Reader mail: 1967 Daimler DR450 needs to be saved.

Almost a year ago we featured a Daimler DR450 that was for sale in North Salt Lake. The car is gone and we figured it was probably the first and last one we’d ever run across. With only 864 cars made, they’re not exactly a common find.

A few days ago we got an email from a man in Indiana saying he had found another DR450. It’s a 1967 and he told us it looked to be in better shape than the one we found in Utah. Here are the pictures that he sent us:

The body doesn’t look too fresh but the man reassures us that it looks better in person than it does in photos and that the rust on it is merely surface rust. The photos confirm that; the only perforation on the car is limited to two small holes on each rocker panel.

Unlike the North Salt Lake car we found this one appears to be fairly complete. The car even still has its original V8 engine and it apparently runs! The glass is all there, most of the trim is there, it even still wears its British-issue license plates. Complete is only half the story, though: most if not all of it will need to be refurbished, but it's the perfect base for a complete restoration.

If anyone is interested in saving this rare piece of British automotive history, please contact us and we will send you the rest of the photos and get you in touch with the owner. And if you know of an interesting car that needs to be saved from a trip to the crusher, send us some photos and its story and we'll try to find it a new home.

Daimler DR450.

The city of North Salt Lake has been mentioned previously on Ran When Parked. A November 13^th, 2007, article defines the city as “a mildly depressing place dotted with refineries, factories and construction businesses.” Unfortunately things have not improved since, one could even argue the opposite. However, the city has again given us a rare find: a Daimler DR450.

The Daimler DR450 came out in 1961 and was essentially a much longer and much heavier limousine version of the Majestic Major sedan introduced in 1959. Its name hints at the 4561cc V8 with hemispherical cylinder heads that lurks under the hood. The engine was carried over from the Majestic Major mated to an automatic transmission.

The Majestic Major was a fairly luxurious car but the DR450 took it to new heights. It had all the equipment one would expect from a limousine including a glass separation between front and rear compartments, a middle row of jump seats and a back seat bigger than your average sofa. Wood paneling was standard all around and the dash included a complete set of gauges.

To simply state that this car is big would be an immense understatement. This car dwarfs a w126-series Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Let’s put it into perspective: a w126 560SEL (the long wheelbase model, mind you) is 203 inches (5160mm) long and weighs 3,980 pounds (1,805 kgs). The DR450 is 226 inches (5740mm) long and weighs a hefty 4,650 pounds (2,109 kgs). Despite its weight the V8 managed to quietly and comfortably propel the car to a top speed of over 110 miles per hour.

Production ended in 1968 after 864 cars came out of the Coventry factory. It was replaced by the Jaguar-based DS420 limousine.

The car photographed above and below is for sale. We have no relation to the seller, it merely caught our attention on the side of the road in rush hour traffic. It's missing the engine, the transmission, the bumpers, the rear bench seat, two gauges and a title, though applying for one would be a quick and painless process in Utah. It has some rust but it just came out of a storage unit so it doesn't have the cancer that a car sitting outside would have. The seller is not clear on what year the car is. Contact us if you are interested and we will give you the phone number that is written on the car.