Collectors\' Motor Cars and Automobilia

74 | THE GOODWOOD REVIVAL SALE

The unique Daimler SP250 offered here incorporates a retractable hardtop

roof patented by Antony H Croucher Precision & Prototype Engineering

Co Ltd (AHC) of Alton, Hampshire. Antony H Croucher, the vendor's

father, first came up with the idea of a power operated (electro-hydraulic)

retractable hardtop roof in the late 1940s and applied for a patent in 1947

(No. 17547), which was completed in October 1950 on a Riley 1.5,

although nothing ever became of it. With the patent running out in 194,

a new Daimler SP250 was purchased in 1960, this car being considered

ideal for conversion on account of its glassfibre body.

An unusual departure for a firm more noted for its stately limousines, the

SP250 sports car was Daimlers final Åing before the firms acquisition

by Jaguar. Aimed at the North American market and launched in 1959,

the SP250 employed a separate ladder-type chassis on which sat

controversially styled glassfibre coachwork constructed by Daimler

themselves. Four-wheel disc brakes were an unusual feature at the time,

but unquestionably the cars biggest virtue was its 2.5-litre V engine.

An outstandingly Åexible unit designed by Triumph Motorcycles Edward

Turner, the smaller of Daimlers two Vs produced 140bhp, an output good

enough to propel the SP250 to a top speed of 125mph. In keeping with the

demands of its intended market, automatic transmission was available as an

option. The model survived Jaguar's 1960 takeover, but the E-Type's arrival

sounded the death knell for the SP250, which ceased production in 1964.

123

1960 DAIMLER SP250 AHC

RETRACTABLE HARDTOP COUPÉ

Coachwork by Daimler/AHC

Registration no. 309 RPF

Chassis no. 101354

• Unique retractable hardtop prototype
  • Single family ownership from new
  • Recently re-commissioned


• Roof in working order

Antony Croucher and two engineers seated in comfort in the newly
completed AHC Daimler, 1963