A week ago I wrote
>This weekend I may be looking at a '66 Daimler that's for sale
>here in Boulder. The ad reads:
>'66 Daimler looks like a Mark II,
>2.5L eng V-8 69K mi. $3300
We checked it out Sunday. It was light silver, right hand drive
and was in non-restored shape. The Daimlers look exactly like
MKII's except for some additional chromage above the grill area,
the lack of the springing Jaguar on the hood and some of the
miscellaneous ornamentation. I want to thank to everyone who
replied for the timely information they sent.
Positives-
It feels solid, drives nicely, looks classy and sounds luxurious.
The V-8 appears and sounded to be in great shape. I like V-8's.
The engine/trans didn't appear to leak oil.
The electrics and switches all appear to work.
The interior is largely intact and cavernous. All the kids would fit.
The body pan and most of the underneath appeared to be solid
The wood, while needing refinishing, is not rotted or peeling
Similar Daimlers in Hemmings were going for $4500.
It appeared to be all there (trim, spats, engine bits).
Negatives-
It's not a Jaguar.
There is rust around the wheel wells where gravel/salt got kicked up.
The rockers are rusted through in places.
There's been some marginal bodywork done on the front end.
It will needs some additional body work on the front end.
The wood needs refinishing and the top of the back
leather seat got sunbaked and split.
I don't have a place to store it or work on the bodywork.
Overall, it drives very nicely and the V-8 provides real power and
a luxurious sound. The automatic felt good and appeared to shift
correctly, though I couldn't descern a difference betweed D2 and
D1. Apart from the rust area's mentioned above, the body appears
to generally be sound. We were also pleasantly suprised when the
owner mentioned in the course of the inspection that he had dropped
the price down to $2950.
We talked him down to $2600, then took a couple days to think and
talk it over. We both agreed that we both really liked the look
and feel of these cars. But, with every car we've ever bought in
the past, except for one, we knew what we were getting into, that
we were dead sure certain that we wanted the car and that we were
getting a good deal on it. And our uncertainties turned out to be
justified on the one we wasn't sure of (I'll spare you the SAAB
story). We were feeling uncertain on this one. While I think that
that this Daimler is a good deal and would make a nice restoration
project, we just weren't certain that we wanted to take this one on
right now.
So, in the end, we decided to take a pass on this one. We know
that there are more MKII's out there and, with the current
economic climate, we're just not willing to use up our spare cash
just to get this one, right now. Given the price we were able to
talk him down to, I think that we just passed up a real bargain.
If anyone else is interested in it, let me know and I'll give you his
number. He said he's planning on putting it in Hemmings soon.
/\ Lawrence Buja Climate and Global Dynamics Division
\_][ southern@ncar.ucar.edu National Center for Atmospheric Research
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