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Details
1915 DAIMLER 30HP Y-TYPE 3-TON FLAT BED LORRY
Registration No. HK 7141
Chassis No. Y-4704
Olive-green
Engine: four-cylinder, 110mm × 150mm bore & stroke, 5,702cc, sleeve-valve vertical, water-cooled; Gearbox: 4-speed & reverse, cone clutch, shaft drive to overhead worm-gear back axle; Suspension: front and rear, semi-elliptic leaf springs; Brakes: rear-wheel and transmission brakes. Cast-steel wheels, single to front, twin at rear, Henley solid rubber tyres. Right hand drive.
From its earliest days Daimler made vehicles for commercial usage such as charabancs and vans on lengthened motorcar chassis but it was not until 1906 that a Commercial Vehicles Division was established. In 1908 the company obtained the sole British rights for the Reynard road-train system, and other work mainly of an experimental nature took place, but it was not until the Daimler-BSA amalgamation in 1910 that commercial vehicle work became a full part of the Daimler programme. At the centre of this was the Knight sleeve-valve engine that Daimler had developed so successfully, many of these units being supplied to the London General Omnibus Company, this in turn leading to the two firms forming the Associated Equipment Company in 1912.
Prior to the Great War Daimler lorries of various sizes from 2 to 5 tons load capacity were made and with the outbreak of hostilities these were in considerable demand for all manner of purposes from straightforward troop transport to fully-equipped mobile workshops. In March 1915 an unexpected Government request for 50 lorries to be supplied within the week for, as it later transpired, the Gallipoli campaign was successfully met by twenty-four hour working at the Coventry factory.
The Y-Type differed from its predecessors of identical load and engine capacity in that it had a full pressed-steel chassis whereas earlier models utilised a wood and flitch-plate frame. Fletcher's Commercial Motor Index lists the Y-type Daimler only for 1916 and 1917 but since one of the plates on this surviving lorry bears an October 1915 date it is safe to assume that production started before the end of the year.
The faded olive-green paint on the vehicle suggests that it fulfilled a military function during the First World War. It was registered for civilian use in Essex around 1920, almost certainly finding its way there via the huge war-disposal dump at Slough that eventually became the site where the British Citroën factory was opened in 1926. The lorry has never been restored, its age is apparent, yet it is a living fossil, being in running order. Its last notable appearance in public was in the television drama series of the 1970s, Upstairs, Downstairs.
The ability of Daimler sleeve-valve engines to run and run was often commented upon during their active service. It is unlikely that anyone who saw the lorries at work in those troubled times would have rated very highly the chances of one surviving, let alone still being capable hauling itself around unaided ninety years later.
Registration No. HK 7141
Chassis No. Y-4704
Olive-green
Engine: four-cylinder, 110mm × 150mm bore & stroke, 5,702cc, sleeve-valve vertical, water-cooled; Gearbox: 4-speed & reverse, cone clutch, shaft drive to overhead worm-gear back axle; Suspension: front and rear, semi-elliptic leaf springs; Brakes: rear-wheel and transmission brakes. Cast-steel wheels, single to front, twin at rear, Henley solid rubber tyres. Right hand drive.
From its earliest days Daimler made vehicles for commercial usage such as charabancs and vans on lengthened motorcar chassis but it was not until 1906 that a Commercial Vehicles Division was established. In 1908 the company obtained the sole British rights for the Reynard road-train system, and other work mainly of an experimental nature took place, but it was not until the Daimler-BSA amalgamation in 1910 that commercial vehicle work became a full part of the Daimler programme. At the centre of this was the Knight sleeve-valve engine that Daimler had developed so successfully, many of these units being supplied to the London General Omnibus Company, this in turn leading to the two firms forming the Associated Equipment Company in 1912.
Prior to the Great War Daimler lorries of various sizes from 2 to 5 tons load capacity were made and with the outbreak of hostilities these were in considerable demand for all manner of purposes from straightforward troop transport to fully-equipped mobile workshops. In March 1915 an unexpected Government request for 50 lorries to be supplied within the week for, as it later transpired, the Gallipoli campaign was successfully met by twenty-four hour working at the Coventry factory.
The Y-Type differed from its predecessors of identical load and engine capacity in that it had a full pressed-steel chassis whereas earlier models utilised a wood and flitch-plate frame. Fletcher's Commercial Motor Index lists the Y-type Daimler only for 1916 and 1917 but since one of the plates on this surviving lorry bears an October 1915 date it is safe to assume that production started before the end of the year.
The faded olive-green paint on the vehicle suggests that it fulfilled a military function during the First World War. It was registered for civilian use in Essex around 1920, almost certainly finding its way there via the huge war-disposal dump at Slough that eventually became the site where the British Citroën factory was opened in 1926. The lorry has never been restored, its age is apparent, yet it is a living fossil, being in running order. Its last notable appearance in public was in the television drama series of the 1970s, Upstairs, Downstairs.
The ability of Daimler sleeve-valve engines to run and run was often commented upon during their active service. It is unlikely that anyone who saw the lorries at work in those troubled times would have rated very highly the chances of one surviving, let alone still being capable hauling itself around unaided ninety years later.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.