CarBrandLogos archive · Daimler · 1968
Britain's default state limousine for a quarter of a century.
Discover the storyPhoto: Dave Hitchborne · CC BY-SA 2.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Daimler DS420, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
When Jaguar consolidated its limousine business it needed one car to replace both the Daimler DR450 and the Vanden Plas Princess. The DS420 was built for that job: a long-wheelbase chassis derived from the Jaguar 420G floorpan, stretched and reinforced, carrying formal coachwork with a division, occasional seats and space to enter wearing a hat.
Pall Mall London · Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany · CC BY 3.0 de
02
Power came from Jaguar's 4,235 cc XK straight-six through a three-speed automatic — Borg-Warner units at first, later a GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400. Nobody bought one for acceleration. What mattered was the ride, the silence and the presence, and the fact that bodies could be delivered as bare chassis to hearse and ambulance builders, of which 903 were.
Daimler DS420 Limousine rear · MIKI Yoshihito · CC BY 2.0
03
Just over four thousand limousines were built between 1968 and 1992, at Kingsbury and then Coventry. They served royal households, embassies, mayoral fleets and, in enormous numbers, wedding and funeral firms. No direct successor followed: by 1992 the market for a bespoke British limousine had been taken over by stretched Mercedes-Benzes and the occasional armoured Jaguar.
Royal car NGN2 at Liverpool - scan01 · Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0
At a glance
Produced
1968–1992Engine
4235 cc Jaguar XK straight-sixBody
LimousineTechnical specification
In the collections
Contemporaries from the 1960s
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