Daimler SP250 Dart

This is one of the former Police vehicles that were exhibited at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

The description of this car at the show read as follows:

'In the late 1950s, the Metropolitan Police had a major problem with what were called café racers. Groups of youths on motorbikes would gather together at a local café, put a record on the jukebox and then race their bikes along a set course getting back to the café before the record stopped playing. Accidents occurred and in an attempt to put a stop to the practice, the Met's proposal was to have a fast car that could actually catch the bikers. The existing fleet of Wolseley saloons was not up to the task so they looked instead at sports cars. The Daimler SP250 was the answer! This had a 2.5 litre lightweight V8 engine, capable of 123 mph and a 0-60 time of just over 10 seconds, which for 1959 was an excellent performance.

The Met bought 26 Darts between 1961 and 1964 and soon got them into service and used as high speed pursuit cars with a result that a number of speeding bikers were caught and the number of fatal road accidents dropped. Unlike today, the idea then was that you see a Police car and thereby slow down... no stealth tactics for these boys. Certainly visual and the start of the white sleeves and hats.

Each car was based at a separate Traffic garage situated over the London area. This particular car is fitted with the optional Borg Warner DG Automatic gearbox, and was originally purchased by the Metropolitan Police on the 1st June 1961. Automatic cars destined for Police use were modified by Daimler with a handle in the centre of the dashboard, which, when pulled locks the gearbox into second gear allowing a speed range from zero to 85 mph in the one gear. The gearbox normally runs in two gears only, with a 'low' ratio for manual selection if required. The top speed is higher than cars fitted with the manual gearbox. This car was fleet number 240T and fitted with the AT Head calibrated speedometer.

Quote: "Wheels were pressed steel not wire. Hubcaps used to fly off so were removed or nicked". It has excellent acceleration and a top speed in excess of 125 mph. The car is fitted with Dunlop disc brakes on all wheels, and was the first production car to be so fitted. The combination of high power and light weight enabled it to start from rest, attain 100 mph and come to rest all within 30 seconds.

This car is a multi award winner and thought to be one of the best examples of the seven or so remaining.'

What is it?

I took this photograph at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004 where, as usual, I didn't take a note of any of the cars I'd photographed thinking that I could identify everything later. I've had no luck with this one though. There was no lettering on the car to identify the make but I remember looking at the tax disc and I'm pretty sure the name of the car was shown as three initials (as in BMW, TVR etc) and the badge above the number plate seems to indicate some Scottish connection. As the photograph shows, it was in a group of cars publicising a Coys auction, but I've done a thorough search on the internet and can't find a photograph or anything whatsoever about the car. A check on a car registration number site shows that the number OGS 525 now belongs to a Daimler SP250 Sports - I suppose it could have been built on an SP250 chassis, but those cars weren't introduced till 1959 and the car in the photograph looks a little bit older than that.

Update 4 Jan 2015: Someone has responded to my photograph of this car on Flickr to say that it's a 1955 HAR and you can read all about the car here.