Lanchester Eighteen History

Announced after BSA's takeover and still engineered by George Lanchester, the Eighteen (also marketed as the 15/18) was a version of the Daimler Light Twenty fitted with hydraulic brakes and Daimler's fluid flywheel and pre-selective gearbox. Its 2,504 cc six-cylinder overhead-valve engine marked Lanchester's move into the medium-luxury class BSA wanted to fill between Daimler and the cheaper BSA cars.

About 2,650 were built up to 1940. The Eighteen established the pattern for every later Lanchester: a Daimler-built, Daimler-derived car wearing the Lanchester badge, refined rather than overtly sporting.