Daimler and Lanchester cars

For the better part of four happy years I owned, repaired, maintained and more importantly drove a Daimler LQ 2-20. It was one of those cars that was understated, yet excellent, it looked nice, performed well and was very reliable. It had such a pleasant nature that the few ‘failures to proceed’ and breakages all took place on the driveway or very close to home!

In a moment of madness, whilst fancying a change, I made the decision to sell and almost immediately regretted it. Fortunately the car went to Steve Wright, an enthusiast who uses the car regularly and keeps me updated with progress reports. I organised the Daimler & Lanchester O/C stand at the South Cerney Show during the summer of 2017 and Steve brought the LQ 2-20 along. Standing head and shoulders above all of the other Daimlers and Lanchesters, it made a lovely addition to our line up, I have to admit to feeling a rather large pang of regret!

1935 Daimler LQ3-20 with Arthur Mulliner coachwork

I started to cast around for another large Daimler, big Lanchesters are simply too expensive nowadays. This handsome limousine came to light, it has Arthur Mulliner coachwork, and has that certain something about its appearance that few limousines display, it is very well proportioned and imposing. Photographs do not really do it justice, it is a big car, yet in photographs, at a glance, could pass for the much smaller Daimler Fifteen saloon.

Difficult to see in the picture, the car was painted blue and black, the registration number displayed is BLK 264

The Daimler has a green continuation log book dating from 1969, recording the registration number as BLK 264 and describing the colour as blue and black. From 1969 until his premature death in a road traffic accident in 1974, the Daimler was registered to A.J. Cutler, better known to Scrumpy and Western fans as Adge Cutler, song writer and lead singer of the west country pop group The Wurzels. A Daimler & Lanchester Owners’ Club members’ list from 1972 records Adge as a current member with two Daimlers in his possession; a larger DE36 and this 20hp limousine.

A later photograph that came with the limousine, shows a black over blue LQ3-20 bearing the registration ASV 881, this is certainly the same car, it is fitted with the incorrect after market rear lamps, number plate lamp and rectangular reflectors which were still fitted when I bought the limousine.

The Daimler is photographed alongside a 1978 Ford Capri, by this time the DVLA had recorded cars on the central data base, those that were not registered were issued age related numbers, I suspect this is why the Daimler displayed the index number ASV 881. The car was at this time registered to a hotel owner in Nailsea near Bristol, any information relating to the car during this period would be most welcome.

This photo was taken after 1978, the Daimler appears all black, but adjusting the brightness in photoshop shows it to be blue and black. Seen here with a Ford Capri, now a collectors car, probably more valuable than the Daimler!

By 1994 the LQ 3-20 had found its way to Swandlincote, photographs of the car taken during this period show the car in its more modern colour scheme of black and pale primrose. The colour does not always photograph accurately and in some images appears almost white, it is however similar to the colour used on 1960s Jaguar E Types and MGBs.

Primrose not white! The whitewall tyres with black embellishers give the car an American look.

I am pretty sure that at this time the Daimler was in use as a wedding car, certainly from 1998 this was its main task. The car came into the fleet of  Elegance Vintage and Classic Wedding Cars in Sutton Coldfield, and earned its keep alongside several handsome Rolls Royces and a lovely 1930s Austin Limousine. If you have photographs of the Daimler taken at your wedding I would be pleased to hear from you!

By 1998 the Daimler was part of the Elegance wedding fleet in Sutton Coldfield.

Mike Penn the proprietor of Elegance Weddings had the bonnet and Ace wheel covers painted in the lower body colour, the car had by now lost its whitewall tyres and was fitted with the more conservative blackwall type.

Bonnet and embellishers now painted primrose, at this time the Daimler was earning its keep as a wedding car.

The Daimler carried out its wedding day duties from 1998 until 2017 when Mike decided to pension it, and the rest of the fleet off. I am not a great fan of white paintwork on large pre war cars, but Mike assured me that despite its appearance in photographs, the Daimler was almost yellow, and nowhere near the white shade it appeared to be. I went to view the Daimler and was instantly taken with the colour scheme, it looks much nicer ‘in the flesh’ and reminds me of the yellow Rolls Royce from the film of the same name with Ingrid Bergman and Rex Harrison. My initial plan to return the car to its original blue and black evaporated, even as I viewed the car.

