Despite modern misconceptions, Britain's Daimler marque was never connected with the German car-builder of the same name (or the more recent Daimler-Benz/Mercedes derivation). The only similarity was in the name, which was used by the British manufacturer under the terms of a licence from Gottlieb Daimler to manufacture cars in Britain prior to the turn of the century. By 1900 the British concern had been producing cars and commercial vehicles in its own right for several years, and any similarity between the British and German marques was coincidental. Coventry Daimler cars were utterly conventional in design, but from the very beginning they were noted for their fine engineering and workmanship.
Lanchester, meanwhile, was an entirely separate concern, and its products could hardly have been more different from those of the Daimler works. Then again, Lanchesters were different from just about anything else on the road! These remarkable machines were radically different from other vehicles because the Lanchester brothers had insisted on designing them from the ground up, rather than resort to modified horse-drawn carriages. The result was a range of vehicles which boasted features which would not be seen on other marques until many years later: lightweight composite chassis frames, choice of air or water-cooled engines, live-axle drive to the rear wheels, detachable bodywork, and the first use of the Ackerman steering geometry. The Lanchesters also developed an ingenious vibration damper for their engines, and were the first to experiment with disc brakes; in fact, a comprehensive list of their 'firsts' would fill a small booklet.
Unfortunately for the innovative Lanchesters, one result was that their cars looked quite unlike conventional motor cars, and this undoubtedly led to what might today be termed 'market resistance'. Putting a wheel at each corner and the engine amidships might make perfect sense from an engineer's point-of-view, but many early motorists were not keen on a car which had no bonnet and placed the occupants at the very front of the car, with little more than a leather tonneau to protect them. Those who took the plunge, however, discovered a car which ran and handled beautifully, and which was in every respect more practical than other cars on the road. They were too few in numbers, however, and Lanchester soon adopted more conventional looks in the pursuit of sales.
At a time when motoring was not yet a pastime for the masses, both Daimler and Lanchester aimed at the up-market carriage trade, selling to wealthy aristocrats and industrialists. Daimler went a step further, winning Royal patronage and becoming the favoured conveyance of British and foreign monarchs (although quite a few Lanchesters also found their way into Royal garages the world over, and the two marques were keen rivals for some years).
All material reproduced herein is copyright, held by the writer (Tony Porter © 2002), but limited verbatim extracts may be used with due acknowledgment to the author and the Daimler Lanchester Club of Victoria Inc.
