The Daimler and the director’s daughter?

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What do you do when a wheel of your big convertible decides to go its own way on a country road? You ask your daughter to smile and take a photo of her next to the stranded vehicle, of course. Well, with two spares at hand there’s nothing to worry about, is there?

But as so often, the information accompanying this beautiful photograph is limited. What we learn from the source is that the photo was probably taken near the town of Råda in the province of Värmland in Sweden and that “The car is possibly an English Daimler and may be related to the parliamentarian and director Edvard Lithander (1870 - 1944). Lithander owned several grand cars in the 1920s and onwards, such as a Rolls Royce. His wife, Mabel McClure-William, was from Jersey.”

We definitely think this is a Daimler and wonder if any of our Swedish readers know more about it? There can’t be many of them in Scandinavia. We did find that Lithander, a member of the Swedish parliament who also held a whole range of management positions and was a board member of numerous associations, did indeed owned a 1914 Rolls-Royce with limousine bodywork by Rothschild & Fils of Paris. He bought that particular car in 1923, when it was said to be the first Rolls-Royce in Sweden. One of Lithander’s daughters, Gertrud, is said to have learned to drive in the Rolls with Lithander’s chauffeur Mr Gustafsson as her teacher. Could it be her standing here next to the Daimler?

Words Jeroen Booij. Picture Bohusläns Museum.

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