1951 Daimler Consort With 52k Miles
For most folks, Daimler is not on their list of classic luxury cars, but before WW2 this is what British royalty drove and they were loaded with unique features. This model has features like a fluid clutch, self lubricating chassis, and built in jacks. This Daimler also has an interesting history. It spent its first 25 years on the Isle of Man, then the seller’s father had it for 8 years, and the son has had it since. The last 20 years were in storage. It’s listed on craigslist in Sacramento with an asking price of $13,500.
As is often the case, I wish there were more pictures, especially of the interior and the engine. The owner says it just needs brake work and carpet. This would be a unique cruiser, certainly. Parts would be difficult, no doubt, but somewhere, someone would like to add this to their collection.
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Comments
When the queen makes me a knight, I will need this car! I’m just waiting for the invite, it should be here any day….
Such a classy looking old car. I have no idea what the value of something like this is but the asking price seems reasonable. I agree, more pics would be nice. I’ve never understood when somebody has something they feel is worth ten grand or more and only posts a couple of pics with an ad. Like sellers that leave trash in a vehicle or on a vehicle or sellers who claim a car runs and drives but won’t pull it out of garage or carport to photograph both sides.
On my local CL there is currently amid 70’s dodge camper van that’s advertised for $3500 …the seller has two interior pics in the ad. Both show trash, clothes and very little that allows one to survey the actual condition if the interior…grrrr
And this CL ad–“the photo shows it without hubcaps—they are now fitted”. How long would it have taken to fit the hubcaps BEFORE the pics were taken. Show off your car at its best.
I think his price is highly optimistic and he will absolutely never sell it if he limits his advertising to Craigslist. The appeal of this is so limited and small, to find just one person with both the desire and the cash makes exposing this car to at least several million people an absolute necessity. Trust me, I know – for 25 years I successfully sold more early post-WWII Bentleys and Rolls-Royces in this country than anyone else – and I sure didn’t do it with Craigslist or eBay! With the demise of paper magazines read by great numbers of people – say 1.5 – 3 million I can predict that this car will never sell except for a ‘fire-sale’ bargain basement price. No one is looking for a 1951 Daimler, certainly not in this country. It’s got to be seen by someone who buys it on a whim, an impulse for which printed paper ads work great but the internet fails completely. Yes, this website will help, but it is read by too few people, and most of my fellow readers are like me – they only buy when the deal is so smokin’ hot that they’d be stupid to let it go by! And this Daimler certainly doesn’t fit that category. It seems only helplessly rusted old Porsches and derelict Ferraris have any interest to the world at large.
Apart from that – the Wilson Pre-Selector could be a real can of worms – it’s all electric, presumably with 64 year old wiring, who knows what the mice and insects have done, along with general corrosion that inevitably happens with non-use. To buy this as a non-running project is such a pig-in-a-poke with high potential for very serious problems. It’s a shame, that if one spends any money resurrecting it (and I’m sure virtually all parts can still be found eventually in England) it will never be worth anywhere near the cost required to make a good driver of it again – even if the owner GIVES it to you for free! My fear is that if it survives at all, it will be a Chevy powered hot rod. It’s too bad – a good shifting Wilson gear box is a real pleasure to use!
Sorry, Google Wilson Gearbox, a reliable fully mechanical piece of kit, where did you ever hear electrics involved?? You really need to get facts right before making silly assertions!!
I owned one, I know whereof I speak. There’s quite a jumble of wires from the shifter to the gear box – and 65 years of corrosion, abrasion and general breakdown of wires and insulation doesn’t speak well for the prospect of trouble-free motoring. How many have you owned and driven?
You are right John and Brakeservo is misinformed despite his claimed ownership of a car. I have owned six cars with Wilson preselector gearboxes; they all have one characteristic, they are NOT electric. One of the gearboxes had an auxillary switch to turn on a reversing lamp. If Brakeservo wants the workshop manual I have a spare copy and, guess what, no wires!
Seller says, “THIS NEW CONSORT MODEL HAD CLEANER AND MORE MODERN STYLING LINES”. Compared to what, a billycart? By 1950 ? Gee, you just cant beat good clear photos, and plenty of them can you?
To brakeservo. I am not sure what you owned or drove. The Wilson pre-selector gearbox is purely mechanical. It is not in ANY way electrical. In case you doubt my knowledge I have owned and driven a Daimler Consort and used it as my “everyday” vehicle. I own two other cars fitted with the mechanical, non-electrical pre-selector gearbox. As suggested, perhaps you should enter “Wilson preselector gearbox” in whatever is your search engine of choice
brakservo speaketh of that which he knows not. I have three Conquests, a Leda and two DK400s all with Wilson boxes and not one of them is wired up to anything. The Wilson box is fully mechanical I’m pleased to say and would be least of any owner’s concerns.
No matter how many Rolls-Royces and Bentleys you have sold in the past, as regards Daimler, you are clueless, seemingly? The Wilson ‘box as fitted to B.S.A. products from 1930 used NO electrics whatsoever, and this was the standard transmission system offered by the company until the launch of the Daimler Majestic DF316/7 in 1958, excepting the Lanchester LA14/3.
You seem to be confusing the system used in such as the DB18 Consort, with the “Preselectric” system used by Armstrong Siddeley up to and including the Sapphire mk2, with the electronic gate-change positioned to the side of the steering column.
To answer the question you asked “John” earlier: I have owned about a dozen pre-select Daimlers, and have an archive of literature covering virtually every model produced from 1928 to 1975.
I know what I am talking about; so does “John”.
My Wilson Pre-Sector gear box most definitely had quite a bunch of wires running from the steering column mounted gear select lever to the transmission. So if some were all mechanical, some were also made with wires, switches and solenoid.
Might be off the subject but not really. Does anyone have any information on Daimler Empress II, chassis number 82002. Saw where Davep made reference to this car in an earlier post.