Daimler and Lanchester cars

The Lanchester Ten underwent several updates throughout its life, the most important being the increase in engine size, which answered the accusation that the earlier cars were under powered. The larger engine offers more mid range power, making the car far more useable, hills became less of a problem and the requirement to change gear becomes less frequent. Rated at 10.8hp, the model was initially marketed as the Lanchester Ten, but later renamed the Lanchester Eleven.

Photographed in the 1980s

Although Lanchester enthusiasts were frustrated that the famous maker’s name had been appended to a small family car, motoring correspondents of the day liked it, as did thousands of eager buyers. Any criticism of the Lanchester Eleven is unfounded, it is without a doubt one of the best cars in its class. Smooth to drive, comfortable to be driven in and very roomy; one tester commented that the body had the appearance of a fourteen or even a sixteen horsepower car, yet performance compared well with other cars in its class. A Lanchester was naturally going to have a price premium over a Ford or an Austin, but you certainly got what you paid for. A quiet, smooth engine with the best transmission available, excellent steering and powerful brakes provided the silkiest ride, combine this with economical running costs, handsome looks and room for the entire family and you can see why this model was set to be Daimler’s best selling car of the thirties.

The smallest car in the Daimler and Lanchester range, the Eleven was a marvellous family car, and if properly maintained would have given its owner many years of excellent service. Criticism is often levelled at the performance of low powered cars of this era, but these cars were more than capable of keeping up with the traffic of the day and still hold their own around town and on B roads.

I have known about this car for over twenty years, it belonged to a lady who had extensively restored the car in the 1970s, a lot of the work, including fitting new road springs, she carried out herself. Much mechanical work had been carried out, but the original leather had been retained. The sympathetically restored Lanchester had been used for a decade and laid up, the car’s appearance has ‘matured’ and now has the appearance of an original well loved, unrestored car.

Lanchester 11 was driven on to the trailer

Before I viewed the car, the fuel pump had been disconnected and the car could only be started using a gravity fed petrol tank, however using this method I was able to drive the Lanchester on and off the trailer. This short drive was enough to show that the engine runs smoothly, the gearbox changes easily and the steering is light and accurate with a very pleasant return action.

I thoroughly enjoy renovating old cars in this condition, I would not call it restoration. It is closer to the recommissioning procedures that mechanics would have undertaken on similar cars immediately after the Second World War. Motor cars that had been laid up for the duration, had not turned a wheel in five years or more, and required at least a good service, others, like my Lanchester Eleven, required much more. Poor storage, or just bad luck, often resulted in the need for new tyres, not because of wear, but due to flat spots caused by the weight of the car bearing down on rubber, fast becoming inflexible. A great shame as the tyres would have survived had they been covered and the car jacked and placed on axle stands. Stale petrol gummed up the carburettor and blocked fuel lines, rodents, woodworm and moth attacked the interior and paintwork suffered the effects of damp, a series of small stone chips would blister leaving an ugly cratered surface. My Lanchester could be one of these cars!

Recommissioning, not restoration required!

Initially the engine bay received all of my attention, the distributor has been serviced, new plugs and HT leads fitted, the oil has been changed and several metres of unnecessary wiring has been removed, this and a general clean up has made a big difference to the appearance of the engine bay. The fuel pump had failed, due to a sticking valve, simply repaired by stripping down and cleaning, it is now operating perfectly.

The interior wooden trim has suffered the effects of time and damp, the varnish looking tired and ‘crusty’. Careful attention with some light glass paper and several coats of satin varnish, followed by a light polish with T-Cut has transformed the appearance of the interior.

My double length garage is narrow, but this Lanchester fits nicely, with room to work around it, this is a huge advantage during the winter time, my larger Daimlers can only receive attention whilst parked on the driveway, clearly winter weather slows their restoration to a standstill. I have spent many hours ‘tinkering’ with the LA11 over the last few months and with spring just around the corner, am looking forward to getting CYD 301 out onto the road and hope to enjoy some pleasant gentle pre-war motoring!

Eric Tweed of Taunton c1963

Along with the paperwork belonging to the car came a couple of photographs of the Lanchester from years gone by, Mr Tweed seen in the photograph, owned the car in the 1960s. Note the oversize headlamps (Lucas P80s?), extra horns and overriders.

Over the winter months I have attempted to carry out at least one small job every day. Unfortunately, like most enthusiasts, I have other pressures on my time and this has not always taken place!
I have however made a lot of progress, the most time consuming work has been the repairs made to the paintwork, many small blemishes and chips have been touched in, a lot more time consuming than you might think, there are literally dozens of them, all over the car. Each one must be rubbed back to bare shiny metal, primed with red oxide etch primer and then touched in with black coach paint. After being left to dry for a week or so the repair is flatted off and either polished, or touched in again, depending on how the repair appears.

Many stone chips have been touched in and the roof section repainted

The paint on the front section of the roof had suffered more than other areas and was flaking badly, rather than attempt to touch this in, I stripped the entire section back to metal, primed and applied two coats of black coach paint using a fine brush.

The horn has been cleaned down and repaired, and refitted with new wiring, the wiper motor cleaned and checked for correct operation and provided with a new period ‘pull’ switch. All new wiring has been carefully concealed within the bulkhead tool box and numerous damaged and extraneous wires removed or replaced.

The rear lamps have been stripped, cleaned, checked for operation, painted with black coach paint and refitted, the wiring has been tidied and covered in convoluted flexible insulation, the rear number plate bracket has been repaired and painted and a new pressed alloy number plate fitted (this was provided by the previous owner, who wanted to retain the old original one as a keepsake). The luggage rack and bumper frame have been flatted off and repainted, together with the refurbished lamps and number plate, the rear end of the car now looks very smart.

In need of a good polish!, however the paintwork is now looking very presentable.

Since it has been in my care, the LA11 has run from an external gravity fed fuel tank. Having repaired the fuel pump, I was disappointed to find the pump would not draw petrol from the tank. After much head scratching I discovered that the armoured flexible hose leading from the reserve fuel switch was to blame. Although perfect in appearance and despite the fact that air could be blown through it towards the tank, petrol could not be drawn from it. I can only assume that a flap of rubber within the flexi’ was acting as a non return valve. I fitted a new rubber petrol pipe and soon had a nice flow of petrol directly from the car’s fuel tank.

If you can add any information relating to the Lanchester I would be pleased to hear from you.