I Bought A Cheap Daimler... And It Turned Out To Be Very Rare!

All right guys, how's it going? Welcome back. Well, behind me is my latest purchase, and to the untrained eye it might look like just another old Jaguar XJ, but it's a lot more special than that. Let me tell you a bit more about it. This is my 1995 Daimler Six, and believe it or not, this is one of the rarest cars in the world. I bought this beautiful piece of British automotive history for just, wait for it, £2,000. Can you believe it? I absolutely love it. If you don't know much about the Daimler brand, Daimler is to Jaguar what my back is to Mercedes. It's the super lux version. This Daimler is based on the Jaguar XJ, which is already a very luxurious car. Back in the day it competed with the BMW 7 Series, the Mercedes S-Class and the Lexus LS. But the Daimler was even more refined. It came with more leather, more wood, more chrome, more features. This is based on the X300 Series XJ, which first came out in 1994, and it was the first XJ while Jaguar was under Ford ownership. Now, many purists might laugh at that, but 30 years later, I actually think it's a good thing. You see, Ford invested a tonne of money in what was basically a dying brand. And I think for a few select model years, this being one of them, you kind of got the best of both worlds. You got the reliability and tech from a global giant like Ford, but you still got Jaguar's British charm. Under the bonnet of the as the name suggests, is a six-cylinder engine. Now, this is a four-litre straight-six. It's known as the AJ16 engine, and it produces about 245bhp, and it suits this car perfectly. In fact, this was the last era of Jaguar to feature this silky-smooth straight-six. The X308 Series that replaced this X300 switched to V8s, which were a bit timing-chainy. But this, on the other hand, is very reliable. It's as close to bulletproof as you'll get from a Jaguar. You might have heard of the Daimler Double Six. In fact, I featured one on this channel a few years ago. Now, that came with a V12 engine. But in my opinion, having now driven both, I think this one's the better buy. This is far simpler, it's far more reliable, it's way better on fuel, and in terms of smoothness, the Double Six didn't feel noticeably better. It's such a charming old car. I mean, look at this. This is something you don't see on modern cars. The complete Jaguar toolkit. Before I continue showing you more about the Daimler, I need to say a massive thank you to today's video sponsor, HelloFresh, who've made my life much easier. After a long day's work, I know I can go home and whip up a delicious meal without having to put too much thought into it. If you use my promo code HFHIGHPEAK50, you can save 50% off your first box and then 20% off the following four boxes, plus free treats for two months. How easy is that? Let me walk you around this particular car, then, and bear in mind I only paid £2,000 for this. I got this from a viewer called Scott, so thanks, Scott, for getting in touch. I actually bought several cars from him, so I think he did me a bit of a deal. But for £2,000, I could hardly say no, could I? It's not perfect, though, so let me show you around it. Tyre-wise, we've got pretty decent tyres. We've got a Falcon on the front, on about 5mm of tread. I quite like these Daimler wheels. The centre caps could do with a refurb, but I have no idea where you'd get hold of those from. This is a very rare car, so trying to find bits like this that are specific to the Daimler, I think they'd be a bit like hen's teeth. These wheels could do with a refurb, and I wondered, this might look a bit blingy, or sound a bit blingy. I wonder whether I could get them done in chrome. It would be a bit like a US spec, but there are bits of chrome around this car, and I think it would look really cool. It would match the, or it would tie in with the chrome mirror caps and the chrome around the windows. Now, bodywork-wise, it's quite tidy. We've got a nice pinstripe down it. This, by the way, this beautiful colour, as soon as I saw the pictures that Scott sent me, I kind of fell in love with it. I think the colour is stunning. It's like a, it's like a very deep, like a very deep royal red, like a burgundy. It looks kind of like the colours that the royal family's cars are painted in. It's actually called Moroccan Red Metallic. I wouldn't say it's red, though, really. It's much deeper than that. It's a beautiful colour anyway, and in the sunshine, I just think it looks stunning. Now, bodywork-wise, it's very tidy. Around the front, you get this fluted grille, which is unique to the Daimler, which I quite like. Daimler badge in the middle, sorry, taking pride of place. You get a mesh grille, which again is unique to this. If you didn't know much about it there, you would swear this was an XJ, because it does look very, very similar. Just a few subtle little changes. Moving around the back, it's quite tidy. We've got another matching Falcon on this side, on about, again, about 5mm of tread. Again, the wheel could do with a refurb. There's a little bit of scabbiness here around the wheel arch. I don't know if you can see that on the camera. It isn't bad, though, for one of these, but I think we need to get it up on a ramp and see. The worst bit around the whole car is this bit here. I'm going to have to take this to Jimmy the Magician. It needs grinding out, really, and repairing properly, just so it doesn't come back. That's the worst bit. In fact, I tell a lie, there is another area that needs some attention. That's