Bustypeoversigt:

Daimler Motor Company, Coventry (GB)

Nationalitet:

Koncern: British Leyland

Firmaet grundlagt: 1896

Produktion 19??: -

Internetadresse: www.

Firmaets postadresse: Daimler Motor Company, Coventry, England

Daimler has, since 1896, been the motor car marque of the British Daimler Motor Company, based in Coventry. The company was a subsidiary of BSA from 1910 up until 1960, when it became part of Jaguar and the brand was used for their luxury models. It is now a subsidiary of the Premier Automotive Group, making it part of Ford.

Origins of name

Confusingly, the name Daimler is used by two completely separate groups of car manufacturers. The history of both companies can be traced back to the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, who patented an engine design in the late 1800s, built (together with Wilhelm Maybach) the first motorcycle in 1885 and built the first 4-wheeled car in 1889. This was the origin of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft ("Daimler Motors Company") which built cars from the 1890s onwards and sold licenses of its designs and patents to others. The licence granted to the Daimler Motor Company included the right to use the Daimler name in Great Britain. Gottlieb Daimler died in 1900, having sold licences to use the Daimler name in a number of countries. Emil Jellinek had legal problems selling German Daimlers in France and put it to Daimler Germany that he would put in a large order if they would make a car to order for him bearing his daughter's name. These cars proved enormously popular. Daimler Germany now realised the problem of having sold licences to use the Daimler name, and to avoid any further confusion and licensing troubles, the name Mercedes was adopted for all the cars built by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft itself, in 1902, while the name Daimler was last used for a German built car in 1908.

In 1924, the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft merged with Karl Benz's Benz & Cie. to form the Daimler-Benz car company which built Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks and agreed to remain together until 2000. In 1998 Daimler-Benz took over the Chrysler Corporation to form DaimlerChrysler.

The Austro-Daimler concern survived as Steyr-Daimler-Puch, which was absorbed by General Dynamics in 2003.

History

The UK patent rights to the Gottlieb Daimler's engine were purchased in 1893 by Frederick Simms, who formed a new company, the "Daimler Motor Syndicate". In 1896 Simms and Harry Lawson moved into car production in the city of Coventry as the "Daimler Motor Company".

Known as Britain's oldest marque, Daimler became the official transportation of Royalty in 1898, after the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was given a ride on a Daimler by John Scott-Montagu, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. The Royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had, like Daimler, also obtained their name from Germany, but changed this to Windsor during World War I.

Scott-Montagu, as a Member of Parliament, also drove a Daimler into the yard of the British Parliament, the first motorized vehicle to be driven there. Every British monarch from Edward VII to the current Queen have been driven in Daimler limousines although, in 1950, after a transmission failure on the King's car, Rolls-Royce was commissioned as the Royal Primary Carriage, Daimler being reduced to 'second fiddle'.

Since 1907, the fluted radiator grille has been the Daimler marque's distinguishing feature. The company acquired a Knight Engine licence in 1908 to build sleeve valve engines for its automobiles.

From 1910 it was part of Birmingham's BSA group of companies, producing military vehicles as well as cars.

In addition to cars, Daimler produced engines for the very first tanks ever built in 1914 ("Little Willie" and "Big Willie"), a scout army vehicle, engines used in aeroplanes, ambulances, trucks, and double-decker buses. In late 1920s, it, together with Associated Equipment Company, formed the Associated Daimler Company to build commercial vehicles.

In 1920s, it started to build charabanc and bus chassis. In the beginning of 1930s, it developed a preselective transmission to buses. It reduced the number of controls so that the bus drivers recruited from former tram-driving staff liked it very much. In the end of 1942, the Ministry of War Transport ordered 500 Leyland Titans to provide emergency transport for operators hard hit by shortages of spare parts and skilled fitters. The buses were to be given utility bodies, but before Leyland could start production, it was instructed to give up its share and Daimler was called upon to fulfill the order. After the war, Daimler had all its models fitted with preselective gearboxes in municipal buses. It also had a very successful export market in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and India. Kowloon Motor Bus of Hong Kong liked CVG5 and CVG6s with Gardner engines since the later part of the 1940s. The bus operators in India, say Bombay Electric Supply and Transport, favoured double deckers with fluid flywheel and Wilson gearboxes since 1930s.

In the late 1950s, Daimler produced a very successful and remarkable model, the Fleetline. It has earned a good reputation since 1961. In 1968, Daimler was bought by British Leyland Motors Corporation. Unlike other factories in the group, the name "Daimler" has been remained up till now, although its bus production ended when the last fleetlines were built in 1982.

Let us look at Daimler's designation to its chassis, which had been used for many years. Chassis were denoted by a single code. C for "chassis", R for "rear engined" or V for "vertical engined", G for "Gardner" or L for "Leyland", "6" for number of cylinders, followed by and oblique and an overall length in foot. (kilde: Wikipedia)