I am taking care to ignore all of the tasteless remarks about the Daimler's
distinctive
appearance, but would add that there was indeed a 4.5l version of the hemi V8
that was used in
sedans, and made an unannounced appearance in a red/yellow SP250 from New York
that has been
vintage raced. That fellow was caught and chastized for the violation. There
is a published
story that the Dart(SP250) ws indeed killed by Jag just after they bought
Daimler, because it
might infringe on the E type market. There were prototype 250s that were a bit
more in
keeping with plebian tastes that might well have been very competitive with the
E type. John
John Macartney wrote:
> This is all rather interesting - for me, anyway. Clearly, the SP250 isn't
>everyone's cup
> of tea on the appearance stakes - and this is where a curious set of
>circumstances raises
> it's head.
> There is and has been a popular belief circulating in England for many years
>(and probably
> further afield) that Sir William Lyons (Jaguar founder) bought Daimler
>because they were
> about to launch a sports car using a 4.5litre V8 with many similarities to
>the 250 - but
> larger. Feedback I've had over the years suggests this larger car was not too
>far removed
> from the 250 in many aspects of its appearance.I suspect it was probably
>pretty fast and
> too close for comfort for Lyons with his soon to appear E type. For him, the
>only solution
> was to buy the company and kill the car so the E Type might live. About eight
>years later,
> he did a similar thing when Rover planned the Rover P6BS. While Lyons
>couldn't buy out
> British Leyland as his company was part of it, he did make it very clear to
>the Main board
> that if the P6BS went into production, he would recommend to his Board that
>Jaguar should
> uncouple from BL - and quick. As Jaguar was very much the jewel in BL's
>crown,the Rover
> died pretty well overnight - and for good and Lyons was happy(er)
> Jonmac
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