Please visit the Club's website https://www.dloc.org.uk/ to join. Visit https://www.dloc.org.uk/adhoc to DONATE towards the cost of the forum.
Please don't post someone's email address to avoid it being harvested by spambots and it's against GDPR regulations.
Always look at "ACTIVE TOPICS" to see all posts in date & time order as they are sometimes moved; or look at "Your Posts".
Please add Reg. nrs. when posting a photo or anything about a car as this will help searches. Don't add punctuation next to nr. as this negates search.
CHANGED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS since registering?, click your username and check your address in User Control Panel, Profile, Account Settings.
If you want help to register, use "contact us" at page bottom for help.

Dart 183 GHY

Post Reply
User avatar
John-B
Site Admin
Posts: 1755
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:10 pm
Location: Salisbury, UK
Contact:

Dart 183 GHY

Post by John-B »

daimlerdartfront.jpg
p131072940daimlerdartfront600x450.jpg
p138143230dartdashboardf281301024x768.jpg
Dart-interior183GHY.jpg
p159274086dartwiltonwakeupf401100600x450.jpg
Chassis 100587, Body 737 0063, original Engine no. 89089, original exterior colour: Red, original interior trim: Tan (orange), Manufactured 30/11/1959, Delivered to Coventry & Jeffs, Bristol 13/12/1959.
I wanted a more sporty car than a Hillman Imp in 1968 so I answered an ad in the local paper and went to see a Daimler sports car that I knew nothing about and found that it was being sold by someone I had been at school with. The colour was then Maroon and it had about 150,000 miles on the clock and wasn't in very good condition.
Original owner John Oliver Stanley Clarke 11/01/60, then Christopher Knight, then me 30/04/1968. I lived in Clifton, Bristol, then Cardiff then in London with the car and then sold it on 05/03/1973 to Gerrard A Walmisley of Ebley, Stroud (although I sold it to him in Bristol). Next owner James Trainor in Brighton, then the old registration document ran out of space but it records a change of engine number from 89089 to 97045 at some point.
I had the usual problems, exhausts failing several times (lovely sound), clutch repaired by Ben Mason at Edmonton, London, top overhaul at a local garage in Cardiff. I had 1" bands welded into the wheels and 185 15 Avon radials fitted after my brother spun the car with me in the passenger seat at 2am as the Michelin X tyres on 4" wheels weren't good enough (nor was his driving as he took a roundabout too fast).
There's a long gap until I found the car again with Claude Kearley's help in Melksham in October 2012 owned by Steve Nicholas. I bought the car in March 2013 as Steve wasn't willing to sell it at first. It had lost its front bumper during the 40 year gap, but was in a state that could be restored although the engine was clapped out and the clutch cylinders weren't working properly.
I ran the car in 2013 after getting a thorough service, then sent it to Phil Glennerster in October 2013 for an engine overhaul. He found that the saloon block had a crack, so I had to get another saloon block from Barry Thorne, no. 7A8120.
In 2014 I wasn't happy with the bodywork and interior trim and the lack of a front bumper and I didn't want the financial risk of organising a restoration myself, and I had a knee cartilage and back problem, so I sold the car in September 2014 to Andy Downes of Bodytech who had serviced the car.
I then discovered that he had sold it at an auction in Poole and a car restorer called Roy Hitchman of Abbey Classic Cars Ltd in Tewkesbury had bought it and advertised it for sale before he had started work. I was intrigued, so I rang him up to find out what he was going to do and in the end made him an offer as he said I could have an input into its restoration.
In the winter 2014/15 he took the body off, re-sprayed (a Fiat dark maroon rather than the pinker Ford maroon that it had been badly re-sprayed in), re-wired, re-chromed, new interior trim in light tan (rather than the original rather orange tan) and I bought a new front bumper plus over-riders. So he took all the financial risk and I got back the car looking much more like it did in 1968.

simonp
Wise Man
Wise Man
Posts: 526
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:59 am
Location: Birmingham

Re: Dart 183 GHY

Post by simonp »

Nice that you were able to buy it back.


SimonP
Daimler SP 250 - "To feel its eager response as you open up is to know a new motoring adventure"(Sales brochure) The adventure continues!

Post Reply