Show & Go !! Custom STREET LEGAL Pro-Build Full X-Frame

1962 Daimler SP250 Dart /   A FULL SUB-FRAMED & RACE READY AC COBRA ALTERNATIVE

            …this rare & unique car has been locally known as the “British Mongoose”

                                                   … a very rare breed designed to eat up Cobras !

RACE READY: This is a vintage FRAME OFF Rebuild as a true Street & Track Racer. an AC Cobra alternative. This light 2. 00 lb. fiberglass car has gone from the small factory rated 140HP V8 to a newer built vintage HP Chevy 307 Racing Small Block V8 engine (stroked 289 block / 327 crank) with aluminum free flow racing heads.  air-gap torker aluminum manifold. Demon carburation & direct side pipe racing style exhaust… now producing close to 400HP! ALL STREET LEGAL & fun to drive!

The HP V-8 is backed by a Chevy racing 4-speed + overdrive (5-speed) manual transmission coupled to a new Austin Healey Racing 4:11 differential; rear end.  It now has a fully built square tube & rigid X-pattern full sub-frame assembly. racing springs & full disc brakes. Slotted aluminum racing style knock-off wheels and new high performance radial tires. Racing seats. racing harness belts & dual roll bars make this Daimler ready to go on the street or track.

Underneath is all new. Professionally built by a noted race shop with square tube X-Type sub-frame. all new springs. stiffened racing suspension. braking & exhaust systems… no expense was spared on the build of this rare breed of car. Only 1. 00 of these LHD models were imported to the USA market as they were very expensive in their day.  Many of these were lost over the years or returned back to the European market due to their popularity. It is estimated that less than a hundred now remain as drivers in the USA. There are no other Daimler SP-250's built like this one… this is not a kit car or AC Cobra clone… this is the real thing! A street legal driver that is race ready to take on anything and everything. This is a very rare breed & investment grade vehicle that turns heads wherever it goes.

The car only has 282 miles since full rebuild. The original body documentation shows that car had 64. 00 actual miles when it was redone. The owner that had this done professionally and spent tons of money at a race prep shop to do this right. Unfortunately he passed right after completion of his dream car. The car then sat for years before being transferred. sold by a nephew who did not know much about this car. This has got to be one of the quickest. and most fun street machines I have ever driven. It is well balanced. tight and handles amazingly. It was built with professionally mounted frame integrated dual roll bars. It has racing harness belts to hold you in secure. The car still has the original soft top which is rarely used. It has a small hole on the passenger side which I was going to cover with a small Union Jack Patch… but can be repaired to match for well under a few hundred dollars. The trunk holds a large center mounted racing fuel cell and still tones of storage space for those fun weekend drives. I have driven this car at full freeway speeds. and out of area car shows. There are no overheating or other issues. all lights work well. you can see everything is fresh and new under this car. It runs smooth and string all day long. Some of the photos with top up are from a day out with a magazine photographer. professional model & car shoot that used this rare car as the feature car. I have a few framed & signed photos and can include one of my favorite blow ups from that shoot called “DAIMLER SP-250 & WALTHER PPK. BRITISH RULES!”

Please do email or call me with questions Bradley: 206-650-6100. I am also happy to “fire up” this car so you can hear it over the phone as it sounds amazing. I may try to get a video also to attach or forward after car is listed for sale. This low mileage car has original color paint. and paint may or may not be original to the car but it is vintage paint. You may see in lower area photos actual small rock chips. dirt & road usage. Paint is not perfect with a few minor touch ups. but overall excellent shiny condition as you can see in photos. Car has always been kept in a fully heated and climate controlled garage.

THIS Daimler “DART” SP250 is VIN 100789… the 798th SP250 produced in England. It was given title in the USA as a 1964 vehicle. but actual production numbers show it was produced about 1962…  with body number 737-1310.

TERMS OF SALE: $1500. 00 deposit due upon purchase and balance due seller within 5 days. unless prior arrangements approved by seller. Please do not bid unless you have funds in hand. This is a 50+ year old vintage vehicle that has been mechanically rebuilt from the frame up as noted. As such it is sold as is shown. and no car on the road is perfect so do expect further restorations. I would not rate it as a #1 show car without a new paint job and further detailing. This is a rare and investment grade vehicle. with clear title in hand. Do bid with confidence as I maintain a high rating and have sold numerous collector type vehicles over many years. Buyer is fully responsible for all transportation costs; with possible moving or storage fees if car held much more than 2 weeks after purchase.

