Daimler Regency Mark I.

Daimler
Daimler Regency Mk. I with Empress II body from Hooper
Regency Mk.I
Production period:	1951-1953
Class :	Upper class
Body versions :	Limousine , cabriolet
Engines:	Petrol engines : 3.0 liters
Length:	4851 mm
Width:	1803 mm
Height:	1651 mm
Wheelbase :	2896 mm
Empty weight :	1830 kg
successor	Regency Mk. II

The Daimler Regency Mark I is a luxury vehicle from the British car manufacturer Daimler , which was built from 1951 to 1953 with different bodies. The factory designations are DF300 to DF303. The Mark I is the first of a total of three successive series in the Regency series , which remained in the Daimler range until 1958. The Empress II limousine , which was bodied by Hooper , is also based on it . The Mark I was unsuccessful in the UK market. Taking all body versions together, only around 50 vehicles were built in a period of just over a year. Its successor, technically and stylistically slightly changed, was presented in 1954 as Regency Mark II after more than a year of production interruption.

History of origin

Daimler Motor Company

The Daimler Motor Company, founded in 1896, was one of the most exclusive British automobile manufacturers in the first half of the 20th century. The company, which has been part of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) since 1910 , regularly supplied vehicles for the British royal family . The position of the company changed after the end of the Second World War , when the competitor Vanden Plas gradually took over the market leadership in the field of large sedans. Daimler then tried to serve lower-priced market segments with the smaller models in parallel with the representative vehicles that were still being produced.

Daimler's entry-level model in the immediate post-war period was the DB18 or the further developed version Consort , which had small six-cylinder engines and had been in production since 1945. In order to close the gap to the large DE27 and DE36 state cars , Daimler introduced the Regency in 1951, which was an enlarged version of the DB18 / Consort. The Regency Mark I was unsuccessful. In total, Daimler only built around 50 cars of this type.

A major reason for the lack of success was the British tax policy. When the Regency Mark I was launched, the purchase tax rate payable on the car was 66.6%. Winston Churchill , who had emerged victorious in the British general election in 1951 , had promised a halving of the purchase tax . In anticipation of the implementation of this announcement, buyers held back with the acquisition of luxury goods in the course of 1952, which also had an effect on the interest in the Daimler Regency. At the end of 1952, Daimler had to completely stop production of the Regency. Ultimately, the purchase tax was halved only in April 1953.

The successor to the Regency Mark I was the Mark II introduced in October 1954 , which was replaced by the One-0-Four a year later .

technology

Chassis and running gear

The Regency Mark I has a ladder frame with cross-shaped bracing, which was derived from the frame of the Daimler DB18 / Consort. The wheelbase of 2896 mm was the same as that of the smaller model.

Engine and power transmission

The Regency Mark I is powered by an in-line six-cylinder engine with 3.0 liters (2954 cm³) displacement. It is the only Daimler model in which the engine was used in this form. The six-cylinder engine is a further development of the four-cylinder that has powered the Lanchester 14 / Leda since 1950 . The bore and stroke of both engines (76.2 × 108 mm) are the same, as are the essential design features. Each cylinder has an inlet and an outlet valve, which are arranged in a suspended position and controlled by a camshaft below via bumpers ( OHV valve control ). The combustion chambers have a diamond shape. Mixture preparation was done by two SU carburettors. The maximum output of the basic version is 90 bhp (67 kW; 92 PS), which occurs at 4100 revolutions per minute. An upgraded version with a cast aluminum cylinder head appeared in 1952 for the convertibles and the Hooper models. Their maximum output is 100 bhp (75 kW; 101 PS).

Power is transmitted by a preselector from Daimler.

The individual models

Regency Saloon

The base model of the first Regency series is the Saloon (DF 300/301), a six-seater notchback sedan in the semi- pontoon style with four doors and three windows on each side (so-called Six Light) , stylistically reminiscent of the Jaguar Mark VII . The front fenders run halfway up the sides of the car to the rear fenders and follow a downward sloping line. All doors are hinged at the front. The structure was built in Daimler's own factory in Coventry , but was nominally attributed to Barker , a subsidiary of the body manufacturer Hooper, which is also part of BSA. The purchase price was £ 2,334 including tax at launch. This made the Regency more than twice as expensive as the DB18. The Jaguar Mark VII that the Regency was supposed to compete with cost just £ 1,500 at the same time. By the time production was discontinued , only seven Regency Saloons had been built , three of which still exist in the 21st century. One of the saloons belonged to the British Queen Mother .

