Daimler Majestic

The Majestic is a luxury sedan of the former British car manufacturer Daimler, which was produced from 1958 to 1962. The six-cylinder Majestic and derived from him, equipped with an eight-cylinder engine Majestic Major were the last vehicles that Daimler developed before the company was taken over by competitors Jaguar. The Majestic was at its launch as technically situated on the amount of time stylistically but dated.

Background

The Daimler Motor Company was founded in 1896 in the first half of the 20th century one of the most exclusive British car manufacturer. That since 1910 the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA ) associated company supplied vehicles regularly for the British royal family. The position of the company changed after the end of the Second World War. In particular, by the extroverted behavior of Lady Nora Docker, wife of the BSA director, lost the mark of reputation, and the market shares were compared with Bentley and Rolls- Royce in the course of the 1950s further and further behind. Daimler first tried with the models Consort and Conquest to use cheaper market segments, but remained unsuccessful. The 1958 Majestic presented should strengthen Daimler's position in the luxury class. In the eight-cylinder version of the model remained even after the acquisition of the brand by Jaguar in the program where it to 1968 Daimler 250 V8 added.

Model history

The Daimler Majestic replaced the Daimler produced until 1956 Regency, whom he resembled stylistically and technically.

Landing gear

The car used a box frame made of steel, which was developed for the 1937 model released New Fifteen. Daimler had only slightly revised the design of the framework for the Majestic. The front wheels were independently suspended rear there was a live axle with leaf springs. The Majestic was the first British production car servo-assisted disc brakes on all four wheels.

Motor

Was powered by a six-cylinder inline engine. He corresponded in its basic design the engine of the previous model; However, the engine capacity was increased from 3.4 liters to now 3.8 liters by increasing the bore. The cylinder head was made of aluminum. The valves were controlled by an overhead camshaft. The engine output was 149 hp, maximum torque 283 Nm. The transmission was a three speed automatic Borg Warner.

Starting in 1960, the car was available also with a 4.5 -liter eight-cylinder engine. The vehicle, which was stylistically slightly revised, was named Daimler Majestic Major.

Body

Daimler factory offered a four-door sedan with a steel body. The body of the Majestic followed the style of the previous model, the structure was, however, slightly wider, and the lines were " smoothed " as perceived. It was a steel body in the pontoon style. The front fenders went smoothly into the front doors. Contemporary observers saw a similarity of Daimler- body with that of the Mercedes -Benz 300 "Adenauer ".

In addition to the work of some other body, Custom constructions that made primarily of British coachbuilder Hooper emerged.

Performance

The Motor magazine in June 1958 identified a top speed of 161 km / h The car accelerated from 0 to 60 mph (97 km / h) in 14.2 seconds.

Market positioning and production

The Daimler Majestic competed in the UK market primarily with the Jaguar Mark IX. It was £ 500 more expensive than the Jaguar ( £ 2,495 compared with £ 1,995 ), who had an almost equally large, but with 220 hp significantly more powerful engine. Created over four years, 1,490 copies of the Majestic, while Jaguar produced in the same period over 10,000 vehicles of the Mark IX.

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