Daimler DE was a series of chassis made by the Daimler Company from 1946 until 1953. DE chassis were the basis for Daimler's largest and most expensive cars at the time. There were two versions: the short-wheelbase DE 27 with the Daimler Twenty-seven straight-six engine, and the long-wheelbase DE 36, the last Daimler Straight-Eight, with the Thirty-six straight-eight engine. Daimler DEs, especially the DE 36 Straight-Eight, was sold to royalty and heads of state around the world, including British royalty under the royal warrant that Daimler had held since 1900.
The DE chassis was also the basis for the DC ambulance chassis on which coachbuilders Barker and Hooper built five hundred units of the Daimler DC 27 Ambulance. A variant of the DC chassis became the DH chassis, on which fifty DH 27 limousines were built for Daimler Hire.
Features of the DE chassis
The DE chassis was designed by Daimler chief engineer C. M. Simpson.[2] It was based on a separate steel frame, which was the conventional practice at the time. This allowed customers to order a rolling chassis and have a body custom-built to their own specifications by a coachbuilder. The side rails of the frame were reinforced by x-braced crossmembers.