Daimler Empress

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Daimler Empress is the model name for luxury class vehicles that the London-based coachbuilder Hooper designed and built for the British luxury class manufacturer Daimler from 1950 to 1957 . In five series, a total of around 215 vehicles were built based on the chassis of the Daimler DB18 / Consort (Empress I), Regency (Empress II, IIA and III) and Regina / DK400 (Empress IV). The Empress versions were exclusive and very expensive alternatives to the standard models in these series. Today they are considered desirable classics.

The Empress Line

Closely associated with Hooper: Daimler Motor Company
Empress Line in its original form: Empress I (1950)

Stylistically, all series in the Daimler Empress range follow a design concept known as the Hooper Empress Line .

Hooper in Westminster was one of the most renowned coachbuilders in Great Britain and at times purveyor to the royal court . At the beginning of the Second World War , Hooper was taken over by the Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) group, which also included the Daimler Motor Company, an established manufacturer of state coaches. Hooper's superstructures were considered serious and conservative. In search of attractive, modern lines, Hoopers chief designer Osmond Rivers developed a design concept initially called New Look in the second half of the 1940s , which later became known as the Empress Line .

The Empress Line combines the pre-war Razor Edge design , developed by Hooper's competitor Freestone & Webb in 1935, with elements of the pontoon body . While the front fenders stand free as usual, there are no longer any molded fenders at the rear. The rear passenger compartment is so wide that it includes the rear wheels. They are completely covered by so-called spats . The tapering front fenders, the line of the C-pillar and a largely horizontal trim strip meet at the lower end of the rear of the car.

The Empress Line was originally developed for Daimler. Daimler chassis with Empress bodies were on offer from 1950 to 1958. Five different chassis types were fitted with Empress bodies at the factory. They are referred to as Empress I through IV. Only in combination with the Daimler chassis was the term Empress the official model name. Hooper also equipped chassis from other manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley with appropriately designed bodies; however, these superstructures were not officially called Empress.

The series

Forerunner: The Green Goddess

Hooper first realized some of the main features of the Empress Line in 1948 with the convertible Daimler Green Goddess , a show car based on the Daimler DE36 state limousine , which is a conceptual forerunner of the so-called Docker Daimler . The term Empress has not yet been used with him. At the customer's request, Daimler produced around ten replicas of the Green Goddess .

Empress I

Four Lights : Hooper Empress I (Daimler DB18)
One of six convertibles in the Empress I series

The first series-produced version of the Daimler Empress was based on the Daimler DB18 , which was marketed as a consort from 1949. The DB18 / Consort, positioned in the upper middle class , was the brand's entry-level model in the immediate post-war period. It was offered as a standard four-door saloon with a conservatively designed body by Mulliners of Birmingham , and from 1948 also as a convertible with an independent Barker body based on a slightly modified special-series chassis.

At the Earls Court Motor Show in October 1950, Daimler finally added a special version in the Empress design to the standard saloon . This version is referred to in retrospect as Empress I. The technical basis was not the regular saloon , but the special series chassis, which was originally designed for the Barker convertible. A six-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 2.5 liters (2522 cm³) serves as the drive, with a maximum output of 85 bhp (63 kW; 86 PS), which is slightly higher than that of the standard saloon with a Mulliner body. The Empress I is regularly designed as a four-door sedan with two windows on each side ( four lights ); there are no side windows in the C-pillar. The front doors are hinged at the front, the rear doors at the back. 97 more or less identical Empresses were built according to this pattern. At £ 3,450, they were almost twice as expensive as the standard Consort (£ 1,340) and about 11 times as expensive as a Ford Anglia (£ 300). There were also six convertibles, one of which was given to King George VI. went, and a two-door for Norah Docker.

When Daimler replaced the Consort in 1953 with the slightly shorter Conquest , a modification of the Lanchester Leda , there was no standard version for this chassis with an Empress body. Hooper produced only "a handful" - probably four - prototypes, which were designed as two-door because of the short wheelbase. Two of them were fitted with a radiator grille from Daimler's subsidiary brand Lanchester and presented as Lanchester Dauphin at the Earls Court Motor Show in October 1953 . The cars were priced at £ 3,000 each. Series production came about neither in the Daimler nor in the Lanchester version.

