Just when you think you know what to expect, something weird happens. There’s Daimler, founded in Britain in 1896, and yes, struggling as many makers did through financial trials and ill-advised mergers, but always producing phaetons and limousines and even commercial vehicles, enjoying the patronage of several royals for decades … so many decades that the product grew fusty. Buyers began to fall away. And then: Daimler made a sports car. Ok, it wasn’t well conceived – the whole idea was preposterous, actually. Jack Sangster of Ariel and Triumph motorcycle fame was running Daimler when the idea arose to sell aggressively to America as part of an upgrade to Daimler’s image. His engineer, Edward Turner designed a hemi-head V8 – light and powerful – to build into the new cars. Jack Wickes, Turner’s design man, sketched a body, and in April 1959, participants at the New York Motor Show were staring at a most unlikely creation. T.J. found this rare Daimler SP250 for us, located in Phoenix, Arizona.
The new car was made of fiberglass to accelerate production and keep costs under control. Its chassis was derived from a Triumph TR3, though after the first few cars showed a tendency to fling their doors open at inopportune moments, the chassis was revised for less flex. Four-wheel Girling discs provide the “whoa” against the 140 hp 2.5 liter V8. The gearbox is a four-speed manual with an overdrive option, no synchro on first. This car is covered in at least four videos published by BarryTsGarage on YouTube. While the car has seen plenty of restoration work, it remains a project, looking for a new owner to put it together.
The slender bucket seats, gauges, steering wheel, and interior trim are present. The seller promises that this project is “complete”, with all “hard” parts required for assembly, which is a bit vague; I’m not sure that means the new owner will never have to scrounge for this or that. The SP250 could be ordered with a hard top, but a convertible top is more common. The cars were exported with many basics listed as options since duty tax only applied to the car as delivered; options were tax-free. Only 2650 SP250s were made, Daimler having forgotten to ensure service facilities in the United States.
The tail-finned SP250 may look odd but its acceleration was well-regarded in the day: zero to sixty in 9 seconds and a top speed over 120 mph. Steering was heavy, however, and that chassis issue cost the company a pretty penny for retrofitting. If you’re up for a rare British project car, this Daimler is advertised here on craigslist with an asking price of $33,900. While SP250s exited the Purgatory of Disdain that kept them worth just a few thousand dollars several years ago, this price strikes me as aggressive. This running, driving example sold in April for $37,507. Sure, we see asking prices over $50k, but color me doubtful; what do you think?
These cars do tend to attract decent prices in the British classic car market, probably because they are pretty rare. The small V8 is supposed to be a real gem, as used by Jaguar/Daimler in the “Daimler 250” badge engineered version of the Jaguar Mk !!. The V8 designed by Edward turner, as noted in the article, same guy who designed the Triumph “Speed Twin” motorcycle engine which shares a lot of features.
another small piece of trivia….these cars were originally marketed as the “Daimler Dart” but Chrysler Corp sent them a “cease and desist” letter as Chrysler owned the “dart” name… so they changed to SP250
A couple years ago a guy had an Austin Atlantic for sale and when I went to look, he also had a couple of rough Daimler SP 250 in his back yard. Here is the link to his FB ad.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/173251309048633/?referralSurface=messenger_lightspeed_banner&referralCode=messenger_banner
There’s one of these near where I live just sitting next to a garage rusting away .
Where might that car be James? I know a guy who has one & he might be interested in trying to save it –
Way overpriced for that car. I have 1960 car, RHD with a complete running [original] engine and gearbox. Engine in car is overhauled high performance coupled with a 5 speed gearbox, plus other updates. Car also in Arizona, and I don’t think it would fetch $33K.
I believe that I saw these go for that price in #3 or #4 driving condition, so though the body looks okay, not all else.
SP250 was always the factory model designation. These cars were designed and built for the American market in an effort cash in on the lucrative US sports car market and restore the company to profitability. They had lost money heavily for several years and this was a last ditch attempt at survival, which failed. They didn’t have the capital to setup production for an all-metal body, so fiberglass it was. Jaguar bought them in 1960 and sorted out the cars’ deficiencies. There’s a reason this is a failed project. Better ones are around and come up for sale regularly.
These are a hoot to drive but rather ungainly in looks. It is a head turner at any show. The price is where a good driving example should be. There’s a lot more cash to pour down this rabbit hole.
That price indicates to me the wife said “sell it” so if you price it too high……seems this owner has little intention of selling this car any time soon!
I always found the small V8 intriguing but the car is too darn ugly for me.
But to go off topic a bit, the small V8 I find most intriguing is the 500cc Moto Guzzi racer from the 50s.
One SP250 did very well in SCCA racing back in the day, and anyone interested in these cars should see Jay Leno’s tv episode about them.
About 10 years ago, I was driving through Hotchkiss, Colorado, (in the middle of nowhere) and spotted an SP250 lurking in the weeds. It was green, engine out, but it even had the stock hubcaps and was in easily restorable condition. The owner had the engine out to fix the bad transmission. He didn’t like my offer, and soon afterward the car disappeared.
I remember watching Duncan Black piloting his SP-250 in the B & C Production race at the SCCA Nationals at Cumberland in 1961. Contrary to complaints about early SP-250’s, the doors did not fly open when Black’s Daimler barreled through the chicane. His SP-250 won C Production. Great performance from the ugly duckling! BTW, Don Yenko took B Production in his Corvette.
A buddy and I were able to get up close to the action thanks to the Press Passes he got from his job with a New York newspaper. Wow, that was a long time ago!
If I bought it I’d put three sets of curb feelers on the front to complete the catfish look.
Color me Gone…..did have a want for one of these way back when but I did seek help….
When I was in high school there was a teacher that
drove one of these,in a dark green color.There was also
a student teacher who drove a purple 240Z Fairlady.
In the late 60s in college (Lake Forest, Illinois), there was a rich kid who had a Lotus Elan that he drove for a couple of weeks before it sat for months waiting for parts from England. The next year he showed up with a Daimler SP250 in dark blue that he managed to keep running for a while before it too disappeared.
Hate to be hateful, but the designer who penned this body, and particularly the awful front end, should have kept their day job.
Michelle, your writeups are universally excellent, thorough, and educational. Some others should take note.
Agreed. How the board signed off on this design is a mystery, but hey, Austin were got it even worse with the Atlantic.
Dear Seller
Please will you give me the SPs chassis number/Vin number 10xxxx, this so I can check we have this sP noted on our records
Thank you
Laurence (Jones_SP250 Historian & Archivist – UK based
Surprise today. 3 of the finds are the cars of 5 or 6 that I drove on the same day years ago.
I drove A late model low mileage Spridget, a 356, Daimler SP250, Alfa Guilia and a couple others were all about $1k in 1970.
Spridget was too small.
356 sounded like a Beetle.
Hemi in the Daimler was neat but from every angle it was too ugly.
I took the Alfa and left the others on the lot.
One of th ugliest front ends of all time, worse than a 48 Lincoln, if thats possible.
Around about 1960,Surrey Police used these little convertibles in black for their speed cops. I don’t know whether other English forces used them. Standard car for the British cop at the time was the rather slow and ponderorous Woleseley 6/99 although Surrey cops had HumberSuper Snipe Station Wagons available.