by a 5-litre version of the Majestic- Major engine. Browns Lane claimed that the Daimler works were not suited to volume production, but the real reason appears to have been performance that was superior to the 4.2-litre XK. By 1966, the 420 Sovereign provided a harbinger of Daimler’s future as a more luxurious version of a Jaguar.

In February of the following year, the 2.5 was available with a manual gearbox with or without overdrive. Graham has also owned a Daimler thus equipped, and he remarks that without power steering, it is far worse for manoeuvring at low speeds. Eight months later the facelifted V8-250 boasted slimline bumpers, a padded fascia, adjustable front seat backrests, a heated rear window and – at last – an alternator in place of a dynamo. Customers were further relieved to note that, unlike the similarly modified Jaguar 240 and 340, the Daimler retained its fog lamps and the hide trim.

PPA is one of the last of the original versions, as she was built in 1966 and registered on 6th January 1967. Graham had known about her for several years before their wedding, but when the Daimler joined the Fillmore garage she was in need of a certain amount of attention, having been unused for quite a time. The brakes needed to be freed and the radiator flushed out for example, but by 2003 PPA was back in top form, good enough in fact to be awarded the Car of the Show prize at a Daimler and Lanchester Owners Club event. Graham believes that the key to maintaining such a fine machine is constant observation, plus regular use.

In terms of road manners, Graham finds that it is always wise to treat the 2.5 with a little bit of caution, especially when cornering as you have to remember that she is fitted with leaf rear springs. Another problem, and one that will be more than familiar to many Jaguar devotees, is the inadequacy of the heating and ventilation system, its Achilles heel. The former clanks and wheezes to little useful purpose, while Graham finds that at certain times of the year he has to travel with the quarter vents opened to get adequate ventilation – passengers may become cold, but even though this car has a heated rear window, that is the only way to stop the panes from steaming up. That said, the 2.5 does hail from an era when quite a few chaps donned a sheepskin coat for a run to the post office.

Yet such minor issues may be readily forgotten on pressing the starter button. The V8 engine has a different feel to the XK engines, being more refined, smoother and quieter, while its rhythm and tone is quite different. Post-1964 models are equipped with the Borg Warner D1/ D2 box which Graham regards as well-suited to the 2.5-litre plant, noting that it kicks down quite readily. ' When driving on the motorway, the main issue is not so much engine noise, but wind noise,' he adds. The Fillmore Daimler is quite unusual in being devoid of PAS, and Graham finds that it helps to keep the front tyres at high pressure. The only real challenge then is turning round in a very tight road.

The Mk2 family was never renowned for its interior space, but Graham finds that there is plenty of room for rear-seat occupants, noting: 'The era of the big meringue wedding dress has passed anyway!’ One of the Daimler’s main advantages as bridal transport, aside from its innate dignity and charisma, is its ability to travel at very low speeds and to stop and start with neither fuss nor any sense of overt stress. The Fillmore 2.5 left the factory at a crucial stage in the marque’s fortunes. The following year saw the replacement of the MajesticMajor and the DR450 by the MkX- derived DS420. Above all, 1968 marked the introduction of the XJ6, which ushered in a new generation of Jaguar and Daimler saloons. 250 production ended in August 1969 after a total of 17,915 units, by which time it seemed a charming a relic of a previous age. Yet the Daimler remained more than capable of battling with a Rover 3500 on the M1.

It could be argued that cars such as PPA represent both a transitional period for the marque and a reminder of an alternative future. The 2.5 was, to use the terminology of the 1960s, the perfect fusion of old and new money. Perhaps it might have even formed the cornerstone of a range that blended the styling tropes of Browns Lane with the best of Daimler’s engineering. As it was, Jaguar would not build a V8 engine until 2009. All in all though, PPA really does represent ‘Prestige Motoring in the Modern Manner.’ Or, as Graham puts it: ‘The only thing missing from the specification is a gauge to measure the admiring glances.'