A test drive revealed poor steering and brakes, but a willing engine and very smooth gearbox with a nice positive action on the gear change quadrant. The positives outweighed the negatives, Mike and I shook hands and I was, once again, the owner of a nice large Daimler.

Handsome from all angles, a luggage rack is essential on a D back car.

Discretion being the better part of valour, I decided not to drive the Daimler home, but to recover the car on a trailer. I have a tow bar fitted to my people carrier, but the nearest trailer hire company is across the city. I realised that I could not comfortably collect the Daimler, unload and get back to the hire depot within a single day hire period. I entrusted Sterling Transport to collect the car in a fully insured, covered car pod, on a return load basis. I had to wait for ten days before a delivery was made near the Daimler’s location, but the wait was worthwhile. The cost; although a little more than two days trailer hire, was worth every penny. No stress, no fuss, no worry about traffic or weather, and the car was delivered at the appointed time in the same condition it left Sutton Coldfield.

I have used Sterling Transport on several occasions to collect both runners and non runners and have always been pleased with the service. If you have recently purchased a ‘new’ old car and are worried about recovering it, I would strongly recommend making contact with Peter:  http://www.sterlingmotortransport.co.uk/links.html

Although the Daimler looks almost perfect in the photographs, it had not been used for some time (probably due to the deteriorating braking systems), it was also displaying a ‘lumpy’ idle – although whilst running, the engine performed well. Before venturing out onto the roads around Frenchay I gave the Daimler a good service to include lubricating the suspension and steering, and adjusting the brakes. A test run showed a marked improvement, but clearly the brakes require more attention. Although slightly improved, the idle is still uneven and also requires more investigation.

One feature that I am thrilled with is the amount of room in the driver’s compartment, the LQ 2-20 had adequate legroom, this car is absolutely perfect for my physical size and driving style, the seat is also comfortable and supportive. The division is the winding type and disappears completely behind the drivers seat, this is a great benefit if you wish to have family days out in the car, it makes it almost as intimate as a saloon. Limousines with sliding divisions fail to provide this excellent feature.

There is more leg room in the front of this limousine than any other I have driven!

The weather has not been conducive to lying on a concrete floor beneath a Daimler, so for the last few days I have been cleaning the interior and touching in numerous chips and marks on the paintwork, it cannot be seen on the photographs, but the difference is remarkable. These time consuming, tedious jobs are always best tackled as soon as the car arrives, when the enthusiasm is high!

I have owned this lovely old car for a year now and have been gently improving the Daimler, initially paying attention to the obvious faults – brakes and steering in particular. The shoes were removed and all but one lining had worn down to the rivets. The shoes were relined with an appropriate modern material which was bonded on. Whilst the shoes were being repaired I removed the four wheel cylinders, incredibly, only two of the eight pistons were correctly operating. Hours were spent cleaning the pistons and cylinders before fitting new rubbers and refitting to the car. I then checked the master cylinder, luckily this had apparently received some recent attention and required no more than flushing with clean brake fluid. By the time I had put everything together, the brake shoes were ready for collection. The difference is remarkable, the car now stops in a straight line and the brakes have a nice ‘feel’ to them. Every steering joint was greased, several were blocked with hard compacted grease, which in places had turned into a solid mass. Finally the steering box was refilled with a heavy gear oil. With steering and brakes attended to I took the car for its first proper run and was delighted with the improvement.

On one of the hottest days, the engine kept its cool

The engine still had a reluctance to idle perfectly, although it very felt good on a run, and even on the hottest days of summer 2018, it ran at the correct temperature. I spent days checking and double checking every ignition component and refurbishing the SU carburetor with new cork seals. The hesitation – it is too minor to be considered a miss-fire unfortunately persisted. Reluctantly I removed the cylinder head and discovered immediately the cause. The exhaust valve seats on number 5 & 6 cylinders are very badly pitted.

