Docker Daimlers

The Docker Daimlers were a series of lavishly equipped show cars built on Daimler chassis by the coachbuilder Hooper, a Daimler subsidiary, for display at the British International Motor Show at Earls Court between 1951 and 1955. They were ordered by Sir Bernard Docker, chairman of Daimler and managing director of its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company, and by his second wife, Lady Docker, whom he had made a director of Hooper. Each year she used a new car as publicity for Hooper and Daimler, among them the Gold Car or Golden Daimler of 1951, trimmed in gold with 7,000 gold stars on its flanks, the Blue Clover of 1952, and the Golden Zebra of 1955, which had gold plate inside and out and seats upholstered in zebra skin. The 1948 Green Goddess, a Hooper drophead coupe on the DE36 chassis built for Sir Bernard before the marriage, is described with them. After Bernard Docker left the BSA board the five show cars went back to Daimler, were stripped of their non-standard trim and were sold, and several survive, including restored examples of Blue Clover, Stardust and Golden Zebra.