the roof. Now, the sunroof doesn't work. The previous owner, I think, took the switch out. I don't know what the issue was, but that doesn't work. Also, it's had its roof painted at some point, and it's kind of blistered. There's a spot here, if you can see that, a spot here that's quite noticeable. So, I'm going to have to get this to Jimmy and ask him to paint the roof, detail the whole car, and paint this area down here, which I think should be a quite straightforward job, because I'm pretty sure he could lose this paint line into that pinstripe. So, it shouldn't need the whole side painted. I'm pretty sure this little area here we could sort of flick in, but Jimmy's the expert, so I'll take it. I'll take it to him. But how beautiful is this? We've even got the Daimler 6 badge, by the way. I noticed when I was getting my b-roll shots, it was a bit loose, so I've just pulled that off. I need some sticky sticky pads to stick back there. I could do with a new Daimler badge on this side, because this is kind of corroded. I'm going to have to look on eBay, I suppose. But yeah, we've got a matching sort of fluted chrome strip there above the boot. We've even got the original Stratstone of Mayfair plates. I need to do some digging, by the way, because I'd love to know who the first owner was of this car, because it spent its first 10 years in and around central London, in the nice parts of London. All the history has been done at a Jaguar dealer in Kensington or somewhere, and with it being painted in this colour, I don't know, it could have been owned by somebody. Somebody very important, I don't know. I'm going to have to do some more research. I've looked through the history, and the history is really good. By the way, mileage on this car is only 84,000 miles, and it drives superb. We'll take it for a spin in a bit. The worst wheel of all four is this one. It's starting to flake, so I might have to get this to Prestige. But I might speak to them first, because I might try and get these dipped in chrome or something. I think it would look quite cool. I just don't know if I could get the centre caps dipped as well. We've got another matching Falcon on this side, and then up front we have another matching Falcon. So the tyres are really good. Like I said, it needs a little bit of paintwork, wheel refurbs, but it's a very, very tidy car. We've even got the old tax disc. Look at that. You just don't see that anymore. Now on the interior, let me show you. In the boots, then, I'll show you that first. We've got twin exhaust. It just looks like a proper... Sorry, my camera's got a mind of its own. It just looks like a proper old-school Jaguar, and I love that. Press the little Daimler badge in there to release the boots, and then in here we've got a few bits of spare parts and things. So Scott gave me all this, really. We've got some Moroccan red touch-up paints. Scott told me that that was with the car when he bought it, so he bought it off, I think, the second owner. Scott's had it for about six years. The first owner had it for 10, and then there was one guy in the middle who, again, I've looked under the log books and service receipts and stuff, owned a beautiful property in Scotland. It was like a castle on hundreds of acres. He's had a very pampered life, this, I think. I don't think money's been an issue. We've got the Daimler book packs here. Let me talk you through this, look, because, for example, have a look at this. We've got the original business card here from Stratston and Mayfair, and that's the Jaguar service advisor. Everything is completely complete here. I love it. Got the old handbooks. In here, we've got the service records. Let me show you this, then. So we've got... this is what I was getting excited about, because this has had an interesting life, this car. Let me just flip through to the actual history. So look at this. So it's all Jaguar, from its first one in February 1996. Jaguar, London, London, London. Again, Stratston, London. And then here, look, R.A. Creamer & Son, Drayson Mews, Kensington. Then it went up to Ayrshire, still at Jaguar. So it's all here, by the way. We've got in-car telephones. It's just such a nice, complete car, which I really like to see. In this folder here, by the way, we've got stacks of receipts, old MOTs. It's exactly what you want to find. We've got these maps for it as well. It's a really nice original car. Inside the Daimler, it is beautiful. It's such an event. It makes you realise how much we've lost, really. Luxury cars these days aren't luxurious in the same way this is. Luxury cars just have a bigger screen. This has got acres of wood, leather, chrome. It's a proper event. This is real craftsmanship. This is something we've completely lost. I'm sitting here currently on the most beautiful parchment leather seats. Up front here, we have a nice wooden table, which I think is for writing cheques. It isn't really big enough for much else, but it feels lovely. On the doors, we've got this beautifully finished wood inlay. Look at the detail. You get chrome accents here and here. A little ashtray down here. It's a beautiful car. You even get these nice chrome sill plates here that just remind you that you're in a Daimler. On the floor, you even get lambswool mats. It's like a Rolls Royce. Behind you, you even get a blind, although it is manual. It's such an iconic 90s car, this. Sitting in the back makes you feel like Percy Stone. Remember how I said this was a rare car? Let me tell you the figures. Jaguar made over 92,000 XJs. Do you know how