Daimler DS420 sales brochures 1968-1978

This page shows sales brochures until 1978 by Jaguar/Daimler from my own collection. The brochures are in chronological order, although not all publication dates are known exactly. I have left out brochures where the limo plays a minor role only, e.g. with one single picture somewhere at the bottom of a page...

I believe that this collection is complete. Please contact me if I am missing a brochure.

The brochures are presented with a medium size picture of their front page, plus small pictures of the other pages. Blank pages are not shown.

This was the very first brochure to be published for the DS420. It shows the prototype limo MDU808F both in front view (p3) and full side view (p6). The front view is taken from the press photograph 190726. If you compare the trees in the background of that press photograph with the trees on the picture of page 6 (the side view) it can easily be seen that they all are taken at the same occasion. The same picture was used for two images in the next brochure (see below).

The brochure folds out as three A4-format pages, connected along the long edge. One side when folded out shows, from top to bottom, the Daimler of Coventry title page, the Sovereign specification page (p2) and the limo interior page (p3). The other side shows, from top to bottom, The text page (p4), the Sovereign full size photo (p5), and the limo full size / side view photo (p6).

The same picture as on page 6, but in unedited form, has been used with a press article in the Sunday Express of January 11th, 1970. The picture shown in the brochure is edited, the one in the article unedited. I have attached an interesting "spot the differences" web page to the Sunday Express article.

This brochure was printed at least three times, with only its publication number (on page 3) different:
In 1969: publication No. 10/69/25m. and in 1970: the publications No. 8/70/25m and (15550) 12/70/10m.
Availability of this brochure: abundant.

This brochure was printed three times with various changes at every printing. The first printing opens with the text: "The presentation of this latest and entirely new eight-seater Daimler Limousine represents....". The second printing has this text rephrased as: "The eight-seater Daimler Limousine represents...". In a similar way, the text "while the introduction on this new model of all-round independent suspension..." was changed to "while the all-round suspension...". There are other minor changes as well. The page-images 1a and 1b show the two different text versions.
Between the second and third printing the most visible change was the addition of four pages with texts in French, Italian and German, printed on semi-opaque paper. These text pages are shown on the last row here above; they contain a straightforward translation of the English texts of the main brochure.
Also between the second and third printing a few changes were made to the text on page 8. An interesting one is the change from "six wind-down windows" to "six opening windows". The severe technical problem with the last two wind-down windows (rain water being trapped underneath) has obviously been noticed by now, and their forthcoming removal (effectuated in 1972) is already casting its shadow. Both text versions of this page are shown here as images 8a and 8b.

Page 3 of this brochure shows the abundant interior wood trimming in a very beautiful way. The medium and large size versions of this page contain references to a photo of the interior as it became after the 1972-restyling: most of the wood trimming disappeared for economic reasons. It is also interesting to compare how the shape of the side arm rest changed after the removal of the turning handle for the last window.

This brochure came with a colour-and-trim chart (referred to in the text on page 2), and a leaflet with technical specifications. The first changed its design and its content with every printing. The latter was expanded to four languages for the last printing. The colour&trim charts are shown here. The technical leaflet will be shown elsewhere on this site.

1) publication number: 0668 (year of publication 1968 est.)
2) publication number: 0270 (year of publication 1970 est.)
3) publication number: 10m/11/70 (year of publication 1970)
Size: A4 landscape, stapled.
Availability of this brochure (all three printings): abundant.

These leaflets were included in the brochure shown above ("curly limousine"). Pages 3 and 4 are on the back of page 1. Pages 5 and 6 are together (with nothing on the back); they are multi-lingual and only included in the third printing.

The large picture shows a limo in front of the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. Christiansborg houses the Danish Parliament, and the Royal Reception Rooms. The car Krone 1 shown here belongs to the Royal Court of Denmark. It was delivered to the Danish Court in March 1970.

				Year of publication: 1972 (est.) Format: A4 landscape, stapled Avail.: reasonably easy.

This brochure is the funniest one in the collection. It is unclear how Daimler's publicity department wanted to position the Limousine with these parodies on their clientele.

One of the photos on page 3 resembles a press photograph elsewhere on this site. The large version of this photo contains a link to that press photograph.

The brochure has no publication number or year of publication. I estimate that it was published in 1972 because of the license number EWK1L (L=1972) that is used throughout. This car (vehicle No. 1M2265) was built in September 1972 and was kept by Jaguar as a demonstration car.

The above brochure has no publication number. Its year of publication is probably 1972, because it shows cars with license year letter L. The format is A5 landscape.
The brochure folds out as three pages connected along the long edge. One side when folded out shows, from top to bottom, the limo, the text page, and the grille picture (which is the front page when folded together). The other side shows, from top to bottom, the Sovereign, the Double Six and the Double Six Vanden Plas.
All cars, except the limo. have UK license plates. The license plate on the limo, RZ-DA 1, is German. It was the license number of car 1M20002, the second-built LHD limo. This car was the show car in Paris 1969, and it was then sold to the Fürst von Bismarck, in Aumühle near Ratzeburg in Northern Germany.
The blue stamp on the text page is from a Daimler dealer named Sam van Lingen in Utrecht (The Netherlands). I have not erased it for the sake of curiosity.
Availability of this brochure: fair/easy.

The subjective rating on how abundant/rare every brochure is. is derived solely from my own experience as a visitor to many autojumbles every year: I regularly visit events in Beaulieu (fall), Birmingham (NEC), Essen (Germany, biggest in Europe), Antwerpen (Belgium), and many in The Netherlands. I also take into account the frequency with which brochures are offered for auction on www.ebay.com.

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