Daimler 2½ litre V-8 “Cresta” prototype DN250, 1959
a pictorial history of the project
1 1	13 March 2007 Pictures on eBay immediately after my bid, about 2 min 56 seconds before the auction end time.
	LSL 929 1/4 of many pictures supplied by the seller.
	LSL 929 2/4 of many pictures supplied by the seller.
	LSL 929 3/4 of many pictures supplied by the seller.
	LSL 929 4/4 of many pictures supplied by the seller.
	12 April 2007 Ready for loading at Morris & Sons (Dunsford) – edged tools, billhooks etc.
	12 April 2007 On its way to Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.
	WT Bell (Burslem) Ltd To be the “home” of LSL 929 for the next few months or year(s).
	EOG 1 (“Dotty”) My Daimler New Conquest Drophead Coupé DJ254 on 31 January 2007, having suffered its bonnet flying open at 60 mph and smashing its windscreen, which saved my head from worse than a slight bump. I finished my business trip with the bonnet strapped down.
	Dotty at WT Bells The repair work on Dotty, as well as years of work on it and my Daimler Empress, are why LSL 929 is there rather than elsewhere for conversion into a replica of the Daimler 1959 prototype.
	Daimler Empress II (“the Dowager”) My other Daimler from 1985, which for a while was my family car in succession to the Daimler (ex Lanchester) Dauphin. Hooper made some of the best looking cars of the 40s and 50s, but, with a ash framed coach built body and about 55 bhp/ton, it is less practical than it used to be for regular use. Now, if this project succeeds, the Dowager will be replaced by the still to be named (with a D) Cresta.
	8 May 2007 Mistake number one. I missed an appointment.	I arranged with Michael Riley of Monyash to meet him at the bodyshop and discuss the specialist bodywork needed on the job, mainly the bonnet lid, the C-pillar and the rear wings. Years ago he had worked on the Dowager at Scott-Moncrieff. Happily he accepted my apologies and will take on the job, but such is his order book, he cannot start for about 12 months. Probably about right.
	9 May 2007 In WT Bell’s bodyshop, awaiting stripping to the bare metal. A former office room had been allocated to store all the parts for what will be a long haul. When fully stripped, the shell will be shot blasted to get down to clean metal, all damage will be repaired and then it will be cold galvanised.
	9 May 2007 Plenty of room for the Daimler V8, I hope. It is said to have housed a Rover 3 ½ V8 in its relatively recent life.
	9 May 2007 How will an interior like this ever look like a Daimler? More mundane, how will anyone get in and out with A-pillars like this. Perhaps I should have thought about this first!
	9 May 2007 Rear suspension. The springs are bound to need replacing after 50 years. GME Springs, prominent in a Google search, did not reply to my email enquiry. Eaton Springs of Michigan, Detroit prompt reply to my email, showed that the writer had visited this site and asked technical questions about the present springs. Guess who will get the order. www.eatonsprings.com
	9 May 2007 Front suspension. As above.
	27 May 2007 Aladdin’s Cave is at Ringwood, a few miles North of Christchurch, Hants and lies behind this entrance. John Nash, who founded he Daimler Enthusiasts’ Club, has a vast collection of parts and a number of Daimlers some in need of restoration and others fit only for breaking. Some parts still bear Ben Mason’s labels.
	27 May 2007 Inside Aladdin’s cave – but there is so much more than this.
	27 May 2007 The gear box for LSL 929. The rear suspension guarding it is not from a lorry or a bus, but a post-war Daimler limousine.
	27 May 2007 The engine for LSL 929, fundamentally complete but missing a few accessories. The Majestic radiator shell which John selected to go with these is in a black bin bag but not these pictures.
	29 May 2007 First check of the radiator grill for size. Nothing will be cut to size until later in the project.
	29 May 2007 The workshop photographs show that the A-pillar is vertical. I think that I can adjust it to either vertical or even slightly backward sloping and make a new window frame to match. This should reduce a weakness at the joint of the A-Pillar with the body and might enable me to move the structural metal behind the dashboard slightly forward and give more room to model a new dashboard.
	29 May 2007 In both the artist’s impression and the photographs, Daimler retained the base of the rear fins. I will assume that (rightly or wrongly) they had not got round to this detail and will remove all signs of the fins and round off the tops of the rear wings. New rear door handles will be needed, as in the both the artist’s impression and the photographs.
	29 May 2007 Fitting a Daimler steering wheel to the Vauxhall steering column might be a problem, so I may experiment with a complete Daimler steering box, adjustable column and wheel assembly and shorten the column if necessary.
	22 June 2007 The scuttle with the screen removed but before stripping – still at WT Bells.
	12 July 2007 Major change of plan. WT Bell’s sold their bodyshop so I looked around. At a car show at Stafford Castle I had talked to the owners of a restored Cresta, whose car had been restored at Jules at Coven near Wolverhampton. So, to the Yellow Pages. Rod Gautier and his son David run Jules Bodycraft at Brewood Road, Coven, a mere 10 miles from home. Their workshops had several splendid classic cars in restoration, so the decision to more to them was easy.
	24 July 2007 The first stage of preparing the bodyshell was to finish stripping everything moveable and hand scrape the underseal.
	24 July 2007 I just hope that all the removed bits and pieces are still here.
	30 July 2007 I had entered the Empress in the Coys auction at Blenheim on 14 July, but there was little or no interest in it. What’s wrong with Daimlers? I mean what’s wrong with the public? A man, whom I had met there over a cup of tea, contacted me later though the DLOC, a deal was struck and here he drives off, from a railway station where we met for the hand over.
	2 August 2007 Back at Jules after a visit to the shot blaster. It was in the paint booth for a protective spray to prevent further decay while repair work is done.
	2 August 2007 Luton lacework around the rear screen.
	2 August 2007 Interior seen through the rear screen.
	2 August 2007 Ditto through the driver’s door.
	7 August 2007 The heater box. It is to go to AMA of Nailsworth, who installed air conditioning in Bristol Cars and will see whether they can do the same for me.
	4 September 2007 Work continues on the bodyshell: to date mainly floor panels, inner sills (new outer sills are on order), A-pillars, door hinge supports and inner bulkhead. This picture shows the temporary bracing holding the body in shape.
	26 September 2007 The first new steps, as opposed to making good rust damage, are to alter the off-side C-pillar to vertical and make a new frame for the quarter light on the rear door. The outer half of the rear o/s wing has also been cut off preparatory to removing the base of the Cresta’s fins. The two Daimler photos show the base of the fins, but my guess (ie my preference) is that on the finished job the top of the wings would have a round section.
	12 November 2007 Metal bashing holidays over these five pictures show key developments in changing the car’s looks. This 1/3 of the C-pillar, actually taken before 26 September shows the o/s C-pillar with the wing cut away but the rear door window frame as original.
	12 November 2007 C-pillar 2/3 shows the rear door frame changed to vertical but, on second thoughts, eliminating the quarter light. The modifications to the A- and C-pillars should result is a stronger bodyshell than the original. The original C-pillar seems to have been simply soldered to the roof panel!
	12 November 2007 C-pillar 3/3. Now both the solid C-pillar and rounded to the rear wing have been made. The rear view will never be the same. The C-pillar is much bigger, or the rear screen smaller, than shown in Daimler’s drawings and photos. This is because I decided to use the centre panel of Vauxhall’s original three piece rear screen instead of trying to find a slightly wrap round one to fit.
	12 November 2007 The Daimler’s drawings and photos show the A-pillar to be vertical and the quarter light as a rectangle. This, A-pillar 1/2, is first stage of this change, using the existing A-pillar but resetting it vertically.