Daimler started business at the very beginning of the motor industry, having licensed Daimler Benz’s design for a motor car to build them in England. From there they built a range of models of mostly luxury cars and after World War 2, they resumed building their DB18 model they had announced in 1939. In 1938, with a body design built by Barker, they introduced the Special Sports variant, being a drophead coupe with three seats, two front seats and one mounted sideways in the back. The gearbox on these cars is a British design, originally developed for military applications in tanks, it uses a selector lever to specify what gear the driver wants to put the car in, but doesn’t change gears until a pedal is pressed and released. Unlike a clutch pedal, there is no need to balance the clutch and gas as the gearbox uses a fluid flywheel like an automatic. The car doesn’t shift up or down gears on its own and leaves the gear selection entirely up to the driver. Daimler This car was purchased in an online auction, but only after I had a chance to see the car in person. It had been very well restored and was displayed in a museum collection for a number of years and the previous owner had bought it with several other cars from the museum in order to secure a couple of specific vehicles in the lot. Thus, it has spent very little time on the road since the restoration. As a result it needed to be recommissioned and have new tires fitted, but once it had been serviced, it started and ran as it should.