Daimler New Fifteen
| Daimler Fifteen DB /17 DB /18 | |
|---|---|
6-light saloon
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | The Daimler Company Limited |
| Also called | Daimler New Fifteen |
| Production | 1937 - 1940. Approx 2850 made. |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Executive car (E) |
| Body style | four-door “six-light” saloon £485 four-door “four-light" sports saloon also £485 others as arranged with coachbuilder by customer |
| Related | Lanchester Roadrider |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2,166 cc (132.2 cu in) 6-cylinder in-line ohv (at launch) 2,522 cc 6-cylinder in-line ohv (from late 1938) |
| Transmission | 4-speed preselective self-changing gearbox and Fluid Flywheel an open propeller shaft and underhung worm-driven axle |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase |
114 in (2,900 mm) Track 52 in (1,300 mm) |
| Length | 180 in (4,600 mm) |
| Width | 65 in (1,700 mm) |
| Kerb weight | 30.5 cwt |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Daimler Fifteen |
| Successor | Daimler Eighteen |
| Daimler Fifteen 2.2-litre engine | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | The Daimler Company |
| Production | August 1936 - September 1938 |
| Combustion chamber | |
| Configuration | 6-cylinder in-line |
| Displacement | 2,166 cubic centimetres (132 cu in) |
| Cylinder bore | 66 mm (2.6 in) |
| Piston stroke | 105.4 mm (4.15 in) |
| Cylinder block alloy | cast iron |
| Valvetrain | OHV pushrod cam-in-block |
| Compression ratio | 6.5:1 |
| Combustion | |
| Fuel system | carburettor |
| Fuel type | petrol |
| Cooling system | water-cooled |
| Output | |
| Power output | 56 bhp (42 kW; 57 PS) @ 3600 rpm. Tax rating 16.2 hp |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Daimler Fifteen 2.0-litre |
| Successor | Daimler Fifteen 2½-litre |
| Daimler Fifteen 2½-litre engine | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | The Daimler Company |
| Production | September 1938 - |
| Combustion chamber | |
| Configuration | 6-cylinder in-line |
| Displacement | 2,522 cubic centimetres (154 cu in) |
| Cylinder bore | 69.9 mm (2.75 in) |
| Piston stroke | 110.49 mm (4.350 in) |
| Cylinder block alloy | cast iron |
| Valvetrain | OHV pushrod cam-in-block |
| Combustion | |
| Fuel system | carburettor |
| Fuel type | petrol |
| Cooling system | water-cooled |
| Output | |
| Power output | 66 bhp (49 kW; 67 PS) @ 4000 rpm. Tax rating 18.02 hp |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Daimler Fifteen 2.2-litre |
| Successor | Daimler Eighteen 2½-litre |
114 in (2,900 mm)
The Daimler New Fifteen, was a large saloon/sedan car at the low end of the manufacturer’s range, announced in September 1937. It had a tax rating of 16.2 hp. In September 1938 it was given a larger engine with the tax rating of 17.9 hp though it retained the name Fifteen. When production resumed in 1946 it was given a revised cylinder head, given chrome channel frames for the side-windows, stripped of its running-boards, and renamed Daimler Eighteen.
1937 saw the opening, in September, of what was intended to be the world’s largest exhibition hall at Earls Court on the western edge of central London. The inaugural exhibition involved chocolate and confectionery: six weeks later the Motor Show opened on 14 October. For Daimler, the star of the first “Earls Court Motor Show” was the new Daimler Fifteen, described in their advertisements as “the most interesting car of the year”.
The Fifteen was announced with the 2,166 cc ohv straight-six engine introduced by Daimler in August 1936 for the previous body-shape following reduction of the rate of annual tax. The press suggested the New Fifteen was under-powered. New management at Daimler wished to drop the "staid" image. The following September the engine developed for the Dingo replaced the initial unit. It had a displacement of 2,522cc and was tuned to produce 66 bhp, and in this form would power Daimler civilian and military vehicles until well into the 1950s.
The name "Fifteen" was a notional reference to its fiscal horsepower, strict application of the RAC formula used to compute fiscal horsepower gives a higher fiscal horsepower category of 16.2 hp even for the smaller engine with which the car was launched: by this time, like other mainstream UK manufacturers, Daimler were using a notional fiscal horsepower rating to define the class in which the car competed rather than to identify its actual tax classification.
Power was delivered to the rear wheels through a Fluid flywheel transmission system, licensed under Vulcan-Sinclair and Daimler patents, that Daimler had introduced in all its vehicles at the beginning of the decade. The epicyclic preselector gearbox allowed a clear flat floor for driver and front seat passenger.
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Wikipedia