DAIMLER UTE
YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO A DAIMLER!
SPACE FOR THE BIGGEST PICNIC HAMPER
The Daimler ute operated by the Daimler, Jaguar & Lanchester Owners in New Zealand Spare Parts Club Inc., to give the group its full name, is quite a distinctive vehicle, and was even when it was common for tradies to hack the back off saloon cars and stick a deck on them.
Taking a saw to a piece of British heritage such as a Jaguar-bodied Daimler was not exactly looked on with approval by traditional owners of the brand, even then. However, the driving force behind the setting up of the separate parts division of the car club in Christchurch, the late Gordon Somerville,
was a man ahead of his time, pre-empting the modern fashion for creating quirky marketing vehicles to promote business activities.
The fact that this outrage now appears even more sacrilegious — not just hacking up a Daimler but hacking up a classic Daimler! — has given the club added impetus to complete a spectacular restoration of this one-of-a-kind ute. Combining subtle styling changes to the panel work with attention to detail, this vehicle now exhibits an extremely high standard of finish worthy of the Daimler badge. Put that together with the new, redesigned alloy cylinder heads fitted to an overhauled engine, and it both sounds and looks great hustling along the roadway. A very impressive vehicle!
The Daimler ute is once again working for the club as a test mule for the newly machined parts soon to be available to members.
The club has always been keen on remanufacturing parts to keep its members’ cars on the road, and we recently caught up with the club at its Christchurch parts base. Who better to take up the story than club president Peter Jenkins, who was heavily involved in the restoration?
The Daimler tradition
To use the words of Gordon Somerville, founder of the Daimler, Jaguar & Lanchester
Owners club: “Not a standard but still a classic, this one will surely have the houndstooth-jacket-and-driving-glove set spluttering into their teacups. It may send some purists into a rage, but this Daimler must be the classiest utility truck around.”
The ute was modified from a 1964 Daimler saloon by George Barnes of Levin in 1986. George is still alive and well and living in Levin. He is a talented body builder, who wasn’t content with the traditional New Zealand–backyard method of coachbuilding. This can be seen by the classical lines flowing from the front through the side to the rear of the vehicle. It’s quite an achievement to have made the conversion of this Daimler from a classic saloon into a practical ute that is still a very pretty classical vehicle. As one classic car enthusiast put it: the factory couldn’t have done a better job.
Built to work
George knew of the Daimler from new, as it was originally owned by his neighbour, a farmer. When it became too rusty, the farmer parked it up and left it under a tree until George bought it. If he hadn’t have come up with his mad ute scheme, it almost certainly would have been lost.
The vehicle was in a sorry state when George started work on it in the ’80s. He decided that he needed a utility vehicle for his own use, but it took him five years to build it, making the side, rear panels, and tailgate in his spare time. He then used it for 12 years with a trailer for a weekend paper round.
A few minor changes were made to the ute during this time, including some registrationnumber changes (the original registration number was CL2015, then MM592, while now it wears V8 UTE). Photos from this period were probably a factor in some people speculating that there were two Daimler utes around at the time. Having got the knack, George converted a number of vehicles into utes during the ’80s and ’90s, including Cortinas, Vauxhalls, and a Hillman Hunter. Some of the conversions are still on the road today.
A club member spotted the Daimler ute for sale in a car yard in Levin in 1990. Gordon Somerville promptly went to Levin and bought it. The club soon decided that, as it was such a unique vehicle, it should be preserved and used for classic club events, shows, and rallies.
Rust never sleeps
The ute underwent a couple of minor restorations to maintain it and keep it roadworthy. The most recent restoration has been the largest by far, taking nearly seven years to complete. It all started as a result of a small accident causing damage to the righthand rear area.
It was taken into a small restoration business called ‘Tin Rabbit Restorations’, originally in Rangiora but now located in Kaiapoi. While it was in the shop for accident-damage repairs, the team was asked to repair a little bit of rust at the back of the cab.
Now, we all know that there is never just a ‘little bit of rust’ to remove and repair!
That small repair morphed into a complete nut-and-bolt restoration, which eventually racked up to the ute spending five years inhabiting the body shop and two years being put back together.
Fabricating the missing bits
It’s probably easier to say what hasn’t been repaired or renewed, and that is the rear of the deck section of the ute. During the work, the entire front was removed, including the heater scuttle, and repaired. Both chassis rails were renewed, as were the floorpans in the cabin area. Everything done during the rebuild was completed to a high standard to ensure that the ute will be around for future generations to enjoy.
Several parts were unavailable, so they, along with the flared front guards, needed to be fabricated. The quality of these parts is a testament to the skills of the fabricator at Tin Rabbit.
The team at Tin Rabbit also took care of painting the car in Old English White. The quality of this paint job is simply outstanding.
The tail lamps were changed to the Mk10 Jaguar pattern, which was judged a better match for the profile of the vehicle. Interior upholstery was completed by Custom and Classic Auto Interiors in Halswell.
New unobtainium
The ute was modified from a 1964 Daimler saloon by George Barnes of Levin in 1986
While the body was under restoration,
John Finlay Motors freshened up the engine. A pair of locally made prototype cylinder heads was fitted to the engine, along with a slightly modified camshaft to improve breathing. The remanufacture of the cylinder heads was a project started some 10 years ago, and this restoration added the impetus to finish the project.
To date, 10 cylinder heads have been cast, resulting in four good, usable ones. The current heads on the ute are numbers three and four, and feature ports that are differently shaped from the originals. Since the heads were fitted, the engine has completed 2500 troublefree miles (4023km). Another set of cylinder heads is currently being cast in Dunedin, and should be ready for matching in early June.
Back to its creator
The restoration of the ute was finished on a Tuesday with the installation of the West Coast beech deck timbers. The car then headed off on a North Island trip the following Saturday.
Some club members, especially those who had worked on the heads, were apprehensive as they travelled north to catch the ferry at Picton, but the trip was uneventful, the ute lapping up the miles without any problems. It covered 1750 miles (2816km) without incident on that first trip.
George said that he didn’t sleep the night before they arrived to visit him; his whole family turned out to see the car. Ever generous, George said it was a better car now than when he had made it.
If anyone has any additional information about the history of the ute, please forward it to parts@daimjag.nz.