many Daimlers they made? Just two and a half thousand. Of that, roughly half of those were double sixes with the V12, not the six-cylinder. We can whittle that down even further, because most double sixes with a long wheelbase are, I guess, chauffeur-spec, not like this one, which is a standard wheelbase. When you look on the website howmanyareleft.com, that website which tells you how many cars are registered in the UK, guess how many Daimler 6 SWB models there are? One. That's it. This might be the rarest car I'll ever buy. In fact, let me know in the comments below, when was the last time you saw a Daimler 6? I'd never seen one. Every time I see a Daimler, which is rare anyway, they're always double six long wheelbase, like the last one I had. I've never seen a standard wheelbase six. They were as rare as hen's teeth. When Scott offered me this car, I was just going to retail it, because that's my job, or perhaps put it on Curious Cars, which, by the way, check out CuriousCarsOfficial.com and see what we've got up there. But now I've driven it, I'm going to keep it. When am I ever going to buy another one of these ever again? I'll just have to. I owe it to the car to keep it. So instead, what we're going to do with this car is make it as mint as possible and then enjoy it. Life's too short. And for £2,000, how can I? What would you have done? Anyway, let's move up front. Inside, again, it's just more of the same. It's such a beautiful place to be, this. I know that's a cliche when talking about cars, but there's no other way to describe it. Given most modern cars are just appliances and wheels, what's really making a comeback is analogue luxury, and the Daimler Six encapsulates that perfectly. Whilst if you've got money, you can go out and buy any new modern luxury car, you can't buy this. Money doesn't equal taste. Instead, this should be out of fashion. You just really appreciate the quality and the craftsmanship of everything. Take, for example, the beautifully stitched leather around the J-gate gear lever. The wood grain everywhere, down here, here, even up here on the sunroof panel. And this car must have been so ahead of its time. Let me talk you through some of the features this has. It has the Ford patented heated front windscreen, which must have been, like, something out of the future back in 94. You've also got an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. You've got cruise control, you've got climate control, you've got heated front seats, you've got a trip computer, you've got an electrically adjustable steering column, you've got memory seats, you've got memory mirrors. When you take the key out, the seat moves backwards to give you more room to get out. This must have been state-of-the-art in the mid-90s, even like how the seats have got this little storage pouch at the front. Half the modern cars I drive don't come with these sorts of features, even from premium manufacturers. I was in a brand new 1 Series just yesterday and that had cloth manual seats. Not like my Daimler. And for the same price as that 120i, you could get 17 of these. Only you can't, because there's only one. But that said, it's an old car, so it isn't perfect. There are a few things I need to fix. You might have noticed, for example, I'm sitting here in a bit of an odd position. That's because this cup holder here is like a mousetrap. It's going to pop open at any point. See what I mean? If you're used to old Jags, the next thing won't come as a surprise. It's the headliner. It's, um, collapsed a little bit. The sunroof also doesn't work. I believe the second owner disconnected it, but I need to investigate that. I think that's all I can show you then, so should we get this out on the road? Right then, behind the wheel of the Daimler 6. It's a beautiful car, this. And it's just so easy. Speaking of easy, something else that's very easy is HelloFresh. Since I've been using them, it's just made my life so much easier. You can simply browse online through hundreds of different weekly dishes. It really is very easy. I love it because without that, I find myself getting stuck in a rut, and I just cook the same two things over and over again, and I get very bored with chicken and rice, chicken and pasta. But with this, I get much more adventurous. I'm also learning to become a better cook, because the step-by-step recipes couldn't be simpler. The other good thing about HelloFresh is that it stops me overbuying at the supermarket. Without them, I find myself wandering around the supermarket aimlessly, and I spend way more than I need to. And then, after a few days when I haven't cooked it, it all goes off. But with HelloFresh, you get the exact amount of ingredients. There's no waste, it's much more effective. And the other good thing is, after a long day in the office or out filming, I'm guaranteed a nice, tasty, delicious meal. If you'd like to try this out for yourself, and I do highly recommend them, don't forget to use my promo code HFHIGHPEAK50 for 50% off your first box, plus 20% off the following four boxes, plus free treats. I'll leave the link below in the video description, but it couldn't be easier, so definitely check them out. Anyway, back to the beautiful Daimler. What's really remarkable about this car is how modern it feels. It doesn't feel like I'm driving a museum piece. It feels nimble, it feels light, it feels agile, and that 245bhp six-cylinder engine feels nice and sprightly. You can actually push the petrol and it goes. I drove this back from Scotland and it was just so easy to use