Daimler 40/50 Double-Six 1931-1935

[McLareN]

Shown at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it won the "Best of Show" award.

[Ferrer]

Announced October 1930 and matched with the new Daimler Fluid Flywheel and Wilson pre-selective half-automatically changing four-speed gearbox.

Bore and stroke 81.5 mm x 104 mm gave a swept volume of 6511 cc. Tax rating 49.4 hp

Cylinder block a one-piece light alloy casting.

Source: wikipedia.org

[Ferrer]

Daimler Double Six #3

[Ferrer]

Daimler Double Six #4

[Kitdy]

"Out of my way, I am a badass who contributes a significant amount to my country's GDP!"

I'd never seen this Daimler before, and it is exceptional.

[f6fhellcat13]

This is fantastic. It reminds me of the Bucciali, except restrained and English instead of Italian and flamboyant. I'm not sure any car with a ten-foot hood could be considered restrained, actually...

EDIT: Notes of Isotta Fraschini as well.

Between the fluid coupling and the self-shifting planetary gearbox, this is essentially an underripe version of the torque-converter slushbox we know and love. No clutching, or declutching, and no shifting, just "selecting". Essentially they've taken car of all the skillful aspects of driving a manual while still outsourcing the computational and decision-making processes to the soft lump of flesh behind the wheel. All that's missing is the hydromechanical computer and it would be there.

The sleeve-valved engines they used were also used by such interwar luminaries as Panhard and Voisin and literally every period manufacturer of high-performance aeroengines.

Cool car. Way too cool for a dowdy British monarch.