Daimler DE

The Daimler DE was a series of chassis made by the Daimler Company from 1946 until 1953, the basis of Daimler's largest and most expensive cars of the time. There were two versions, the short-wheelbase DE 27 with the Daimler Twenty-seven straight-six engine and the long-wheelbase DE 36, the last Daimler Straight-Eight, with the Thirty-six straight-eight engine. It was sold to royalty and heads of state around the world, including British royalty under Daimler's royal warrant. Designed by chief engineer C. M. Simpson on a separate steel frame so customers could have bodies built by coachbuilders, it used a Hotchkiss drive with control arms on the rear axle, hypoid final drive in place of worm drive and independent front suspension. Barker and Hooper built 500 DC 27 ambulances on a variant, and 50 DH 27 limousines were built for Daimler Hire.