Favoured by Royal Families the world over, the DE36 - only 205 of which were produced between 1946 and 1953 - was Britain's last production straight eight, providing the basis for various spectacular coachbuilt 'specials' commissioned by the flamboyant Lady Docker.

Documentation accompanying this example includes Daimler's order to Hooper & Co dated 17th January 1949, confirming the Spey touring limousine coachwork for chassis number '51737'.

Correspondence on file from its second owner, who acquired the car in 1960, records that it was originally owned by a Lancashire cotton mill and listed as a company car.

This document also records usage and service/maintenance history while up to the late 1980s when the car, which had been laid up since 1975/76, was sold in a good state of preservation but in need of extensive refurbishment.

Restored in the 1990s, 'LTJ 286' was in commensurately good condition when it was purchased at Bonhams' Olympia Sale in December 2001 (Lot 708).

Off the ...