Winston Churchill's Election Staff Car for Auction on Ebay

Act fast, and you could be the owner of Winston Churchill's post-war staff car. As of this writing, there are just four hours before the auction ends, and it has already met reserve. 

The car for auction is a 1939 DB18Daimler DB 18United Kingdom, 1939 > present that wears a special drophead coupe body. Daimler originally planned to build 23 of them, but the onset of war reduced that to just eight. Four of those are known to have been destroyed in the bombing, and a fifth remaining car was so badly damaged in the bombing that it had to be sold for scrap. Of the three remaining cars, this is the only one known to exist. 

Power comes from a 2.5-liter inline six with 70hp that granted a top speed of 76mph.

All of the drophead coupes used a unique pre-selector transmission. The cars had a traditional four-speed selector mounted on the steering column. When drivers wanted to change gears, they would move the selector into the desired gear and then step quickly onto a peddle to force the car into the new gear. Automatic transmissions were not widely introduced until after World War 2, and the pre-selector in the Daimler was an early compromise. Drivers still had to shift for themselves but did not have to worry about balancing a clutch when shifting.

Churchill used the car when he was campaigning for British office between 1945 and 1949, but he never actually owned the car. While he used it, it was a loan to him for "Special Domestic Occasions."

The car had a €140,000 restoration done in Hamburg, Germany, around 2010. 

Historics at Brooklands tried to sell the car in 2010, but the reserve was not met. Now the car is on sale by a classic car dealer in Enger, Germany. As of this writing, the car is going for €470,050 after 114 bids.

Source: Ebay.de and Autoblog.de