Daimler Coupé (1978)

[midnight43]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking around here for many years but decided to sign up seeing as I've now got a big blue Coupé sitting on the drive that I though someone out there might get a kick out of.

Here she is!


My story with this car actually started a while back. This was actually my fathers car before I got my hands on it. He bought it in 1986 roughly 11 months before I was born. Seeing as he's now in his mid 70's he decided that he was too old to work on it any more. It had also covered less than 50 miles in the last 4 or 5 years and had just failed it's MoT due to a bit of rust in the floor and front chassis leg. So I agreed to buy it from the old man but had no way of moving it the 100 miles from his garage to my drive, couldn't drive it without an MoT, and Dad's Freelander isn't man enough to tow it....

So a deal was struck a year or so ago that the car would continue to live in Dad's garage for a bit whilst I welded in a new floor and some other bit and pieces.

Old floor out!



Some new metal where the chassis leg was meant to be.


Then last weekend after some cutting and some welding, having the carbs rebuilt and a couple of trips to the MoT place, we made the 100 or some mile trip around the M25 and parked her on my drive for the first time and I pulled this face 

Still got a long list of stuff that needs doing and probably an even longer list of things I'd like to do to it though. First job is to fit a new drivers door lock so I can actually take it places and have half a hope it'll be where I left it when I come back.

[dubbelduwwel]

Compared to the sedan few were build. Lovely cars and they are becoming scarcer by the day. Plans? Bookmarked.

[luckygti]

Beautiful cars, I have wanted one for longer than I can remember! Just for cruising in, although a Broadspeed replica would feature high up on my lottery list!

[minininjarob]

That is GORGEOUS!

[GT4ME]

Love these.

[AtomicRooster]

Oh yes!

So rare to see 70s motors on these pages these days, this is a spanker.

[georgeb]

Consider me kicked!

Welcome and bookmarked

[Em]

Very, very nice! I do like these and have wanted one for a long time.

Tidy looking welding on the floor, by the way!

Apart from the above, any other plans for it? Some subtle modifications, perhaps...?!

All the best with it whichever way you go.

[dungbug]

That's a peach of a car, very rare ol girl.......Hopefully I'll see this driving around MK soon (?)

[logicaluk]

Cant find a hommer esque dribbling smiley. Thats soooo nice, One of my all time favorite cars in the prettiest mk and the best body style, I'm off to polish somthing in the garage.
Booook marked so full of WIN

[103e]

A proper retro on here for a change. Very nice!

[midnight43]

Thanks all for the nice comments. I think the photos don't quite show how much there is to do to tidy her up. There's lots of little (some not so little) bits of rust and lots of other things to do to make her really nice.

Jun 28, 2015 7:34:26 GMT Em said:

Tidy looking welding on the floor, by the way!

Thanks, I do get lucky occasionally


As for future plans, mostly just tidy her up and make her more usable at the moment. There may be a small reduction in ride height soon though as I think these look so much better closer to the floor.


Small update: Managed to fit a new drivers door lock after eventually working out how to get the door card off.





Found this in the door whilst I was at it.


The original central locking solenoid. I'm told the central locking hasn't worked at all in the last 30 years so I thought I'd get rid of it. One of the mods I'd like to do sometime in the future is remote central locking just to make the thing easier to live with. Think I'll use some more reliable modern bits for that though.


After that I went for a drive....

[midnight43]

Just a small update for now. I've been doing a few bits and pieces to the interior but nothing that's ready to post yet. This is one job I did tonight though. Repairing the steering wheel where the stitching had come loose. 

The view from the drivers seat (please excuse the thumb over the lense)


The problem area, which happened to be just exactly where I hold the wheel whilst driving.


And the repair. Nearly as good as new. 

I did consider recovering the whole wheel with new leather, but I thought that there's nothing actually wrong with the old leather and it has a nice weathered look that's a bit more in keeping with the rest of the car. Maybe when the interior gets a proper refresh I'll do the wheel at the same time. 

That's all for now. Next thing will be give it a good wash and polish ready for the Silverstone Clasic Retro Run in a weeks time. Anyone else from here going to be there?

James

[marsh300ce]

Very rare and very beautiful car.
What engine does it have?

[gazz81]

4.2 Straight six?

[midnight43]

Jul 16, 2015 16:38:50 GMT marsh300ce said:

Very rare and very beautiful car.
What engine does it have?

Jul 16, 2015 18:51:49 GMT gazz81 said:

4.2 Straight six?

Yeah, it's the 4.2 XK 6 cylinder engine on twin SU's. It's quite a lazy engine but it does get up and go when it wants to.

[lamsdale]

Beautiful car, and the history makes it even better. Lucky you.

[mylittletony]

These are high on my WANT list, always have been. I remember a double six quietly burbling past me on Clapham High Street with all the windows down.

Big pimping.

If it were mine, I'd go a touch lower on the front for a bit of rake, shine the sh*T out of it and add some whiteband tyres. DONE.

[tdk]

Lovely car. More pics, please!

[tzeph6]

Good looking car,nice to waft around in,while pinching the steering wheel ? !!!!!