Daimler and Lanchester cars

The Special Sports was announced at the 1948 London Motor Show

The Daimler & Lanchester Owners’ Club hold a record of the surviving DB18 Special Sports cars.

The vehicles were manufactured in four batches and although launched in 1948 few were registered until after 1950.

The chassis differed slightly from the DB18/2 & Consort chassis, both of which were manufactured, for a time, alongside the Special Sports. For a more detailed overview of the Barker Special Sports please click on the Special Sports link in the column to the right.

Chassis numbers sanctioned by Daimler for the Special Sports

53750 to 53999
56136 to 56188
56700 to 56774
59010 to 59239

The Barker Special Sports coachwork makes up for the vast majority of these cars, however around 60 of the chassis were sent to Hoopers for their Empress line coachwork. This stylish design first appeared on the Daimler Special Sports chassis and became very popular. It was also used on chassis by Rolls Royce, Bentley and other quality manufacturers, Daimler’s own DS420 launched in the late 1960s owes a lot to this handsome design. No other chassis carries the Empress line as well as the Special Sports DB18 chassis, it is perfectly proportioned and has an elegance that is lost on some of the larger cars of the same style.

The Special Sports chassis was manufactured until 1953 when it was superseded by the Conquest range of cars, it was the last Daimler to be fitted with the famous underslung worm and wheel differential – and was the last car to bear the famous Barker name. It marked the end of the coach building era, the last of the famous coach builders soon disappeared as mass production finally killed off the individual touring car.

The Barker Special Sports was an exclusive and expensive motor car, largely hand built, it was never intended to sell in high numbers, the total of around 500 cars would have been considered a success at Daimler, its style of construction would not have lent itself to mass production. Launched at the same time as the Jaguar XK120 it was around twice the price – purchase tax at the higher rate accounting for much of this!

Performance compared to the Jaguar and other expensive sports cars might appear poor, however the description ‘Sports’ in Daimler parlance related as much to the coach work as the car’s performance. The Special Sports at least boasted twin carburettors, an alloy cylinder head with larger valves and an overdrive gearbox, giving better performance than the standard DB 18, but sports car performance was never likely given the weight of the coachwork and luxurious fittings. The Daimler was and still is, however, an excellent long distance high speed touring car. A good one will cruise at 70mph all day long and the occupants will exit the car after hours of driving feeling none the worse for the journey. This is certainly not the case with some of the sports cars of this era and later!

The survival rate for these beautiful cars is surprisingly high, the Daimler & Lanchester Owners’ Club have 299 Barker Special Sports recorded by chassis number, and a further 41 cars recorded by registration number that cannot be linked to a chassis number (these mostly from photographs taken by members at events or lifted from the internet). Three or four cars are also recorded on DB18/2 or Consort chassis, these have probably had a chassis swap following accident damage.

There are currently 33 Hooper Empress cars recorded and a handful of the 4 seater Hooper bodied Special Sports.

This is an incredible survival rate and is due in no small part to the robust and well designed Daimler DB18 chassis, Barker’s coachwork in particular is also very well built – the ash for the frame was probably laid down prior to the 1939/45 conflict and had an extended seasoning period, problems with the wooden frames are usually due to impact or severe neglect.

I am certain that there are many more Special Sports of both types as yet unrecorded, some in museums and private collections, more in sheds and barns awaiting restoration and some simply not known to the register as they are not used for old car events.

Daimler used some lovely artwork to advertise their cars, this brochure shows a couple of huge Daimlers the bonnet of the Special Sports apparently housing an engine twice as long as it is in reality!

Do you have an advert or brochure in your collection? Please share a scan with me – it may be one I have not seen.

If you have one of these lovely old cars, know of one, or have even scrapped one in the past, please let me know and I will add the information to the register. It does not matter how sketchy the information – even an old photo with a partial registration number could be useful to a current owner in recovering a registration number or tracing his car’s history.

If you have spare parts or documentation, such as advertisements, road tests or brochures, please contact me. I would be delighted to add as much information about these cars as I possibly can to create an historical document that other owners (whether club members or not) may find beneficial.

Having owned, restored, driven and written about these cars for a quarter of a century I would be delighted to hear from you if you are considering the purchase of one of these fine cars.

If you have any knowledge relating to the design, manufacture or a story relating to ownership of a Special Sports or an Empress on the DB18 chassis please drop me a line

Kevin Bennett. Editor Daimler & Lanchester Owners’ Club

I am having difficulty attaching the ‘Contact Form’ to this page – if you would like to contact me regarding these wonderful cars please use the form on my home page or email me at: editordloc@dsl.pipex.com