1981 Daimler DS 420 - DS420

Fully documented from the very first day

Only three owners up to today

Original 22.000 Miles

When Jaguar took over Daimler in 1960, it opened the doors to a market in which its own name had previously played little part. Daimler had been building large formal cars for decades, supplying, among others, the British Royal Family. By the mid-1960s, its offering consisted of the Majestic Major and the DR450 limousine based upon it. Both were impressive, but technically they had long since fallen behind the times.

Jaguar, meanwhile, had all the right ingredients for a successor on the shelf. Based on the large 420G, a new formal limousine was created, its wheelbase stretched to almost 3.60 metres. Power came from Jaguar’s proven 4.2-litre straight-six with around 245 hp. The result appeared in 1968 as the Daimler DS420, in direct competition with the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI.

Up front sat the chauffeur, separated if desired by a division from the world that really mattered in a DS420. In the back there was plenty of leather, wood and space, while additional folding seats could turn the Daimler into a seven-seater when required. At almost 5.75 metres long, it left little doubt as to who had just arrived.

The DS420 was initially built by hand at Vanden Plas in Kingsbury, before production moved to Jaguar in Coventry in 1979. Royal families, embassies and hotels took to it, as did funeral directors, for whose purposes numerous chassis received suitably adapted coachwork.

Even though the DS420 soon looked like a relic from days gone by, it remained in production for an astonishing 24 years. Only in 1992 did production finally end, after 4,116 examples. There was no successor. Some things simply take a little longer to change – but change they do.

On 2 June 1981, Hooper & Co invoiced this Daimler DS420 to G.R.N. Mycock Esq., representing a Saudi sheikh and his business interests. For the grand total of £33,120, one got just about everything that could then be considered a luxury inside a motor car. From the special-order »Seychelles Blue« paintwork and the division to air conditioning for both driver and passengers, the latter alone adding more than £3,000 to the bill.

Every single service invoice up to 2001 – often several per year – has been carefully preserved. Together, they document a mileage of just 15,675 miles over twenty years. In 2002, the Daimler was finally released from the service of its first owner. From its second owner, the DS420 came to Austria in 2012, where it was subsequently registered. In the rear, the minibar for the grown-ups was complemented by a DVD player for the younger generation.

To this day, the enormous limousine has covered fewer than 22,000 miles, not least because it has spent much of the past few years standing still. Despite its robust Jaguar mechanicals, a thorough inspection before returning it to the road is therefore advisable. After all, a Daimler that looks this dignified ought to move with equal composure.