Conquest boot lid

[chrisb]

I'm not convinced that my Conquest boot lid opens as high as it should. You almost have to lie on the floor to get a picnic hamper in. Could anyone please tell me how high it should go? Photos in manuals etc seem to be a bit optimistic.
Thanks
chrisb

[Phillmore]

My Mk1 is the same, I have to get on my knees! Still I suppose that would have been the chauffeur's concern for many Daimler owners. The Mk2 seems slightly better though.

[Bonzodog]

I can measure one of mine tonight but I doubt there is anything wrong with your car. The problem stems from the fact that the bootlid comes right down over the spare wheel tray so that the lid would have to be almost vertical to be out of the way when open. Also the gap between the back edge of the lid and the rear window is too narrow to permit the lid to open much further than it does. It would have been better if they had gone for an arrangement like the contemporary Austin A50 with a much smaller boot lid and a wind down spare wheel tray.

As Phillmore suggests, Daimler didn't really seem to get their heads round the concept of the owner driver. It is the same thinking that produces cars with front doors which are smaller than the rears.

[Phillmore]

Yes my A90 has the smaller boot lid and wind down spare wheel tray which is a much better arrangement.

[theoldman]

Both DJ and LJ boot lids are the same. They go about 3 to three and a half feet from the floor.

The prototype LJ had boot hinges a la SP and Morris Minor, but this was not adopted, as maybe the designer thought it spoiled the lines.

Age and weakening of the springs will also have some effect.

You can get them slightly higher with a notched stick which you put the notch under the lid and the other end on the floor.

GJT had a fine example of this "accessory"!!!

[Fossil]

Coincidentally there are photos of a Regency II boot on another current thread. Wouldn't it have been good if a similar boot style had been adopted for the Conquest? The squarer backside would have suited it rather well IMHO, but it has a much higher loading height.

Geoff

[Bonzodog]

Just for the record (because this is bound to come up again) the distance from the floor to the bottom edge of a raised Conquest bootlid is 50"

[chrisb]

At 39" I have reason to be concerned. I shall have to get into the boot with a torch and rely on my wife to let me out.

[Bonzodog]

Oh dear Chris, that IS low. I would suspect that the torsion bars have lost their "springiness" somehow or perhaps one of them is broken? In case you didn't know, the torsion bars are the steel loops which run across the car under the panel between the bottom of the rear window and the top of boot lid aperture.

[theoldman]

Cut - off clothes prop required - an essential Conquest/ Lanchester 14 accessory!!!!!!!



My old LJ was the only one of three I have owned on which the boot opened correctly.

It was a rubbish design, as the prototype LJ had hinges and prop, similar to a Morris 1000 (and I believe some spurious non - metal Daimler ) which would have been much better, but i suppose the design department must have thought it "spoiled the lines"............



Neil