and so easy to drive. I thought, this doesn't feel like a 30-year-old car. In fact, 31 years old. It really doesn't feel like it. I mean, it's done 84,000 miles, which is very low, but everything's tight and precise. It's not vague or boat-like, everything's nice and solid. There are no squeaks, no rattles, no annoying vibrations. It really does feel like a modern car. If you were to blindfold me, I'd guess this car was 10, 12 years old, not 31. And that really is a testament to its build quality. I imagine, because this car was so expensive when it was new, they must have thrown everything at it. This isn't just a run-of-the-mill XJ, it's way better than that. And when I drove it, I thought, I really must keep this car. And everything works. I'm sitting here with ice-cold air conditioning, my electric seats work, my heated seats work, as I had them on this morning. Everything's spot-on. For the first 10 minutes or so of driving this car, I was kind of nursing it. I thought, I've got a 250-mile trip here from Scotland, I don't want to break down. I know the car's British and 31 years old, so I'll take it easy. I'll be nice and gentle. But yeah, after 10 minutes or so, I thought, I really don't need to be with this. It also makes a nice noise. The whole thing is just really refined. You don't really hear the engine until you really push it, and then you're rewarded with a nice six-cylinder burble. Something I've always liked about this era of XJ is the way they handle. For a big barge, and it is quite a big old thing, this, it handles remarkably well. The whole car kind of wraps around the driver. You wouldn't think a big old XJ like this, or a Daimler Six, would be a driver's car, but they really were. And it's my kind of car, this. You get a big engine up front, rear-wheel drive, and in the middle, loads of luxury. You know the other surprising thing about this? On the drive down, I was doing 33 miles per gallon. How incredible is that? It really is an impressive old thing, this. And for just a couple of grand, it's almost like the perfect usable daily classic. Not that I'm wishing my life away now, but in another nine years, it's taxed and MOT exempt. And EULA's compliant. Who'd have thought it? I just think cars like this are becoming few and far between. So when you get the opportunity, and you get a good one, why not look after it? Why not make it as nice as possible, and look after it? That's what I intend to do, because these cars really are a dying breed. I mean, sadly, this brand doesn't even exist anymore. You can't go out and buy a brand new Daimler or Jaguar, even if you had all the money in the world. I think that's a real tragedy. In terms of its 0-60 time, I don't know because I haven't measured it. I'm not that interested, to be honest. But it feels quick enough. It's quick enough to keep up with modern traffic. Plenty of power there for overtaking. I'm not bothered about being pinned into my seat. This is more than adequate. It's quite a windy day today, but sitting here behind the wheel of this Daimler, you never know. There's not an awful lot of wind or road noise at all. It's nice and refined. It's a real driver's car, this. You know, on my wish list of cars that I wanted to acquire, I wanted a BMW E38 7 Series because I think they look wicked, and they are a real driver's car. And I also wanted, and I've had one of these before, an X308 XJR. I featured my own car on the channel and then sadly sold it because I couldn't really afford to keep it, and I wasn't using it, and, you know, the usual reasons. But I yearned for another one. And when this came along and I drove it, I thought, well, actually, I think I'd rather have this. This is more of a talking point. It's rarer, more refined, and I don't need the supercharged V8. This six-cylinder is more than enough. I also thought this would be quite a good addition to the channel because it's just one of those cars that no one else has got. I can do some work to it. I can keep you updated with it. I can do some yearly updates and stuff on running costs and what's broken and whatever else. Touch wood. I've got spoilt for choice here, really. Touch wood, and, well, I'm spoilt for choice here in this car. But, yeah, touch wood. Nothing will break. I shall keep this maintained. And, yeah, I'm a firm believer in that, as I've preached many times on this channel. If you look after a car, it will look after you. If you neglect it, skip maintenance and just don't look after it in general, it will leave you stranded. Mark my words. It's such a tight old thing, this. I would happily drive this every day. All it's missing, really, is some sort of Bluetooth audio, which you can now buy. There's one in my 129SL, and I recently bought one for another car that I haven't revealed yet on this channel, but I will soon. Basically, it's a retro style Bluetooth stereo, so it looks the same as this, but you can pay your phone to it, you can make calls on it, but most importantly, you can stream your music. And that really brings something like this into the 21st century. Then I'm happy. That's all I need. Something else that's really refreshing about driving an older car like this is the lack of tech, because I'm a bit of a technophobe. I don't get on with technology at all. And when I get in a modern car, they really infuriate me with all the incessant binging and bonging. It does my head in. You stray out of your lane and you're fighting the steering while it tries to steer you back, even though you're trying to overtake a cyclist or something. I think