The Daimler Company of Coventry, Warwickshire, a nineteenth-century offshoot of the pioneering German automaker, is best known for luxury saloon cars and limousines. Indeed, until the 1950s, the firm was the primary supplier to the British Crown, a legacy of the first royal motor car, a Daimler purchased by King Edward VII while he was still Prince of Wales.

Thus, it was noteworthy when, in 1953, Daimler introduced a roadster version of the Conquest model, which was itself a medium-priced sedan based on the Lanchester Fourteen, another prestige marque that Daimler had acquired in 1931. With a 75-brake horsepower, 2,433-cubic centimeter inline six derived from a Lanchester four, it used a cruciform chassis, in consonance with Daimler practice, and torsion bar suspension. A roadster version was offered in 1954. Also in 1954, a high-compression aluminum head with twin carburetors and larger valves gave rise to 100 brake horsepower and the sobriquet “Century,” offered as a saloon, roadster, or drophead coupe.

An improved Mk II Century became available in 1955, with improved rear suspension, and a four-seat coupe joined the saloon. The latter lasted but one year before it and the roadster were replaced in 1956 by the New Drophead Coupe, which had a side-facing third seat behind the primary cockpit. Production continued into 1957.

One of the last New Drophead Coupes to be completed, chassis 90550 has long been identified with King Faisal II of Iraq, the young monarch who was assassinated in the coup of 1958. Although published in Daimler Conquest: Roadster and New Drophead Coupé, a recent book by Dennis Mynard and Harold Wilson devoted to the model, the authors emphasize that this provenance has not been confirmed. The factory record shows only that it was completed on February 20, 1957, and dispatched from the Works on May 16, consigned to a corporation in France, believed to be Daimler’s Paris distributor Etablissements Plisson. Clearly intended for export, it has a metric speedometer but, curiously, a Fahrenheit temperature gauge and right-hand drive. The final car in the New Drophead series was completed on April 16 (cars were not built in strict chassis number order).

Royal history aside, the car is known to have been in the United States since the late 1950s. In 2005, it was acquired by Daimler specialist Bob Boston in Atlanta and treated to a full restoration. It is stunning in yellow over black leather upholstery with matching carpet and fully functional convertible top and has excellent brightwork. Equipped with the renowned Daimler fluid flywheel and Wilson preselector gearbox, it also has the aluminum Century high-compression head, giving it 100 brake horsepower; it is reportedly capable of 100 mph. Other equipment includes a heater and dashboard clock. Wide whitewall tires give it an air of lightness uncommon in British sports cars.

Just 9,829 Daimler Conquests were built in all, only 56 of them New Drophead Coupes (including the prototypes). Fewer still made their way to the United States. The new owner of this car is unlikely to meet another on the road.