This was Daimler's belated attempt to get hip and groovy with a be-finned glassfibre sportscar. The Dart looked like a creature plucked from the deep with its mouth-like chrome grille and staring headlamps, and things didn't improve as you eyes travelled rearwards. Launched in 1959 it was impressively fast thanks to a gem of a V8 engine but the chassis - copied from a Triumph TR3 - lacked a certain amount of rigidity, as proved by the doors which had an embarrassing habit of opening during gung-ho manoeuvres. The Dart did nothing to save Daimler from being swallowed whole by Jaguar in 1960, whose management stopped production shortly afterwards.
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