Six cylinder ohv engine has uneven tickover

Further investigation revealed that the flexible pipe leading to the brake servo which comes from the inlet manifold had been wrapped with many layers of cloth tape. The hose had clearly suffered an air leak and the addition of tape was perceived to be sufficient to make the pipe air tight. It was not. Over a period of time it has caused the rear two cylinders to run weak and very hot. I attempted to polish out the pitting on the valve seats, but unfortunately discovered that the seat on number five cylinder had a hairline crack. The head has now been taken to an engineer for pressure testing and repair. Whilst it is off the car I will clean down the areas of the engine bay that were previously inaccessible.

Bell shaped lamps add to the vintage appearance

Stalk on the column has horn and klaxon button

The cylinder head was pressure tested and the only crack was the one already identified. New valve seat inserts were fitted to all of the exhaust valves and inserts pressed into the guides to take up the wear evident on some of the valve stems. The inlet valve seats were all serviceable and along with their respective valves were gently lapped in. The cylinder head then received a light skim and was again pressure tested and found to be all good. Although recorded in just a couple of lines, the time taken to remove the head and have it repaired has stretched to over five weeks. The flexible air pipe which was responsible for causing the damage cost just £10, I suspect the cloth tape that had been wrapped around the damaged pipe may have cost £5, a bodge that ended up costing me nearly 200 times more than this to fix!

Since the head has been reconditioned I have carried out many trips – mostly from Frenchay to Chipping Sodbury and back, and a couple of longer journeys to the Bristol docks where I like to walk the dog – then stop for coffee and watch the world go by, it is amazing how many people stop and admire the car, many taking photographs. Once again a misfire became evident and I thought that I would have to remove the head once again. However the source of the problem turned out to be a faulty condensor and spark plug, both new parts, a line to type – but days of trial and error to sort it out! The car is now running perfectly and is an absolute pleasure to drive.

The LQ 2&3 20s were offered as a chassis only, or with Daimler’s own coachwork; the saloon car cost £700. coachbuilt cars were reassuringly more expensive, this particular model was £900. Although these figures may seem low by today’s standards, it is important to point out, that In 1936, the annual wage in larger cities was just £130, whilst the national average across all sectors was only £153, and a brand new detached house in the leafy Surrey suburbs could be had for a mere £450.

Undeniably expensive, Daimlers of the mid 1930s were conservative in appearance, but beautifully built. There is a willingness about the engine which is difficult to describe, hills can be climbed at an impressive rate, and the car will cruise comfortably all day long at a steady 45 – 55mph. In my opinion these Daimlers are equally as nice as the similarly sized Rolls Royce 20hp, with one exception, the transmission: Rolls engines may be smooth, but their transmission systems, worthy and well built as they may be, are not a patch on the Daimler’s ’Smooth as Flight’ self changing gearbox, this unit is impressive today, and must have felt like a miracle in the early 1930s when the ’crash’ gearbox put the fear of God into many a would be motorist. The smooth 6 cylinder OHV engine and the slick and silky gearbox on this particular model are perfectly matched. These cars have to be driven to get an idea as to how pleasant such a large car can be to drive and of course be driven in.

I sold my LQ3/20 limousine in July 2019 and replaced it with a completely different Daimler – a 1969 Sovereign 420. This car is in a class of its own and is one of the smoothest cars I have driven. Unfortunately the Covid-19 situation prevented regular use of the car, the initial thrill of ownership waned, and a distinct lack of enthusiasm set in. A chance email from Jack Boddington revealed that he was feeling the same way about the LQ3/20 which he had purchased from me in 2019.
I suggested an exchange and after some polite negotiation a deal was struck, and on a dreary looking day in early May, I set off from Bristol towards Farrington Gurney, the halfway point between Frenchay and Jack’s home in Somerset. The Bristol ring road was once again receiving extensive repairs and for the first part of the journey I was trapped in a single lane of walking pace traffic. To make matters worse, it started to rain; searching the numerous switches below the central panel, I eventually chanced upon the wiper switch, the arms swung into action and the driver’s wiper blade promptly shredded itself… With stress levels rising I was glad to get to the roundabout at K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M (do you remember Horace Batchelor?), where I was able to free myself from the roadworks and accelerate right up to the 20mph limit now imposed upon us through most built up areas.
Once out of Keynsham, on a very short length of dual carriageway, I was able to accelerate up to 70mph and overtake a handful of slow moving cars. The rest of the journey was taken at speeds of less than 40mph. It is hard to believe, that on modern roads, a car built 50 years ago can rarely be exercised at anywhere near its capabilities.

