Woman trades in 1935 Daimler Lanchester for new Daihatsu Sirion
This isn't one of those "dealer takes innocent widow for all she has" stories. Nor another "Seattle dealer steals disabled man's cash and cars" post. Today's post is only slightly unsettling. This is a tale of a British Daihatsu dealer that helped a little old lady find a more practical and reliable vehicle for her motoring needs. Mrs. Margaret Hackett from Fenay Bridge, Nr Huddersfield, went with a friend to Cross Keys Garage, Morley, in Leeds to try to find a vehicle that would meet her current needs. Garage owner Anthony Dawson convinced her that a new Daihatsu Sirion 1.0 SE was the car for her.
Mrs. Hackett agreed and so Mr. Dawson arranged to deliver her new car and pick up her trades. Along with her 1999 Rover 400, a tow truck was dispatched to collect her late husband's project car - a 1935 Daimler Lanchester. Dramatic pause. A Daimler for a Daihatsu. In all fairness we don't have the details about the financial aspects of the transaction, but we do know that the Daimler wasn't in running order. It was a project that went unfinished when Mr. Hackett passed away. The engine in the Daimler had seized from sitting for 11 years, but after a new battery was fitted and a quick tune-up was completed, the hand crank managed to turn it over and it runs well now. Doesn't seem fair to us, but then again, we haven't been able to sample a new Daihatsu for years.
[Source: Daihatsu]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jim 2:44PM (1/26/2007)
It's a shame these types of things still happen. Hopefully when all the details come out, this one wont be as bad as the dealer who's salespeople actually stole from the disabled man last week.
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Will 11:05AM (2/05/2007)
That Daimler is sexy, it's really too bad the husband couldn't get it working.
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Gardiner Westbound 3:07PM (1/26/2007)
There has to be a special place in Hell reserved for people like this.
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Eric Liberatore 3:20PM (1/26/2007)
If the source of this article is Daihatsu then why should we believe that she got the shaft in this deal? It would be foolish of them to take advantage of her and then make a press release about it.
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Peter 3:50PM (1/26/2007)
Allright, base price for that Daihatsu is about 16,000 USD in the U.K. I'm sure the lady took good care of that Rover, so maybe she got 2,000$ for it. That leaves up to 14k room for a Lanchester (at that time they were mostly rebadged Daimlers after Lanchester was bought by Daimler, pretty much the same thing that happend to Daimler after being swallowed by Jaguar...) resto project.
I seriously doubt anybody was shafted here, last of them the old lady.
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Peter 4:05PM (1/26/2007)
Some auction results for Lanchester 10s (I believe that's the one, if not hopefully some marque experts will chime in...)
http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/-1357269898/finance.ehtml?i=-1357269898;p=
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Jim 4:27PM (1/26/2007)
Geez, I read it as Sirloin at first.
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Graham 4:25PM (1/26/2007)
Um, there's no ripping off of anyone here. That classic is worth a few grand but that's about it. I think you've been distracted by the endless auction posts of 6 figure cars. Most classic cars are not terribly valuable except to their owners.
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Jim 4:29PM (1/26/2007)
Test of confirmationless password. And I'd trade my V-Dub for a sirloin. On the hoof.
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arcsine 4:42PM (1/26/2007)
Mmmm, Daihatsu Sirloin. Medium rare plz.
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AutoFan 6:38PM (1/26/2007)
Dumb broad.
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Geotpf 8:04PM (1/26/2007)
That's actually kind of cool for a dealer to do that. It appears that the fair market value of the Rover plus the Daimler is equal to or less than the value of the new Daihatsu, so it's quite likely this was a decent deal for the old lady (who needed a new car). This way, she needed to pay little to no actual cash-a new running car was more valuable to her than the project Daimler. Much simplier than attempting to sell the car. Of course, this is all assuming she got a fair price for it.
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chuck goolsbee 8:37PM (1/26/2007)
#6 is right. Most old cars are not worth that much money. My old '65 Jaguar is worth maybe half of a new Jaguar. Mind you I'd much rather have the old one thankyouverymuch!
The only difference in value between old and new is that old (if past their nadir of value) tend to maintain, and sometimes in the case of a true classic (of which this Daimler is NOT) they appreciate in value a little bit each year.
Of course every once in a while a bubble of "irrational enthusiasm" expands and idiots pay a million bucks for a muscle car, or a Beanie Baby. The stuff you see at Barratt-Jackson is an illusion folks... baseless iluusion.
--chuck
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