Ron Soave wrote: " these are the best kind of Daimler Dart pictures -
invisible ones."
OK, folks, here is a puzzler for which I have never found an acceptable
answer. As we all know (or should know), Donald Healey was attached to the
name "Sprite" for his new car. So, in order to use it, he had to buy
rights to the name from Riley that had produced a "Sprite" for a couple of
years before World War II.
Now, the name "Dart" first appeared on the public scene in 1959 when
Daimler introduced its first "Dart". However, within a year, Dodge brought
out its own "Dart"! Within months, Daimler was forced to drop its use of
the name "Dart" because Dodge had already owned the copyright to the name.
The intriguing question then is how Daimler could have committed such an
embarrassing blunder as to have anointed its hot new car with a name that
had already been copyrighted by another company? Were the Daimler people
simply lazy, incompetent, or too mired with the impending acquisition of
Daimler by Jaguar?
Incidentally, back in the "Golden Age", the compact Dodge Dart was caught
up in the American hope to create a sports car market. It was small
(albeit not as small as English cars), and it got better gas mileage
(albeit not as good as the English cars). It was therefore considered by
many Americans to be a "sports car". It even competed in many
SCCA-sanctioned races, rallys, and autocrosses!
Oh, and the London cops LOVED their Daimler Darts, complete with automatic
transmissions!!!!
Buster Evan
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