Recent additions / change log of this web site

• June 2025
  • On May 11th we had the second "DS420 owners' meeting" in Gaydon. Many photos were taken and I converted a number of photos into a photo gallery for this website.
  • I received a fair number of scanned Jaguar Daimler Service Bulletins and Parts Technical Information bulletins from the late eighties, all DS420 related. They were added to the collections of bulletins already present.
  • I found a photo of the DS420 on the Jaguar/Daimler stand at the International Motor Show in the NEC Birmingham, October 1984. This photo was added to the press photos page.
  • The editors of the magazine of the Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club contacted me and asked for my cooperation to get more DS420 coverage in their "Flagships" section. The resulting article (from their October 2024 issue) was added to the page with English language magazine articles.
  • Mark Richardson submitted a photo of The Duchess of Gloucestershire arriving in a DS420 for the opening of the new Radford Road Police Station in Nottingham. This was in 1985. I have added the photo to the page with contemporary photos.
  • I was able to buy a 1:43 scale model of the Specialities International brand. This model. in grey colour, has been on my wish list for many years. It is a nice coincidence that my models collection started in 1999 with a scale model from this brand, and now, 26 years and 80 models later, the most recent addition is from this same brand again.
  • From the moment that I started my scale models collection I have tried to build an overview of DS420 models that have ever been on the market. I collected photos and screenshots from many different sources. After my last purchase there are only two photos left in my "Wanted" collection. I documented them on a separate "Wanted List" page hanging off the main scale models page.
• January 2025
  • In my role as DS420 registrar of the Daimler and Lanchester Owners' Club I have contributed nearly monthly articles to The Driving Member club magazine. I have now added all 2024 contributions to the "Registrars" page which is part of my "Driving Member" magazine webpage.
• November 2024
  • I came across a beautiful photo of a hearse chassis in production at VandenPlas, and added it to the hearses page.
  • I also found a photo of a paint dip bath, but it is unknown where it was taken. I added it next to the photo of the VandenPlas paint dip bath.
  • From my visit to the office of the National Association of Funeral Directors in Solihull I brought a small article from their magazine about the introduction of the "group assembly" method at Jaguar. The text was based on a factory Press Release, and I added this article to two similar articles on the Magazine Articles (English) 1968-1999 page.
  • Also from the Funeral Director magazine (1969) came a three page article describing a visit to the Alpe&Saunders hearse production facility in Kew. This article was added to the hearses page of this website.
  • And the final contribution from the Funeral Director magazine is a collection of individual photos and "Company news" articles, all showing DS420 hearses in their contemporary setting. I made up a separate webpage showing this collection and attached it to the "hearses" page
• October 2024
  • A major update: the last Parts Catalogue on paper dates from 1985, whereas the production of the DS420 continued until 1992. Later Parts Catalogues were only issued on microfiche, with the very last one published in 2000. Recently I found a service to get these microfiches scanned, so I could add the year 2000 version of the Parts Catalogue (publ.RTC9887FAG) to this site. Similarly, I added Parts Catalogue RTC9887FAE (1989) and Parts Catalogue RTC9887FAB (1987).
  • The "National Association of Funeral Directors" in Solihull (UK) very kindly provided access to the bound volumes of their magazine from 1968-1992, which were the production years of the DS420 model. I could take dozens of photographs of advertisements for DS420 hearses and limousines from various hearse coach builders and limousine distributors. I have split them into two categories: (1) DS420 hearse advertisements, which I have added as a photo gallery accessible from the Hearses-page and (2) advertisements from DS420 limousine distributors, which I have added as a photo gallery accessible from the page with Various Sales Illustrations. Almost 80 period advertisements alltogether.
  • Also from the bound volumes of the "Funeral Director" magazine I have a handful of advertisements originating directly from Daimler (Jaguar). Some are even in colour. These were added in-line to the page with Various Sales Illustrations.
  • The free on-line magazine 'Xclusively Jaguar' (July 2024) had an interesting article about the last Queen Mother's limousine, by a Jaguar employee who was involved in the preparation and service of the Royal Daimlers. It was added to the English Language magazine articles page.
  • My collection of DS420 scale models grows with approx. one per year, and is now over 80 items. This year I found two: a black over maroon Specialities International limousine, and a grey MiniMarque43 hearse. Both were added to the scale models page, joining the other models of their brands. In my 25 years of collecting I have assembled a list of brands with their (factory) colour combinations, and as many reference photos as possible from sources such as eBay etc. The 1:18 scale in my collection is far from complete, but my list of 1:43 models "still to go" has only two left.

The files for this web site are maintained on a computer at my home. At irregular intervals a batch of new and/or modified files is transported to the computer that serves the domain www.myDS420.info. Minor changes and corrections are not listed. Maintenance to the page "Limo&Wedding Hire Companies" is not recorded.

This web site currently has over 12000 unique pages, generated from over 40000 files (3.01 GiB). The majority consists of the four Service Manuals (1492 pages), six Parts Catalogues (4500 pages) and eight Owner's Handbooks (800 pages). But one of the photo galleries also throws in a lot of weight with some 3000 photos.

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