Despite the low speed, I arrived at the meeting point a quarter of an hour early, and the LQ3/20 was already parked up awaiting my arrival. Jack and I sorted out the paperwork, phoned our respective insurance companies, and before long, were on our way home: The rain stopped, the sun gently broke through the clouds, and the big Daimler purred along, I dropped the drivers window using the quick action lever and thoroughly enjoyed the drive home.

Knowing that the Bristol ring road was blocked, I took an alternative route. The only stoppage was at a traffic light controlled crossing, where the voices of appreciative pedestrians were clearly heard, I felt compelled to look over and wave. I am always amazed when this sort of thing happens.
The return journey was over all too soon, but unwilling to end the experience, I left the car parked outside, it gave me an excuse to drive the car around the common before putting the car away. The LQ3/20 is in the same condition as it was when it left me two years ago, except that during Jack’s ownership he seems to have made the paintwork shine a little brighter!
Since having the old car back in my care I have repaired a battery charging fault, given the car a lubrication and ignition service and sorted out several issues that I intended to take care of before I sold the car. One was a small blister on the off side spare wheel trough cover; needless to say a poke with an old screwdriver revealed a larger area of rust that was at first visible. it had been caused by water becoming trapped around the welded bracket holding the fixing studs. When I had the car first time around, I soaked the threads beneath the wing with WD40, after 3 or 4 years this had worked its magic! The old nuts came off easily, and I was able to lift the cover clear to make the required repairs.
After neutralising the rusted area and filling and rubbing back with wet’n’dry paper, I brush painted the cover using black coach paint, this I left for a few days before polishing out any brush marks, to make an invisible repair.
The spare wheel aperture itself had also suffered some light rust damage, poor drainage had caused this; larger escape holes were drilled, and the trough was cleaned down, repaired and repainted. The space revealed by the removal of this cover was previously unused, in a car with no boot, this is a waste of useful storage space. Before refitting the cover I stowed a modern jack, wheelbrace and several chocks, thereby freeing the storage locker beneath the rear floor for other tools and spares.

When I had the car in 2017 I attempted to source a Rotax medallion as the offside headlamp was fitted with a rubber grommet. Unfortunately, at the time, these were not available, although the later, similar, Lucas badges were. When I got the car back I decided that even a Lucas medallion would be an improvement on the rubber bung, so searched ebay for a replacement, you can imagine how pleased I was to find that reproduction Rotax ones were now available. Within 24 hours of placing the order, the part arrived, and within minutes was fitted to the lamp. A minor improvement you might think, but one that I am delighted to with.

The Klaxon horn was also inoperative; I had previously stripped this and cleaned it down and was surprised when Jack told me it no longer worked: When the button was pushed, the motor span but the horn produced only a faint whirring sound. The Klaxon horn is a fairly simple affair; the ‘Aghhoogha’ sound is made when a ‘pip’ mounted on the end of the motor’s spindle makes contact with a series of raised edges on the horn’s internal plate, which acts as a kind of drum skin. The radid clicking noise is magnified by the trumpet to provide the distinctive Klaxon sound. I guessed that the trumpet’s securing screws had become slightly loose and gave each one a quarter of a turn, this was just sufficient to allow the moving part to make contact with the ‘drum skin’ and the horn once again works properly.

I seldom use the audible warning instrument on any motor vehicle, but, on the next journey the repair proved its worth. As I slowly negotiated the sleeping policeman close to ‘The Old House’ on Frenchay Common, a party of pre-school age children were being ushered along the footpath towards their place of early learning. Their carer gesticulated and shouted ‘Have you got a klaxon?’ Somewhat surprised that a woman, well below the age of three score years and ten, should know about such an instrument, I pressed the ‘country horn’ button and the Klaxon gave vent to its impressively loud roar. The young lady clapped and the small children cheered and waved, it made the trip to the petrol station a bit more enjoyable than usual.

Many photographs of this car must survive in family photo’ albums, if you have a picture of the car whether at a wedding or otherwise, I would be delighted to hear from you.