Empress II

Six Lights : Empress II (Daimler Regency Mark I)

In the fall of 1951, Daimler introduced the Regency series, which was intended to close the gap between the DB18 / Consort and the large DE27 and DE36 representative limousines. In technical terms, the Regency was an enlarged version of the Consort: the chassis largely match, and the Regency's engine is based on the Consort's six-cylinder in-line engine. In the first series, built from 1951 to 1953 and subsequently referred to as the Mark I , the Regency was available as a four-door saloon (DF300 / 301) and - with a slightly modified chassis and a more powerful engine - as a two-door convertible (DF302 / 303), the bodies of which were respectively Attributed to Barker. Both Barker versions were largely unsuccessful: the saloon was built only seven times, the convertible probably only three times.

In addition to the Barker bodies, Daimler also had a high-quality Empress- style Hooper body on the Regency Mark I chassis . It is known as the Empress II. The Empress II is stylistically based on the Empress I on a consort basis, but - unlike this one - is usually designed as a six-light sedan, i.e. has three windows on each side of the vehicle. The rear doors are still hinged at the back. Individual vehicles were also made as two-door models at the customer's request. Technically, the Empress II is based on the chassis of the Barker Cabriolet (DF302 / 303). Like this one, it has a 3.0 liter in-line six-cylinder engine with a maximum output of 100 bhp (102 hp). By the beginning of 1953, a total of 33 Empress II sedans had been built, so that the Empress version was far more successful than Daimler's standard sedan with a Barker body that was only produced seven times.

Empress IIA

One and a half years after production of the Mark I was discontinued, Daimler presented the Mark II, the second generation of the Regency, in October 1954 . With the chassis largely unchanged, the factory offer included a four-door sedan with three windows on each side ( Six Light Saloon ), the optional DF 303/304 with a 107 bhp version of the in-line six-cylinder engine enlarged to 3.5 liters or as a DF401 / 402 with the 4.5 liter engine of the Regina sedan (127 bhp; 95 kW; 129 PS). In addition, as the Four Lights Saloon, there was the Sportsman with a body from Mulliners of Birmingham (DF 308/309), which is usually powered by a version of the 3.5-liter engine that has been upgraded to 130 bhp (96 kW; 132 PS). The Sportsman took on the role of the sporty model and replaced the Barker convertible, whose production was discontinued.

On the basis of the Regency Mark II, Hooper built another Empress variant, which is called the Mark IIA (DF306 / 307). Except for small details in the area of ​​the front mask, it is completely in line with the previous Empress Mark II. A 114 bhp (85 kW; 116 PS) version of the 3.5-liter engine also used in the standard model serves as the drive. The transmission and the rear axle correspond to the components of the Sportsman. 58 vehicles were built from this Empress variant.

Empress III

Empress III (1956)

One year after the introduction of the Regency Mark II, its successor called One-0-Four appeared , which has a further performance-enhanced, now 137 bhp (102 kW; 139 PS) 3.5-liter engine. The body of the Six Light Saloon (DF310 / 311/314) corresponds to that of the previous Mark II, and the Sportsman, which was now officially called Four Light Saloon (DF310 / 311), remained externally unchanged in the range.

Hooper's version of the third Regency generation was named Empress III (DF308 / 309). Outwardly, it corresponds almost completely to the Empress II and IIA. In technical terms, the Empress III did not make the switch from the Regency Mark II to the One-0-Four. The Empress III is based on the chassis of the previous Sportsman (DF306 / 307) and is also powered by its 3.5-liter engine with 130 bhp (96 kW; 132 PS). A single vehicle was not equipped with the 167 bhp (124 kW; 169 PS) "4.5 liter" engine of the One-0-Five. Hooper built the last Empress III in 1957 on a chassis manufactured in 1955. A total of 14 Empress III.

