CarBrandLogos archive · Daimler · 1959

DaimlerSP250

A fibreglass roadster with a jewel of a V8 and a chassis that flexed.

Photo: Calreyn88 · CC BY 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Daimler history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Daimler SP250, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Daimler needed money and it needed America, so in 1959 it built a sports car — something the company had never really done. The SP250 was announced at the New York show under the name Dart, until Dodge pointed out that it owned that name, and the model reverted to its project code.

Daimler SP250 rear three quarters · Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Daimler England, Swiss licence registration TG- pic1

Design and engineering

The best part of it was Edward Turner's engine. Turner had made his reputation designing motorcycles at Triumph, and the 2.5-litre iron-block V8 he drew for Daimler was compact, free-revving and good for 140 bhp, with hemispherical combustion chambers and a delightful exhaust note. It was a genuinely fine piece of engineering wrapped in a car that was not.

Daimler England, Swiss licence registration TG- pic1 · AlfvanBeem · CC0

Daimler England, Swiss licence registration VD- pic3

In production

The body was glassfibre over a separate chassis borrowed conceptually from the Triumph TR3, and the structure flexed badly enough on early cars that doors could open on rough roads. Jack Wickes styled it, and the result — bulbous, finned, with a drooping mouth — divided opinion at launch and has never entirely stopped dividing it. Later B- and C-spec cars stiffened the chassis and improved the equipment.

Daimler England, Swiss licence registration VD- pic3 · AlfvanBeem · CC0

Legacy

Its most familiar role was in uniform: the Metropolitan Police ran a fleet of SP250s as traffic pursuit cars, exploiting the performance the styling concealed. When Jaguar bought Daimler in 1960 it killed the car in 1964 but kept the engine, fitting it to the Mk2-based Daimler 2.5 V8 saloon, where the same unit finally got the chassis it deserved.

At a glance