Daimler Majestic

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Daimler Majestic
Manufacturer	Daimler Motor Company
Production	1958–1962 1490 produced
Predecessor	Daimler 104
Successor	Daimler Majestic Major
Class	Executive
Body style(s)	Four door Saloon
Engine(s)	3.8 litre in-line 6
Transmission(s)	automatic
Wheelbase	114 inches 2.89 m
Length	202 inches 5.13 m
Width	73 inches 1.85 m

The Daimler Majestic 101 was introduced by the Daimler Motor Company of Coventry in 1958 and was in production until 1962. The six cylinder, four door saloon, with new Borg Warner automatic transmission, power steering and four-wheel disc brakes, vacuum-servo assisted, was very mechanically advanced for its time, but it had an outdated heavy body and engine with separate chassis which kept the car's mass well above more modern designs and made it difficult to manoeuvre, despite the modern steering. The styling was already somewhat outdated when the car appeared and became increasingly dated as lighter bodies with monocoque construction appeared during the Majestic's production run.^[1]

[edit] Construction

Like all previous postwar Daimlers, the "Majestic" was designed around a massive cruciform-braced box-section chassis equipped with coil-sprung independent front suspension, with a well located 'live' rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs. Four-wheel disc brakes were regarded as a first for a British production car. ^[2]The engine was an inline six of 3.8 litres (3794 cc), based on previous Daimler sixes with pushrod operated overhead valves and retaining the 107.95 millimetre (4.25 inch) stroke, but with the bore increased to 86.36 millimetres (3.4 inches) from the 82.55 millimetres (3.25 inches) of the 104, giving a power output of over 140 brake horsepower (100 kW) and a maximum speed of around 180km/h (112mph).

The styling of the Majestic was similar to, but wider and with smoother lines than the short lived 104 model it replaced. The body was massive and the doors were quite high with narrow windows and a rounded rear window. There were two small headlamps at each end on the front side and two fog lamps just above low-set bumpers. There were plain disc wheels.

[edit] Notable successors

The Daimler Majestic was soon overshadowed by the Daimler Majestic Major, using the same body, but with a new 4.5 litre hemi-head V8 engine introduced in 1959, even though production continued, side by side till 1962.^[2] It is notable that, though produced for a shorter period, significantly more examples of the six-cylinder model were produced than of the latterly better-known "Major".

In 1989 and 1990 Jaguar Cars produced a special edition of the XJ40 using the Majestic name, at first in the US only, leather-equipped with steering wheel in interior colour and often red or blue pipin. In the final XJ40 years the name Majestic was used for the special build LWB XJ40. Only 121 Jaguars and Daimler were built like that.