1934 Daimler 15 Rye cabriolet.
Many old motoring photos turn up, and often a look on the DVLA site shows no record of the car(s) in view, suggesting that the subject had long since been scrapped and turned into a fridge. However better news with this picture of a pre-war Daimler motor-car. A search for AYW 133 confirms that not only is it still in existence, but that it's currently taxed and on the road. The registration date is given as June 1934, the engine capacity as 1939cc (presumably linked to a pre-selector gearbox in the usual Daimler fashion), and the colour as Black. The exact model I'm not sure about - perhaps a Daimler Light 15 drophead coupe (dhc) or tourer? The spare wheel can just be seen mounted within the n/s/f wing. The AYW registration code was first used, in the London area, in May 1934.
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The drophead Daimler is shown parked on a driveway, with what looks like a new pre-cast concrete garage in the background, probably dating this photo to the late 1950s or early 1960s at a guess. Certainly the car looks to be in good order given it's age by this time - the tyres appear to have tread, and the hood looks to be in good order. The only possible hint to the car's age is the drooping driver's door handle, not uncommon on cars after a few years of regular use.
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With a little luck, the current owner of this pre-war Daimler will chance on this page and be able to provide an update on the car.
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More news on this rare pre-war Daimler.
Cedric got in touch early in 2010 - he stumbled across this page whilst perusing various pre-war car photos on the site. Not only does he recognise the model, he owns the actual car shown above and sent in some recent pictures of it.
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"I have appreciated a quick dip into your Old Classic Car website on several occasions but recently spent some time going through it more thoroughly, and as the owner of an Austin 7, a Lanchester 10 doctors dhc, and two Daimler 15 convertibles I looked at the DB18 entry and then onto the mentioned Daimler 15 drop head coupe. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Martin Walter Daimler 15 Rye cabriolet, the first time I have seen a period photo of this model in spite of considerable searching, but not only this but to find it is my own car AYW 133 which I have spent the last 5 years restoring from boxes of parts and very rotten and worm eaten body sections (particularly the plywood). The car was being sold off as spare parts as the owner was emigrating.
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You requested the present owner to contact you and I am happy to send some current and restoration photos.
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The restoration was difficult especially as no other Daimler Rye is known to exist, but it is a two door version of the Martin Walter Wingham cabriolet with four doors. Don's Vauxhall 14/6 is one of these and the fact that it came from a lady who worked for Martin Walter probably confirms this - it was a highly successful model for the company and a photo exists in the A to Z of Coachbuilders with many in course of construction in the old Airship hanger at Capel le Ferne near Folkestone in the early 1930s. This body was adapted for several makes of car including Rolls Royce.
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The Rye has some unusual features. The main one is the easy to operate fully lined and padded hood. Your picture of my car shows it had at that time a normal British type hood and had a massively enlarged rear window presumably of plastic and not glass. There was no hood material when I bought the car. The design of the original was by Glazer of Germany (who licensed it to MW) and the same as on many Mercedes Benz cars of the 1930s.
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When open, the hood overhangs more at the rear than a normal one so a hinge-down boot lid would be trapped in the open or closed position. Mercedes therefore had a lift up lid, which is awkward, but Martin Walter designed an ingenious wind-out drawer which is cantilevered so that as the boot drawer comes out of the stylish rear (there is no bumper to spoil it) the lid comes up to the vertical. Cases are clamped into the boot by winding the drawer in. A removable handle like a starting handle is used to operate it. The whole thing is rather a nuisance and obviously did not get copied by other coachbuilders.
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The car also sports what must have been early front opening quarterlights. They are fitted to the windscreen and therefore conflict with the doors when getting in and out of the car especially in a narrow garage. I had in mind re-designing the boot and quarterlights but as they are unusual and developing features in car design I decided to live with them.
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The car does have the Daimler fluid flywheel and preselecter gear box which makes it lovely to drive (three of my four prewar cars have this system which bears testimony to what I think of the system). One puzzle I had was that the car was taken off the road in 1978 only 500 miles after an engine overhaul. I decided to strip the engine before trying to start it and am glad I did, as the 5/8th inch gudgeon pins were found to be running in 16mm small end bushes - must have been a noisy 500 miles and presumably the overhauler was saying that is would get quieter!! I could not get the right bushes either so had to ream the pistons and replace the gudgeon pins with some 16mm items - in fact Honda motor cycle racing engine units - still nobody can see them. The o.h.v. power unit now runs well and usually raises nice comments on arrival at shows such as "Can't hear the engine".
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Thanks so much for getting in touch Cedric, it's unusual to receive an update on a car featured in the vintage photo section so your recent photos are much appreciated.
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Return to Old Motoring Photos Page No. 9.
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