Daimler Door Mirrors
In the 70s, it was quite common for cars to only have a door mirror on the drivers side. My Daimler had this arrangement. From what I understand it was possible to order the car with one on each side, that wasn’t something my original owner chose. This is something I was very keen to add to my car. Traffic in Sydney is heavy and drivers are aggressive and don’t look where they are going. I also park park in very narrow spaces right next to a wall or posts.
Most series 1 XJ’s had a regular mirror. However, the Vanden Plas has the type of mirror that can be adjusted from inside the car with a little joystick. These became more common on the Series 2 cars.
The original drivers mirror on my car worked ok, but had lost most of its chrome. Looking up the part numbers, SNG Barratt sold reproduction mirrors. They had a few options, that included curved glass or flat glass (I prefer flat) plus one with extra movement. I went with the one with extra movement, being tall I find sometimes mirrors don’t have the full adjustment I need.
I had no desire to drill into the door of my car, so I had that done when the car was in the workshop in May. The new mirrors looked great, but I had a small problem. I couldn’t see out of them. The drivers mirror gave me a great view of the car door. The passengers gave me a view of what was going on a long way from the car. These mirrors were quite expensive, so it was rather frustrating.
I tried various things to see if I could adjust them, but they were so far out it wasn’t possible. I contacted the supplier and was told that the one with extra movement was for USA Spec vehicles only. There is a small note to this effect one particular screen, but not the page where it lists the options for that part number. USA Spec only means left hand drive.
After a bit of back and forward they agreed I could send them back for the right ones even though it was past the return date. I ordered the correct mirrors and had them shipped. Since the door was already drilled, I fitted them myself.
To fit them properly, the door card had to be removed. The Vanden Plas has unique door cards that are nothing like what is shown in the workshop manual. I checked both the Series 1 manual and the Series 2 manual which has the same design of door card.
Luckily, I found a video of a guy in America with a series 3 Vanden Plas, and the basic procedure was the same.
Since it is a coachbuilt interior, it was done in a way to hide screw heads where possible. Thus, there is one screw underneath the armrest that is not visible. If you remove that, you can slide back the top of the armrest and lift it off.
With the top of the armrest removed, the three main screws that hold the armrest to the door are visible. With those removed, the door card should be held in with plastic studs, as the armrest is the main thing holding it on. In my case, the wooden backing was so disintegrated, the studs were not really doing anything. Since the material is in great shape, I’m going to have a trimmer put new backing boards on my door cards.
It was a pretty simple matter to swap out the mirrors once the door card was removed. Threading in the joystick attachment isn’t that big a deal. The new ones are much better. The adjustment isn’t perfect – I would like the drivers on in particular to be a bit higher. But I can now use them and the look pretty good on the car. I’ve taken it for a couple of test drives without the front door cards and it is much more relaxing to drive with proper mirrors.
The passengers door card was better than the drivers, but not a lot. So I will remove all four and have new boards put on. I will also replace the door speakers while the doors are apart. The drivers door is missing it’s moisture barrier entirely, so will see if I can improve on that.
I’ve sent the old ones back but right now they don’t seem to be able to find the return even though I have delivery confirmation that it arrived.