it's dangerous. Also, you go one mile an hour over the speed limit and it's bing, bing, bing. With this, it's refreshingly simple. This, I think, is true luxury. Silence and an opulent interior. You really don't need much more. This is why, and I know I'm rambling a little bit now, but this is why I believe late 90s, early 2000s were the peak of the automobile. You've got all the convenience and the safety tech. For example, I've got airbags, cruise control, air conditioning, heated front screen. I've got all that, but I don't have any of the negative stuff. I don't have any of the annoying, irritating stuff. None of the beeps and buzzes and vibrations when you stray out of your lane. None of that stuff. Just nice and simple. I think you can probably tell by now I'm completely sold on this car. I can't wait to restore it to its former glory. So that's what we're going to do. Sort out the bodywork, sort out the wheels, fix a few little pieces of broken trim like this. Don't touch that, it's like Arkwright's tilt. Need to sort out the headliner. And then we've got a really nice, usable car in great condition. And that's the plan. And then I've got something then that's worthy of going to car meets, car shows. It's a real good talking point, this. So that is my aim with this. The other good thing with this is when I checked this out on CarVertical, I couldn't believe this, to be honest. Have a look at this. This car, this 31-year-old British car, has never had a single MOT fail or advisor item in its life. How is that even possible? I just, I couldn't believe it. I ran it through its CarVertical check, as I always do and I always preach before you pay for a car, and yeah, it came back completely clear with not a single advisor item and not a single fail. I see modern cars that I buy at work that are five and six years old that have had multiple fails, multiple advisor items, and yet this is as clean as a whistle. By the way, if you want to do any of these checks for yourself, just go to carvertical.com and simply type in the red drill event. It works in 40 different countries, so this isn't just a UK thing. And you can save yourself 20% if you use my promo code HYPEEK. That's HYPEEK, all one word, H-I-G-H-P-E-A-K, for 20% off. And if you're considering multiple cars, like if you've got half a dozen that you want to go and look at you can save up to 50% using that same promo code. So yeah, check out CarVertical, I'll leave the link in the video description. But yeah, I couldn't believe it. Not a single fail or advisor item in three decades. So that's why I think this car's a good one. It's been maintained really well, it's had a couple of very, very wealthy owners, I imagine, who I'm guessing, I'm hoping, have looked after this to really high standard. So I don't think it wants for an awful lot. So that's the plan with this. The only thing I need to watch out for on this is rust. They do famously rust quite badly, so what I'm going to have to do is, the minute the weather changes, the minute this nice warm weather we're having disappears, I'm going to have to get this inside, probably in the showroom at work or in my new unit somewhere, just somewhere dry, somewhere where it's not going to be out in the elements rotting away, because I can't have that really. It's lasted so well, this car, I need to maintain it. Look at this now though, for example, I can engage my traction control with this little toggle here, press the set button, there we go, and away we go. Got cruise control on my 1995 Daimler. I just think it's an old piece of British class, this, isn't it? If you're sad like me and you Google who owned cars like this, which I do when I buy something interesting, everybody had a car like this. Everybody who was anybody in the 90s had a Jaguar XJ or a Daimler. I'm talking celebrities, musicians, famous actors, royalty, dignitaries, politicians, this was the car to have. And I think unlike the equivalent 7 Series or S-Class or whatever, this has just got a bit more charm and character to it. So what do you think guys? Let me know in the comments below. I think I've bought far worse cars for a couple of grand, I'm really happy with this. For just £2,000, I think I've got myself a good one. I know I've said this before, I'm like a broken record, but I'm just amazed at how easy it is to use. You would think an older car like this would be a real chore to drive. You know, like when I was a kid, a 30-year-old car, well, probably had a crank handle, whereas this has got everything on it. Oh, look at the range of a classic. I need a big shed, don't I, to park all these cars in. That's what I need. Anyway, I think that's about it guys and girls, but thank you very much for watching as always, I really appreciate it. Make sure you give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Make sure you subscribe if you haven't done already. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Make sure you follow Curious Cars Official, at CuriousCarsOfficial on Instagram, and check out CuriousCarsOfficial.com. It's my latest venture where we can rescue cool, interesting cars that deserve a second chance and put them on your driveway. I've got big and exciting plans for that website, so make sure you check it out. We've currently got a beautiful Jaguar XJ on there, which you could win for just £4.99. So yeah, check out CuriousCarsOfficial.com and I think that is about it. I'm going to go home now and fiddle around with my old Daimler. That isn't a euphemism, by the way. Right guys, I'll see you next time. Adios.