Project Daimler

Project Dirty Daimler: Failure point

Ok, it might be time to give up on Project Dirty Daimler. It doesn’t currently run. At all. There are various things it could be, but the reality is that I haven’t had much time for tinkering of late – and I’m not sure that’s going to change any time soon.

Broken cars, variously.

Which leaves me with a dead Daimler that I need shot of. It’s times like this that living in the middle of nowhere can be a major problem. I don’t much fancy breaking it for spares, even though that’s probably my best bet for recouping some of the outlay so far. But, selling it complete is quite tricky if it won’t actually run.

I could sell it for scrap, but I reckon I’d be lucky to get £50 for it by the time it’s been collected.

So, I’ve decided that the best thing to do is simply bury it in an old building somewhere, allow it to get covered in dust and straw, and then sell it in a few years for massive profits as OMG BARN FIND.

Or are any of you up for a challenge even bigger than my journey from Glasgow?

Incidentally, the 2CV was only slightly broken in that photo. It had dropped an exhaust clamp. A mere doddle to fix! Also incidentally, I was sitting in the back of the Daimler yesterday evening, trying to hide my tears by reading the workshop manual that came with the car. All of a sudden, there was a massive BANG, which made we wonder how it had managed to fail even when I was sitting in the back of it. Turns out a bird had flown into the side window – at quite some speed judging by the noise! I think it was being chased by an angry blackbird.

Anyway. If you’d like a very cheap Daimler, do get in touch…

Project Dirty Daimler: Flip-flopping

Having convinced myself that the best thing to do with the Daimler was wash my hands of it, I naturally changed my mind. This is only a quick post to say that I did some ferreting about, and got the horn working! Cleaning up relay contacts seemed to cure that. Windscreen washers are still an issue, but I have confirmed power from the stalk to the relay, so assume it’s the pump that is duff. I have some ingenious plans to try and deal with that. Or, rather, I did, because they it wouldn’t run.

It has become seriously, seriously rich for reasons unknow. I pulled the plugs and they looked like this.

Eesh! Mucky plugs dot com.

I’ve no idea what has gone wrong, as I’m pretty sure I’ve not touched anything that could cause this level of richness. Now, it could just be the fact that the car has barely moved since landing back from Glasgow, and it has a duff oxygen sensor. That means it has been running slightly rich the whole time. Several cold starts and barely any getting up to temperature could be enough to choke the engine up perhaps? I’ve no idea. I haven’t really got time to explore any more, because the next issue of Classic Jaguar magazine is not going to edit itself!

On that front, there’s some very interesting content coming your way, including full details of the Daimler collection caper! It might not be the project car I’d hoped, but this machine does still seem to be generating copy.

Project Dirty Daimler: Selling

Another seriously busy time means I haven’t had much chance to talk more about the XJ40, or do much with it at all. I still want to do a ‘closer look’ video, so you can see the true horror of it. Press deadlines are not being kind though, and the other cars on the fleet have been keeping me busy. Hopefully I can do an update on that soon.

Mostly, the Daimler has been sitting on the driveway awaiting further assessment. Problem is, every time I take a closer look, it gets a little bit worse. At first, I decided to wash it, just so it looked nice. From some angles, that trick worked.

Daim! Looks most pleasant from some angles.

It’s still a crusty mess though. I’d show you more pics, but I appear to have just reached capacity on this blog, so that’s something else I’ll have to sort out if I ever have any spare time again!

But, having uncovered rot beneath the windscreen, and had more dodgy electrical moments (an aftermarket immobiliser which I’ve now removed), I’ve decided it’s a step too far. This’ll never be a nice looking car without considerably more effort than I’ll ever be able to dedicate to it.

So, it’s for sale. Would be nice to think I could get back what I paid for it, though I am still partly tempted to just keep it anyway. After all, after that wash, it really is a very attractive vehicle. People pay a lot more than £350 for driveway ornaments too…

 

Project Dirty Daimler: Collection

I’ve edited three different magazines this year, but that’s about to change. Rolls-Royce and Bentley Driver will be passing to a new editor, because I’m busy enough with Classic Jaguar and Retro Japanese. Indeed, Classic Jaguar has been selling rather well, so we’re moving to six issues per year instead of four.

I already have the Honda S-MX (and to a lesser extent the Daihatsu-based Perodua Nippa) for Retro Japanese, but lacked a Classic Jaguar to call my own. So, I decided to do something about it, in the way only I know how. By rushing out and buying the worst one I could find. Not only that, but it was over 300 miles away in Glasgow. Oh, and it had a fuel leak. So, how did that pan out? A full report will be in the next issue of Classic Jaguar magazine (June/July 2017), but here’s my video of the day itself.