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Amongst a group of serious competition, and after decades of solitude, this stunning Daimler roadster recently won the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours. And rightly so, since this sinister supercar is probably one of Britain's finest. Just that fact that it was made and still survives is reason enough to celebrate.

What we have here is one of the truly impractical, yet awesome cars of our time. Corsica's design for this special car is one to be marveled. They took advantage of a particularly long chassis and huge engine to extend the hood over 10 imposing feet in front of the driver.

Under the long bonnet sits one of the most complicated engines created. Usually reserved for royalty, this sleeve-valve V12 was Daimler's finest and usually demanded equally as dramatic bodywork to surround it. One might recall the 1999 Pebble Beach victor, another black Double Six which would make a great accomplice to this car.

The Double six engine was engineered by Laurence Pomeroy to establish Daimler as one of the top supercar manufacturers. In designing the engine, Pomeroy mated two existing 85 hp engines to a common aluminum crankshaft that produced 150 bhp. Only 74 cars were built around this flagship enigne, and each has is own distintive flair.

Apart from its glorious body and impressive engine, this Daimler sits on one of the few chassis modified at Thompson & Taylor by Reed Railton to achieve an underslung chassis of the lowest possible height. So much so, the fenders which surround the oversize 23 inch wheels nearly reach above the hood line.

Before appearing at Pebble, this Daimler made many sleepless nights as negations for its purchase drew closer. For decades it was retained by a single family which clung onto their prize possession until the time was right. For a purchase price upwards up five million, RM Restorations secured the car and finished an immaculate restoration for its next owner Robert Lee.

Lee had the bankroll to support a restoration of the highest kind. Originally, chassis 30661 was displayed in chrome as the initial and sole low-slung type. One if its first caretakers, Captain Wilson, fitted the car with his own preselector-type gearbox and many subsequent Daimlers followed suit. It was then sold to R.W. Hutchings and suffered an accident on the A4 before being modified into its current configuration by Corsica. When sold to Lee, the roadster was real basket case and the engine alone took Roush Industries a year to refurbish.

In the end, RM's worked was intricate enough to capture the coveted Best of Show award for Robert Lee. Whether or not his six million plus investment doubled up, is for the next auction to decide.

Story by Richard Owen for Supercars.net

Bibliography

Boddy, William. Daimler Double-Sixes Profile 40. Profile Publications, 1966.

Montagu, Lord and David Burgess-Wise. Daimler Century. Haynes, 1995.

Owen, Richard. 'Double-Top', Octane 41, November 2006.