Daimler Double-Six History

Introduced in 1926, the original Daimler Double-Six was so named for its V12 layout — effectively two of Daimler's sleeve-valve six-cylinder engines on a common crankcase. Daimler had committed heavily to the Knight double-sleeve-valve engine, which ran almost silently and very smoothly at the cost of a characteristic exhaust smoke, and the Double-Six was its grandest expression.

Offered over its life in several displacements from roughly 3.7 to 7.1 litres, the Double-Six was sold as a bare luxury chassis clothed by leading coachbuilders — examples include a 7.1-litre 'Double-Six 50' drophead coupe by Corsica. It was among the most prestigious British cars of its day and underpinned Daimler's standing as supplier to the Royal Household.

The model ran until 1938, by which time Daimler had largely moved on from the sleeve-valve engine to conventional poppet-valve designs. The Double-Six name lay dormant for over three decades before Jaguar revived it for its own V12 luxury saloon in 1972.