The mysterious owner of this 1924 Austro Daimler

Today we don't have a mysterious car but a mysterious owner. This 1924 Austro Daimler which was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The 3200cc 6 cylinder car has an overhead camshaft and was previously owned by Lord Montagu from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. The Austro Daimler was recently sold through PreWarCar.com.

A little while ago we received a message from one of our readers. “A couple of weeks ago you advertised a 1925 Austro Daimler which I recall from its discovery by John Grice in Leeds in about 1959. John, a well known VSCC member, bought the car from its longtime owner (a retired dentist or doctor). I assisted by steering the car while John towed it home. My interest in buying the car was discouraged by John, who probably quite rightly pointed out it was not the best car for daily use by a student, and by his price which was £300. He sold it to Buller Sinfield, a dealer, and it ended up in the Montague Motor Museum. The owner had used the car very little as he had some problems with the brakes. It was, as you can see from the photos I took at the time, an extremely original car. It had a huge box of tools and the clock was rescued from the owner's shelf. It would be good to pass these pictures on to the current owner of the car as a part of its history.”

We do not know who the new owner of the Austro Daimler is. But we hope he or she might like to add this lovely anecdote and these wonderful black and white photographs to the historic files of the car.

Words by the editor. Photographs sent in by Mike Clark.