Barker Special Sports

Stylistically very similar to the Regency Cabriolet: Special Sports on DB18 chassis

At the 1952 Paris Motor Show, a two-door convertible on the Regency chassis made its debut, which was designated as Barker Special Sports (DF 302/303). It was stylistically similar to the Special Sports, which Barker had built in large numbers for the DB18 chassis as early as 1949. Outwardly, the Special Sports differs from the DB18 Cabriolet in that the doors are hinged at the front. While the DB18 Cabriolet is a three-seater with a rear emergency seat installed transversely to the direction of travel, the Regency-based Special Sports has four seats. The convertible top and the side windows are electrically operated. The Regency Special Sports is equipped with a more powerful engine with an output of 100 bhp (101 hp). The car was priced at £ 2,661 when it was launched. The Special Sports was "extremely rare"; some sources believe that only three vehicles were built. One had a hardtop with a three-part rear window in a panoramic style . Daimler later adopted some of the design features of Special Sports such as the design of the rear fenders and the rear panoramic window for the four-door Sportsman sedan , which Mulliners of Birmingham built from 1954 as a high-priced special version of the Regeny Mark.

Hooper Empress Mark II

On a Regency basis: Empress Mark II

A peculiarity of Daimler in the 1950s were special series with independently designed Hooper bodies in the so-called Empress style , which were offered parallel to the standard models with Barker body. This tradition began in 1950 as the Empress Mark I with the smaller DB18 / Consort, and Daimler continued it in 1951 with the Regency with the Empress Mark II. As with all bodies of this design pattern, the front fenders of the Empress Mark II curve over the entire side of the car and only end at the lower rear end of the car. Molded rear fenders are missing; the body is so wide in the passenger area that it integrates the rear wheels. The rear wheels are covered by the side panels of the body. The sloping C-pillar connects the upper edge of the roof with the lower rear end of the car, where a decorative strip on the sides of the car that slopes down towards the rear ends. Unlike the Mark I, the Empress II models based on the Regency are usually (but not without exception) so-called six-light sedans with three windows on each side of the vehicle and four doors, the rear of which are hinged at the rear. However, individual copies were also designed as two-door models. 33 Empress sedans were built on the basis of the Regency Mark I, so that the Empress version was far more successful than Daimler's standard sedan with a Barker body.

Daimler Silver Flash

Some sources assume that the show car Silver Flash , which belongs to the so-called Docker Daimler and was presented at the Earls Court Motorshow in autumn 1953, was built on a Regency Mark I chassis (DF302). According to other sources, a modified Lanchester 14 chassis was the basis of the Silver Flash .

Technical specifications

Daimler Regency Mark I Saloon
Engine:	Six-cylinder gasoline engine, series
Displacement:	2954 cc
Bore × stroke:	76.2 x 107.9 mm
Gross output according to SAE J245 / J1995:	90 hp (67 kW) at 4100 min -1
Nominal power according to DIN 70020:	92 hp
Compression ratio:	6.7: 1
Mixture preparation:	2 carburettors
Cooling:	Water cooling
Transmission:	Pre-selection gear, 4 forward gears
Front suspension:	Leaf springs
Rear suspension:	Leaf springs
Brakes:	front and rear drum brakes
Chassis:	Ladder frame, steel
Body:	Sheet steel
Wheelbase:	2596 mm
Dimensions (length × width × height):	4851 × 1803 × 1651 mm
Empty weight:	1830 kg
Top speed:	approx. 131 km / h

literature

• David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975 , Poundbury, Veloce Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1-845845-83-4
• Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1899154019
• Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8
• Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978 1 4456 6316 6

Web links

Commons : Daimler Regency  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Technical data of the Daimler Regency Mark I Saloon

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 272.
2. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 259.
3. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 263.
4. ^ ^{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. 42.
5. ^ ^{A b c} Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1899154019 , p. 216.
6. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1899154019 , p. 215.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 261.
8. ↑ Milo Kelly, Dave Philpot: A Unique Passion - Regency 3-Liter , in: The Driving Member, December 2012 / January 2013 edition, p. 32 ff.
9. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1899154019 , p. 217.
10. ^ Brian Long: Daimler & Lanchester. A Century of Motor History , Longford International Publications, 1995, ISBN 1899154019 , p. 220.
11. ↑ Image of a Barker Special Sports (accessed on March 3, 2020).
12. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960, Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978 1 4456 6316 6 , p. 46.
13. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise: Daimler Century . Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1995, ISBN 1-85260-494-8 , p. 257.
14. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978 1 4456 6316 6 , p. 43.
15. ^ Richard Townsend: Docker's Daimlers. Daimler and Lanchester Cars 1945 to 1960 , Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2017, ISBN 978 1 4456 6316 6 , p. 83.
16. ^ The Driving Member , April 2009, p. 8.