Daimler Consort

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Daimler DB18
6-cylinder in-line ohv[2]
Transmission4-speed pre-selector gearbox with Fluid Flywheel.
Special Sports had an overdrive ratio on 4th gear.
Open propellor shaft and underhung worm-driven axle, hypoid bevel from June 1950.
Dimensions
Wheelbase114 in (2,900 mm)[2]
Length180 in (4,600 mm) (2½-litre)[3]
180 in (4,600 mm) (Consort)[2]
Width65 in (1,700 mm)[3]
Height63 in (1,600 mm) [3]
Chronology
PredecessorDaimler New Fifteen
SuccessorDaimler Conquest whole new smaller vehicle
Daimler Regency same 9' 6" wheelbase, 3-litre engine
Daimler DB18 2½-litre engine
Overview
Cooling system
water-cooled thermostatically controlled, centrifugal pump and 4-blade fan
Output
Power outputfrom 1946 70 bhp (52 kW; 71 PS) @ 4000 rpm.
Tax rating 18.02 hp
Chronology
PredecessorDaimler Fifteen 2.2-litre
SuccessorDaimler Conquest 2½-litre

The Daimler DB18 is an

automobile produced by Daimler from 1939 until 1953. It is a 2½-litre version of the preceding 2.2-litre New Fifteen
introduced in 1937. From 1949, the DB18 was revised to become the Daimler Consort.

Using the engine developed for the Daimler Scout Car,[4] it was offered to customers from 1939 as a six-cylinder chassis on which Daimler and various British coach builders offered a range of bodies including drop-head coupes.[3]

Development

The model was introduced immediately before the

Second World War
, during which the company concentrated on the manufacture of military vehicles.

To contemporaries the model was generally known as the Daimler 2½-litre until Daimler adopted the North American habit of giving their cars names (although not on any badgework), and an all-steel export version of the car was introduced in October 1948 at the

London Motor Show, "principally for export" and branded as the Daimler Consort.[5]
The updates included the integration of the firewall into the body rather than it being part of the chassis, a move from rod operated mechanical brakes to a Girling-Bendix hydraulic front and rod operated rear system, incorporating the head lights into the front guards, and providing a badge plate behind the front bumper with a curved radiator grille replacing the flat one.

Specification

The car used a 2,522 cc in-line six-cylinder, pushrod OHV engine fed by a single SU carburetter.[3] Throughout its life, 70 brake horsepower (52 kW) was claimed, though a change in the gearing in 1950 was marked by an increase in maximum speed from 76 miles per hour (122 km/h) to 82 miles per hour (132 km/h) for the saloon, while the acceleration time from 0 – 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) improved from 17.9 to 16.9 seconds.[2] By the standards of the time the car was brisker than it looked.[3]

The car was supplied with the Daimler Fluid Flywheel coupled to a 4-speed Wilson

Pre-selector gearbox. The independent front suspension used coil springs, while the back axle was suspended using a traditional semi-elliptical set-up.[3] The chassis was "underslung" at the rear with the main chassis members passing below the rear axle. In mid-1950 the restricted ground clearance was improved by the adoption of a conventional hypoid bevel drive to the rear axle replacing the traditional Daimler underslung worm drive which had hampered sales outside Britain.[6]

Coachwork

Although offered originally as a chassis only model, post-war the most common version was a four-door saloon which Daimler themselves produced. The interior was fitted out with traditional "good taste" using mat leather and polished wood fillets.[3] By the early 1950s, this coachwork was beginning to look unfashionably upright and "severe yet dignified".[3]

In 1939,

Carlton Carriage Co to build a drophead coupe on a DB18 chassis, chassis No.49531. He used it during election campaigns in the later 1940s.[7]

Production

Approximately 1,000 DB18s and 25 DB18 Special Sports were produced to 1940.[8] In addition 3,355 DB18s, 608 DB18 Sports Specials and 4,250 DB18 Consorts were built in the post-war years.[9]

The Consort became a popular car among the wealthy in India. All together, over 100 cars were ordered, mainly by the Maharajas in India and a further dozen were ordered by Royalty in Ceylon and Burma.

Photos of exterior and interior

(Example: Daimler New Fifteen)

Gallery

  • Some other bodies on the same 2½ litre DB18 chassis
  • Tickford 4-door tourer by Salmons 1940
    Tickford 4-door tourer by Salmons
    1940
  • Dolphin 4-dr sports saloon by Charlesworth 1940
    Dolphin 4-dr sports saloon by Charlesworth
    1940
  • Daimler 2½ litre six-light saloon 1947
    Daimler 2½ litre
    six-light saloon
    1947
  • Tickford drophead coupé by Salmons 1950
    Tickford drophead coupé by Salmons
    1950
  • Tickford drophead coupé by Salmons 1950
    Tickford drophead coupé by Salmons
    1950
  • Empress drophead coupé by Hooper 1951
    Empress
    drophead coupé by Hooper
    1951
  • Empress saloon body by Hooper 1951
    Empress saloon body by Hooper
    1951
  • Special Sports drophead coupé by Barker 1952
    Special Sports
    drophead coupé by Barker
    1952

References

  1. ^ Daimler 2½ litre sales brochure, picasaweb.google.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-333-16689-2
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Second Hand car guide supplement". Practical Motorist. 6 (68): 768–769. April 1960.
  4. ISBN 1-85260-494-8
    .
  5. ^ "2½-litre Daimler Consort saloon". Autocar. 9 September 1949.
  6. ^ Display advertisement, The Times, Thursday, Jun 15, 1950; pg. 8; Issue 51718
  7. ^ Chris Knapman (9 November 2010). "Winston Churchill Daimler to be auctioned". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  8. ^ Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars of the 1930s, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, 1989, page 61
  9. ^ Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars 1945-1970, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, 1986, page 48

This entry includes statistical information from the German Wikipedia concerning the Daimler Motor Company.

External links

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