In the 60s I had digs at a thrological college just outside Oxford, a place called Boars Hill. Had a pal there, a young curate under training. He had both a Daimler Dart and a Vincent Black Shadow garaged at the college.

Interesting place. There were far more young ladies staying there overnight than even happened in the college proper. For some reason a curate seems to be attractive to girls. Or at least it did then.

Another DD fan , possibly due to that lovely v8 that was not developed further due to BL cutbacks ? Darts are pretty expensive now which is a pity or we'd all have one.

A curate eh....
A line of girls would be a queue rate?

It was Jaguar that bought out Daimler and decided not to develop the V8. They did use it in their Mk2 saloon though.

There was a second, larger V8 (3.5litre), made by Daimler at the same time, but this was only used in their larger saloon the Daimler Majestic Major. Imagine if both had been developed further.

As mentioned previously, the motorcycle engineer, Edward Turner designed the engine. He was also responsible for the Ariel Square four and the Triumph vertical twin designs.

The Daimler engine has a lot of potential but it's expensive to liberate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_V8_engines

BLMC chairman Sir Donald Stokes decided not to develop the little Daimler v8 .

big fan of the DD too - although I admit it is a bit 'Marmite'.

Useless bit of trivia; Question Wilson (everyone's favourite car guru ) owns one - apparently, one of his all time favourite cars


James

I could never get on with the looks of the Dart. We had one in our little playground at one point. It did go and handle quite well for it's time. I was surprised to find out it was glassfibre given it was Daimler.

I had part ownership in a Daimler Majestic Major Herse at one point. It pulled along quite well with the 3.5L but we were warned to keep changing the oil and water.

This thread has certainly bought out some affection and a lot of knowledge of the car, thanks everyone for your contributions it's been most interesting reading them.

I'm still amazed at a couple of Morgan's being fitted with these power units.

Hi All

I'm no expert but I think the larger Daimler V8 was 4.5 litres displacement?

Also, I believe the block was cast iron with alloy head?

I like the quirky looks of the Dart and always enjoy seeing them at shows.

Regards to all

David (Mogdavid)

I think you're right. Don't know where I got 3.5 litre from.