Good evening to everyone,

I am Italian (nobody is perfect) and i live in Naples and I have been looking for two cars that my father owned for some time, now. Both Daimler. A four door Double Six and a coupé Double Six. I just found a 1992, series III, Double Six, single Dutch owner, black, in excellent conditions except for the A/C and a leak from the power steering.

I am now looking for the https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/ equivalent for the Daimler marque as all parts with the D emblem carry a different OEM code.

Can anyone help me? If this is not also the Daimler forum, can someone point me to the best Daimler owners' forum, please?

Regards to all, Tommaso

 

Welcome aboard Tommaso…………..Benvenuto.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

This IS the Forum for you.

The Daimler never went to the USA, they had naming issues about some thing. The rest of us got teh Daimler.

That link is the one I use for Parts, and its just a matter of sorting the Daimler stuff as you go. Mainly trim items, as mechanically they are identical to the Jaguar named cars.

Good luck

 

Typically the Daimler-specific parts all identified within the Jaguar listings. For example:

https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/


Or sometimes a separate listing:

https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/

Cheers
DD

 

Good morning Daf11, Francis and Dough!

Dough and Francis, thank you for helping me sort out the D parts! May I assume that this is a US based forum? I understand that Daimler were imported to the US too. Maybe I am wrong.

I wonder if anyone on this forum can help me find my father's cars. Is there any way to determine which VINs a car had, by short listing the production by country of import and colour? I would love to find, and then buy back, exactly those two cars, if they still exist and if I can find them.
1. Coupé, Double Six, burgundy with magnolia interiors (or maroon or a variation on violet) sold between 1976 and 1977 in Italy or France. It was kept, and I imagined serviced, at Cap Ferrat.
2. Four doors, Double Six, black with magnolia interiors sold in Italy after 1990. More likely 1991 or 1992. Kept, and I imagine serviced, in Naples (*)

Thank you. Tommaso

(*) I went to the local Jagaur dealer but I was informed that the Naples dealership changed hands many times, over the years, and the records were not passed on. Jaguar Italy and UK too, were unhelpful over the phone, so I am writing to Jaguar, UK. But I am not too hopeful that they will reply. Is there a marque or Club archive, as the RREC have?

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome to the forums Tommaso,

Since the introduction of the Jaguar XJ6 and Daimler Sovereign in 1968, the only differences between Jaguar and Daimler are trim and badges. They are mechanically identical. Jaguar cannot market the Daimler brand in the USA because Mercedes Benz own the rights to the name there. No such restriction applies in Europe, Australia or the Far East where Daimler were sold alongside Jaguar.

I had a Daimler Sovereign Series I Vanden Plas and a Daimler Sovereign Series II as I preferred the finish to the Jaguar.The Daimler Vanden Plas had the highest specification available and rivalled Rolls Royce and Bentley for paint and trim. Both V12 Jaguar and the Daimler Double Six equivalent were a small proportion of the total production - hundreds rather than thousands. If you want to know the actual numbers, see Jaguar - All the Cars by Nigel Thorley currently in the fourth edition.

Jaguar and Daimler don't have a high survival rate in Europe. Metal protection was poor and rust soon caused serious problems. Without the VIN there is little hope of finding your father's cars. The VIN is the identifier as registration numbers can be changed. I have always had the same personal numbers on my cars and have transferred them to more than fifty vehicles over the years.

JDHT (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust) hold all the old factory records and provide 'Heritage Certificates' for indivdually identifiable vehicles. They may be able to identify the subset of Double Sixes sent to Italy or France but are likely to charge for research.

Good luck.

Graham

 

Thank you for your welcome, 01XJR and GGG, and thank you for the information regarding Daimler in the US and the advice to contact JDHT which I will do now.

All I can add is that I keep very fond memories of those two cars, especially our summer car, the one kept in the South of France. I have been going through family albums but I cannot find any photos. All I remember is that the coupé was painted in this really ugly colour called malva which is an elegant name for the colour of aubergines! It had been chosen by my mother, who loved violet and similar weird colours. Maybe it was a fashion in the 70s. Also, but I am not too sure, I think that the roof was vinyl like the Silver Wraith. Maybe it was not. I cannot be 100% sure. In any case, it was really a horrible exterior colour combination! Black and aubergine! I remember that, every time that my father would step in the car, he would repeat the same phrase: it reminded him of how much he loved my mother! And my mother would giggle and rebuke him complaining that malva was very fashionable...

Anyway, I have seen an XJ-C V12 in black and it looked stunning! If I find my father's car, I would be tempted to repaint it in black but, who knows, being an Italian, with our renown love for mothers, I might just paint it in again that horrible colour as an act of love. what would this forum enthusiasts do (in the very unlikely chance of finding that car) ?

Anyway, the four door Double Six will arrive in Naples from the Netherlands on the 26th. I will post photos! Smiles from sunny Naples!

 

The Coupes all had a factory fitted vinyl roof to conceal some rather ugly welding on the rear pillar. The four door Daimler Vanden Plas also had a vinyl roof as standard but this was only cosmetic and not for any similar devious reason.

Graham

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Tommaso,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

Ghram, thank you, you seem very well versed with these cars so may I ask more information? I don't know if it is ok to ask for model and technical details in this thread but, if it is ok, then could you please explain more about the Vanden Plas trim? Whre was it available and for which cars?

From what I understand Daimler never had the option of a Vanden Plas trim in Europe. I understand that only Jagaur carried that optoinin Europe. I also understand that Daimler clients could choose options as wood grain and leather seat piping as part of the normal Daimler Double Six options list.

 

Tommaso,

The place to ask questions is XJ6 & XJ12 Series I, II & III forum:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-i-ii-iii-16/

I have seen used LHD VdP vehicles offered for sale in mainland Europe so I don't see any reason to think they were restricted to UK. They certainly weren't available in the USA where all VdP are badged as Jaguar.

Daimler VdP specification was sufficiently comprehensive to leave buyers only needing to choose paint and trim colours. I had a Daimler Vdp in Aegean Blue with biscuit trim which was a beautiful combination.

Graham

 

Perhaps the Vanden Plas option was only available on the pre-1984 Daimlers.

 

YES. The Daimler Series I VdP's were sent to Vanden Plas in London for painting and trimming. By the time Series II arrived the old Vanden Plas coachworks had been closed (1979) and Jaguar had brought all the work into the main Browns Lane factory in Coventry.

Graham

 

Hello, Tommaso,
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

So would it be reasonable to assume that, therefore, Jaguar stopped offering the VdP trim option on the Daimler line-up after 1979? The first (closing of the VdP factory) is not necessarily a reason or cause for the second (terminating the VdP trim option). So I seek your knowledge to clarify.

 

The Vanden Plas name belongs to the Rover Group which was also part of British Leyland (BL plc) with Jaguar. Jaguar could no longer use the name in Europe when Rover was sold to British Aerospace (BAe) in 1986.

The Daimler VdP was listed until 1982 and there is mention of the specification being available 'to special order' on XJ40 and X300 bodies but these are a shadow of the standard of the originals up to 1979.

Graham

 

Dear Grahm, I promise, this will be the last message about the VdP here. If you know them, would you, please, list what was included in the VdP package, on a Daimler, before 1982 and which were incorporated in the Double Six, after 1982 in Europe? There is a new thread here

 

The sales brochures are probably the best way to get this detail. Here's and example of Series II on ebay UK:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Daimler-X...-/233825185226

Graham