BUYING GUIDE
Ask someone to think of a British V8 sports car and the SP250 is unlikely to spring to mind. But to ignore this lightweight roadster is to miss out on a brilliant B-road companion
The Daimler SP250, typically called the ‘Dart’, was built in response to America’s insatiable hunger for British sports cars. Launched just before Jaguar bought Daimler, the SP250 was an advanced car despite its body-on-chassis construction, much of the tub being glassfibre. Chief among the car’s technical showpieces is the 2.5-litre hemi V8 from the design studio of Edward Turner, the same engineer who gave the world the Ariel Square Four and Triumph Twin motorcycle engines. His two-wheeled background translated well to the Daimler’s V8, whose small pistons made it eager to rev. That speedy charge to the redline endows the car with what is considered one of the best sounding engines of the era.
The V8 engine found favour with Daimler’s new owner, Jaguar, which went on to use it in the Daimler variant of its Mk2 saloon, it’s short length meaning that a bench seat could be fitted. The new car’s name was changed to ‘SP250’ when Chrysler claimed to have already registered the ‘Dart’ name and
Jaguar set about updating it when it bought
Daimler. The early ‘A-spec’ models’ chrome ‘whiskers’ extending across the front from the indicators were dropped and the chassis was stiffened. 1963 saw the introduction of the ‘C-spec’ models with a few more bits of standard trim but little in the way of mechanical changes.
It’s a charming classic roadster and you’ll never tire of that V8 soundtrack, but the costs of remedying faults on a poor example can quickly rack up. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking of buying one.
WHY I LOVE MY DAIMLER ‘DART’
‘I served my apprenticeship with Daimler back in the day and was working in its experimental department when the SP250 project came to fruition in 1957. I ended up spending a lot of time test-driving the car and all of the drivers, me included, had “moments” due to the car’s lethal understeer on damp roads. Things came to a head one evening when the car careered straight on at a right-angle into a corner and hit a brick wall.’
‘I got in touch with an old colleague In 2008 to join me in an anniversary 24-hour run around the old test route to celebrate the car’s impending 50th anniversary. We did the night stage first and then had a day’s rest before tackling the day run. It was an interesting adventure and the car ran well, returning mpg figures near-identical to what we’d managed 50 years previously.
‘I kept that car for a couple of years and enjoyed reliable holidays in it in Scotland a
