1961 Daimler Majestic Major Limousine

Description

The Daimler Majestic Major was one of the stars of the 1959 London Motor Show in Earls Court but did not go into production until 1961, by which time Daimler had been acquired by Jaguar. Even the original six-cylinder Majestic, introduced in 1958, was an interesting car with lively performance, disc brakes all-round and plush interior. But the V8-powered Majestic Major with greatly extended boot was a phenomenon. Automotive historian Jeff Daniels has observed: ‘The Majestic Majors had a following and a certain presence – the hefty saloon with its 114-inch wheelbase was renowned for making most sports cars look foolish on the Silverstone circuit during the annual Guild of Motoring Writers’ Test Day – and they were retained until 1968, together with the big V8 engine which was greatly admired but which, sadly, was virtually hand-manufactured at great cost, without the aid of dedicated production tooling.’ The Majestic Major could accelerate from zero to 60mph in 10 seconds and approach 125 miles per hour. Jaguar engineers even considered installing the immensely torquey 4.6-litre Edward-Turner-designed V8 (developed from his 2.5-litre unit first seen in the SP250 sports car and later fitted to a rebadged Jaguar Mark 2) in its Mark X saloon. Interestingly, of the 3538 Majestics produced from 1958 to 1979, 2048 were Majors. A special limousine variant known as the DR450 was added to the range and this variant exerted special appeal on the British Royal Family.