DAIMLER SP250
Rarity and controversial looks mean the ‘Dart’ often isn’t the first British roadster on people’s minds – but that’s their loss, given its gem of an engine and lightweight body. Here’s how to grab a good one
The Daimler SP250 ‘Dart’ is one of the quirkiestlooking British sports cars you can buy and its relative scarcity is matched by a loyal following of owners who enjoy being different.
Aimed at the US market and launched just before Jaguar bought Daimler, the SP250 featured several advanced features. Although its construction – body on a separate chassis – was fairly old-fashioned, the bodyshell itself was glassfibre rather than steel and it also featured four-wheel disc brakes. Star of the show however was the 2.5-litre hemi-V8 engine designed by Edward Turner, father of the Ariel Square Four motorcycle engine and later the Triumph twins. His motorcycle experience wasn’t wasted on the engine, which revved eagerly thanks to its small pistons and it is considered one of the best sounding engines of the era as a result.
After launching it as the ‘Dart’ at the 1959 New York Auto Show, Daimler quickly found itself in trouble with Chrysler, which had already registered the name as a Dodge model. Officially, the name was changed to SP250, but the ‘Dart’ name has largely stuck. After buying the company in 1960, Jaguar decided to carry on with manufacturing the car for a short while, but couldn’t abide the car’s considerable chassis flex, so released a strengthened version known as the ‘B-spec’ in 1961. These cars lost the chrome ‘whiskers’ around the front indicators too, so are easily identifiable. The ‘C-spec’ variant arrived in 1963, but this included little more than some extra equipment. The huge success of the E-type (plus the fact that the SP250 was, technically, a rival) ensured the demise of the SP250 in 1964 after just 2645 had been built. Only 1445 were right-hand drive, making the SP250 a compelling and unusual choice of classic today.
‘The Turner V8 is considered one of the best sounding engines of the era’