Empress IV

Six Lights : Empress Mark IV (Daimler RK400)

Daimler's most exclusive series in the 1950s was the DK400 chauffeur limousine (initially referred to as Regina), which was technically an extended version of the Regency Mark II. In 1954 it replaced the DE36 "Straight Eight" and its smaller sister model DE27, which had been discontinued a year earlier. At the customer's request, Hooper had already produced individual six-light bodies on their chassis , which corresponded to the Empress style, but were not officially called Empress. Daimler continued this concept with the Regina. Here, Hooper bodies were available as an alternative to the standard bodies supplied by the independent specialist Abbey Panels . The Hooper variants of the Dk400 are often referred to in the literature as Empress IV; Daimler and Hooper did not use this terminology at the factory.

The DK400 is a large representation sedan with a wheelbase of 3302 mm. Their chassis largely corresponds to that of the Regency Mark II Saloon . A 4.5-liter version of the in-line six-cylinder engine was used as the drive, an early version of which had an output of 127 bhp (94 kW; 129 hp) and then from 1956 167 bhp (124 kW; 169 kW). In terms of style, the structure of the Empress IV continues to follow the Empress Line , but is more elongated in accordance with the longer wheelbase of the DK400. The front section has been revised. The headlights are now integrated into the fender tips and do not have a small round roof. Ten years later, Daimler took over this design detail for the DS420 representative sedan based on Jaguar technology . By 1957, depending on the source, seven or eight Empress IV were built; There were also six Hooper structures with individual designs, some of which, but not all, were loosely based on the Empress Line . The price for an Empress IV was £ 6,123 in 1957; it was almost 50 percent more expensive than a DK400 with a standard structure.

literature

  • David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975 , Poundbury, Veloce Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-583-4 .
  • Halwart Schrader: Jaguar type compass - passenger cars since 1931 , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02106-4 .
  • Heiner Stertkamp: Jaguar - The complete chronicle from 1922 to today , 2nd edition, Heel-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89880-337-6 .
  • Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 .
  • Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 .
  • James Taylor: Coachwork on Rolls-Royce & Bentley 1945–1965 , Herridge & Sons, Beaworthy, 2019, ISBN 978-1-906133-89-4 .
  • Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 .
  • Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 .

Web links

Commons : Daimler Hooper  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960. Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 127: "quite simply the best".
  2. ↑ Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960. Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 114.
  3. ↑ Brief description of the history of Freestone & Webb on the website www.silvercloudinternet.com (accessed March 2, 2020).
  4. ↑ James Taylor: Coachwork on Rolls-Royce & Bentley 1945–1965 , Herridge & Sons, Beaworthy, 2019, ISBN 978-1-906133-89-4 , p. 91.
  5. ↑ Description of a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I with an individual body in the style of the Hooper Empress Line (accessed on February 2, 2020).
  6. ↑ Sales advertisement for a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with an individual body in Empress style (accessed on February 3, 2020).
  7. ↑ Description of a Bentley R-Type with an Empress Line body (accessed on February 5, 2020).
  8. ↑ Sales advertisement for a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with an individual body in Empress style (accessed on March 2, 2020).
  9. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 79.
  10. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 257.
  11. ^ A b Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 33.
  12. ↑ NN: The Ford Anglia 8hp Road Test . The Motor dated October 27, 1948.
  13. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 , p. 213, m. Fig. Of the two-door model on p. 207.
  14. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 263.
  15. ↑ Image of a Daimler Conquest with a two-door Empress body (accessed on February 19, 2020).
  16. ↑ Lanchester program of 1953 with a contemporary illustration of the Dauphin at the end of the page (accessed on February 19, 2020).
  17. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 264.
  18. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 58.
  19. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 259.
  20. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 , p. 216.
  21. ↑ Milo Kelly, Dave Philpot: A Unique Passion - Regency 3-Liter , in: The Driving Member, December 2012 / January 2013 edition, p. 32 ff.
  22. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 43.
  23. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 , p. 230.
  24. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor Histor y, Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 , p. 229.
  25. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , pp. 43 and 46.
  26. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-899154-01-9 , p. 233.
  27. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 46.
  28. ↑ Announcement of the auction of the last Empress III on the website www.bonhams.com (accessed on March 9, 2020).
  29. ^ A b Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 61.
  30. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4456-6316-6 , p. 63.