1979 Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas

Built in 1978 and first registered in March 1979, this Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas has clocked up almost 70,000 miles (not many for 40 odd years) and has had 9 owners; most from across the Midlands and the most recent, in Kent, who acquired the car in March 2015.

He bought it from its previous owner as he thought it was an attractive car combining classic looks with modern conveniences. But since its purchase, he’s only used the Daimler as what he refers to as a “Sunday lunch car” - a wonderful phrase that conjures up thoughts of a lazy drive through light traffic to a welcoming countryside inn for a hearty roast dinner with all the trimmings.

With the vendor and his wife about to move to the West Country to a new home without garage space, the Double-Six sadly has to go.

Finished in Silver Sand metallic, the paint on this Daimler is in very good condition and shows off the curves and lines to good effect. The bodywork is great looking too, with just a small ding in the offside rear quarter, and the panel alignment is probably as good as you’ll find on Leyland-era cars.

The nose of the Double-Six sports Daimler’s characteristic fluted top (or furrowed brow) grille, which is also repeated on the boot finisher trim.

The Vanden Plas black vinyl roof appears in good order with no evident damage although there is possibly some slight bubbling or roughness under the covering at the nearside C pillar.

The chrome trims and fittings around the car look bright and clear, with just some light pitting in places. The windscreen appears to be delaminating slightly in the corners, but mostly the glass around the car is in good order. Overall, the Daimler is in a beautiful condition.

The car sits on its original 15-inch wheels, which are fitted with recent Vredestein Quatrac tyres at the front and Pirelli P4000s on the driven rears.

The interior is an unusual but not unpleasant combination of dark brown and black leather and vinyl. The leather seats are a little creased and worn, especially on the driver’s seat as you’d expect.

There doesn’t appear to be any damage to the upholstery but the seats would probably benefit from the careful and judicious application of some colour and nourishing treatment.

The original steering wheel, dashboard and instrument panel - complete with Smiths dials - are in good order and the wood veneers across the dash, centre console and door trims are in excellent condition and finished in an almost cherry-coloured lacquer.

The Philips Radio Cassette player - with “turnolock” functionality - could well be original to the car, it certainly is of the right vintage. In terms of the other electrics and driving equipment - all appeared to work when tested except the windscreen wipers.

The sand coloured carpets look intact throughout, although a little discoloured in places and the dark coloured (possibly black) headlining appears clean and taut across the car.

Under the bonnet, the V12 fills the engine bay and is covered by the maze of pipework, cabling and hoses that you’d expect. It isn’t especially clean, but there are a lot of nooks and crannies on the top of this engine for dirt to find its way into and be hard to clean out without power washing. As far as we can tell though, all looks to be intact and serviceable.

Underneath the car, there is a fair bit of surface rust on the underbody, mostly where the old underseal coating has cracked and flaked off - for example around the jacking points - and it is also present on most of the steering and suspension components. However, there doesn’t appear to be any serious corrosion. The stainless steel Bell exhaust system looks to be a fairly recent addition.

Inside the boot, the black carpet and linings appear in a reasonable condition, not especially clean but undamaged. To one side are the car’s jack and tool roll and under the floor board is a full size spare wheel shod with older Dunlop rubber. There doesn’t appear to be any rust evident across the boot floor or around the opening or boot lid itself.

The Double-Six has a current MOT certificate valid until July 2021, which it passed with no advisories - as indeed it has at each test since 2010. Although it is now age-exempt from testing, we like to see such cars still subjected to an independent assessment of roadworthiness each year.

The history file includes a number of expired MOT certificates back to the late ‘90s, as well as an original Operating, Maintenance and Service Handbook, period RAC membership pack and - inexplicably - a detailed wiring diagram for the air conditioning (good luck with that one).

Looking at the mileage progression on the available MOT dockets, the car has covered fewer than 6,000 miles since 1998 - suggesting that the relatively low displayed mileage is highly plausible.

Although there are no invoices included, the vendor reports that he has had the following work done in his recent ownership:

- 4 new tyres

- new exhaust system

- re-trimmed boot floor panels

- re-chromed front and rear bumpers and some additional items

- new nearside petrol tank

- offside petrol tank – replaced sender unit

- new brake master cylinder fitted

- new heated rear window switch

- new heater valve fitted

- new engine oil filters and oil replaced

In its day, the Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas was one of the most (if not the most) luxurious and refined cars in the world. The powerful V12 combined with high equipment levels is perhaps the automotive embodiment of the previously mentioned “hearty roast dinner with all the trimmings”. As such we would expect this beautifully presented and mechanically sorted example to attract many hungry eyes.

In good order throughout, and a well running example of the type, we think this one is going to take some beating, because there is very little for the new owner to do.

Our estimate of between £8,000 and £13,000 is an indication that the market hasn’t yet woken up to the delights of the ‘70s Jaguar-Daimlers and we think they represent superb value compared to where some of their more exotic contemporaries sit.

It is also selling with NO RESERVE, so there may be an opportunity to drive it away for a real bargain price.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.