Restoration efforts have begun now that our 1909 Daimler TB22 Drophead is at the museum! A main goal of ours at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum is to have each of our cars as close as possible to how they originally were coming out of the factory. Depending on the age of the model, this can be a very tedious process.
Tons of research is involved when researching a car’s original specifications and how a particular example came out of the factory, especially before the time of vehicle identification numbers (VINs). With this in mind, we always strive for perfection during our restoration process and find it important to keep these cars historically accurate to how they originally were. Since our 1909 Daimler TB22 Drophead is the only one remaining and likely to be the first one produced with a Knight engine, it is essential that this car is historically accurate.
Our restoration team, consisting of Andy, Jeff ‘Smitty’, and Steve, have been hard at work on our 1909 Daimler. Since originally receiving the car, our team has found out quite a bit about this car and have made significant progress in restoring it to original conditions. First, the Daimler has been completely stripped down to its frame, sanded, and had any bad pieces of wood replaced. All metal parts on the car have been cleaned up and the rumble seat is currently being rebuilt to its original specifications. Additional bodywork is waiting to be completed as well as we wait for custom pieces of wood to come in.
Next on the list is to prime the car and get it ready for painting. When Olivier purchased the Daimler, the car was red with a black leather rumble seat. Our team has found that this is probably not the original color of the car and has since found an alternative that is a lot more accurate to its original specifications. What color is it, you ask? Visit the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum to see for yourself!