MORE INFO: Daimler SP250 (unofficially known as the Daimler Dart) 1959 - 1964

During the late 1950's. the Daimler company was experiencing financial problems. and the directors decided to attempt to increase the companies revenues by capitalising on the interest. predominantly from the US market. in sports cars. as MG. Triumph and Jaguar had.

Daimler introduced a pre-production they named the Daimler Dart. at the New York Auto Show at the beginning of 1959. but renamed it after the Chrysler Company let it be known that they had already registered the name for Dodge. which had used the Dart name on a concept car. They planned to launch the name on a Dodge production car in 1960. Consequently Daimler renamed the car "Sports 250. '' This name was soon changed to just "SP250''. SP (for sports) 250 (2. 5 litre engine).

Launched in 1959 the Daimler SP250 was impressively fast. mainly thanks to the new engineer. Edward Turner. who previously worked for Triumph motorcycles. He designed an all new 2. 5 litre. hemispheric-combustion chambered. overhead valve - V8 engine. with twin SU carburettors which was influenced by an earlier Triumph motorcycle design. It's price on launch was £1. 95.

The SP250 only weighed 2. 20 pounds. so its engine provided very lively. It developed 140 horsepower at 5. 00 rpm and 155 pounds-feet of torque at 3. 00. enough to propel the 1. 25 kg (2. 20 lb) car from zero to 96 km/h (60 mph) in a very respectable 9 seconds. this compared favourably to it's contemporaries of the time. the TR3 (13. 2 sec). the Austin Healey Mk1 (11. 4 sec) and the MGA (14. 6 sec). The top speed for the SP250 was 196 km/h (122 mph).

The SP250's chassis bore many similarities to the Triumph TR3A but initially it lacked rigidity. This was proved by a quirk with the doors. which had an embarrassing habit of opening during enthusiastic cornering manoeuvres. This was later improved with design changes post 1961.

It's front coil springs and A-arms were the same as the Triumph's. and the four-speed manual transmission was similar. The SP250 was later offered with a three-speed automatic gearbox for the US market. Some British police departments even bought the car as a high speed traffic pursuit car. An advanced Dunlop all-disc brake system provided necessarily good stopping ability.

To reduce production costs. and to save money on metal stamping dies. as Daimler didn't plan large scale production of the Dart. the body was made of glass-fibre over a metal frame. This was a fairly rare at the time. although it had been used by Lotus and a few other manufacturers.

The car was configured as a two-seater convertible with a basically unusable back seat. It was designed with a large rounded hood that sloped down to a wide. oval. egg-crate grille. This was dominated by a big "V" used to advertise the rare. for Great Britain. V-8 engine. The familiar Daimler flutes surrounded the grille. Styling character lines. were probably made more for body stiffening than for character. curved over the front and rear fenders. In the era of tailfins. the Daimler SP250 had them. The SP250 was designed with roll-up windows instead of the awkward. leaky plastic side curtains. And the SP250 could be purchased with a lift-off hardtop to go with the folding fabric top.

The Daimler SP250 got off to a somewhat slow sales start. in part because of quality problems with its body. During 1960 B. S. A. sold Daimler to Jaguar. and with Jaguar's sensational new E-type sports car due in 1961. the SP250 wasn't given the attention it deserved. In the immediate post-acquisition period of Daimler and for the next 6 years Daimler was run as a division and enjoyed the opportunity to sell their new SP250 sports cars in competition against Jaguar. During the six year production run the SP250 underwent two further specification changes. These specification changes are now known as the "B" and "C" spec' cars.

Daimler upgraded the SP250 in 1961 by stiffening the body and making bumpers standard equipment. There were further improvements in 1963. but due to its early slow start and poor quality reputation which seemed to plague it to the end of it's production. in mid-1964. Only 2. 48 SP250's were built. about 10% of what was originally envisioned and then Daimler was out of the sports car business. SP250s had an extensive and successful competition history in the UK. USA. New Zealand and Australia.

Today the SP250 is one of the most sought-after post-war Daimler. with buyers paying extremely high prices for relatively 'ordinary' examples. While it's unusual styling enhances its interest and appeal as a true icon of the sixties.

Country of origin:

Great Britain 

Produced from:

1959 – 1964  Numbers built: 2. 48 (USA LHD market 1. 00+/-)

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