The Daimler Majestic DF316/7 and DF318/9 luxury saloon was launched by the
Daimler Company
The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The compan ...
of
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
in July 1958 and was in production until 1962.
Edward Turner had been appointed Chief Executive of BSA Automotive in 1957 and promised new products, this car was to carry his new V8 engine still under development. The six-cylinder, four-door saloon, with new three-speed
Borg Warner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 employ ...
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...
,
power steering
A power steering is a mechanical device equipped on a motor vehicle that helps drivers steer the vehicle by reducing steering effort needed to turn the steering wheel, making it easier for the vehicle to turn or maneuver at lower speeds.
Hydraul ...
and vacuum-servo assisted four-wheel
disc brakes
A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...
was mechanically up-to-date for its time, but it had a heavy coachbuilt body of outdated construction on a
separate chassis which kept the car's mass well above more modern designs and made it difficult to manoeuvre, despite the modern steering. The styling was already becoming outdated when the car appeared and became increasingly dated as lighter cars with
monocoque construction appeared during the Majestic's production run.
When announced in July 1958, the Majestic replaced the automatic version of the One-O-Four which continued in production with the pre-selector gearbox.
[''The Autocar'', New Cars Described, July 4, 1958]
Construction
![Daimler Majestic 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Daimler_Majestic_3.8-litre_saloon_5918251882_618488d172_o-1.jpg)
An evolution of the preceding One-O-Four, the Majestic, like all new Daimlers following 1937's
New Fifteen, was designed around that same massive cruciform-braced box-section
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
equipped with André Girling's design of coil-sprung independent front
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
with a well-located hypoid bevel driven 'live' rear axle using semi-elliptic
springs.
The Majestic's four-wheel Lockheed-servo-assisted Dunlop disc brakes were regarded as a first for a British production car.
[ It was the first saloon car without any claim to a sportscar nature to be equipped with disc brakes. An emergency or handbrake was provided by fitting special pads to the rear brake discs which were operated by cables and rods.
The engine, slightly larger than the One-O-Four's, was an inline six of 3.8 litres (3794 cc), based on previous Daimler sixes with ]pushrod
A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...
operated overhead valves and retaining the stroke, but with the bore increased to from the of the One-O-Four, giving a power output of over at 4,400 rpm and produced of torque at 2,800 rpm. The Majestic had a maximum speed of around (see ''Performance'' below). To help with the increase in the bore, the cylinder block
In an internal combustion engine, the engine block is the structure which contains the cylinders and other components. In an early automotive engine, the engine block consisted of just the cylinder block, to which a separate crankcase was attac ...
was considerably enlarged to allow for the fitting of completely new liners: dry liners as present on the One-O-Four were absent on the Majestic. The Borg-Warner transmission required repositioning of the starter motor and consequent modifications to the crankcase and cylinder block castings. The crankshaft has four main bearings, integral balance weights and a torsional vibration damper mounted at the front.
The top of the radiator was lowered 2 inches from the One-o-Four's. The styling of the Majestic is similar to, but wider and with smoother lines than the One-O-Four model it replaced. Interior width was increased by approximately 4 inches by extending the sides to the edge of the car. The handsome body is massive with a conventional high waistline —the doors later seemed to be high with narrow windows— and a rounded rear window. There are two standard-sized headlamps at the front extremities with Daimler's usual pair of fog lamp
The lighting system of a motor vehicle consists of lighting and signalling devices mounted to or integrated into the front, rear, sides, and in some cases the top of a motor vehicle. They illuminate the road ahead for the driver and increase th ...
s or driving lights just above low-set bumpers. There are plain disc wheel
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...
s.
The usual Daimler luxury fittings included: heating and ventilating equipment, windscreen washer, cigar lighter, lockable glove compartment, two courtesy lights when any door is opened, special reading lights for passengers, spring-balanced lid for the luggage compartment which is illuminated when the car sidelights are in use, etc.
Performance
A car tested by the British magazine The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
in 1958 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 14.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £2495 including taxes of £832.
Market positioning
* Daimler Majestic: £2495[
* ]Jaguar Mark IX
The Jaguar Mark IX is a four-door luxury saloon car announced 8 October 1958Greater Power of the Jaguar IX. ''The Times'', Wednesday, October 8, 1958, Issue 54276, p.4 and produced by Jaguar Cars between 1958 and 1961. It was generally simil ...
: £1995[Greater Power Of The Jaguar IX, ''The Times'', Wednesday, Oct 08, 1958; pg. 4; Issue 54276.]
The two cars had similar specifications but the Daimler was narrower and had a smaller frontal area with the quality of finish —and variety of all finishes— mass production cannot easily provide. Jaguar horsepower figures were deliberately quoted on a US standard and thus inflated a good deal.
Daimler's customers saw Jaguars as cars for 'Cops and Robbers' and disliked their hint of cut-price luxury and rapid deterioration. Jaguar buyers may have regarded these if not all Daimlers as not just staid but super-stuffy.
In the 1980s Jaguar's prices and quality were firmly raised.
Stablemate
The Daimler Majestic was supplemented by Turner's 4.5-litre V8 Daimler Majestic Major
The Daimler Majestic Major DQ450 is a large luxury saloon produced by Daimler in Coventry, England between November 1960 and 1968. It was fitted with a 4,561 cc V8 engine and was offered as a much more powerful supplement to their then cu ...
in the same body announced at the 1959 motor show though production was delayed until the following year. The six-cylinder car was more popular though produced for half the period.
Production Figures
Jaguar takeover
A preliminary announcement on 26 May 1960 confirmed negotiations were nearing completion for Jaguar's purchase of Daimler and its factory.
Jaguar Majestic
In 1989 and 1990 Jaguar Cars produced a special edition of the XJ40 using the Majestic name, at first in the US only, leather-equipped with steering wheel in interior colour and often red or blue piping. In the final XJ40 years the name Majestic was used for the special build LWB XJ40, of which only 121 examples were constructed.
Notes
References
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{{Post-war Daimler cars
Majestic
1960s cars
Cars introduced in 1958