When, in 1937 or thereabouts, the fine City of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island decided to acquire a car – one of dignity and poise - for mayoral use, the choice was fairly simple. After all, Christchurch was declared a city by Royal Decree in 1856 and 1937 was the year King George V1 was crowned. The King's favoured means of transport became Daimler so the choice of Daimler as a mayoral carriage was in keeping with choices made by the King himself.

The mayoral car was a 1937 Daimler EL24 Limousine. A car of high quality, excellent finish, smooth ride and of course a dash of British class distinction. This was not a car for the masses. It was expensive for the time. But, for the City of Christchurch it proved a worthwhile long-term investment. The city kept the car for 18 years, on-call for mayoral duties. It must have fitted in beautifully with Christchurch's numerous gothic buildings and looked at it's most English crossing bridges over the Avon River, which snakes through the city.

We found the rare vehicle at the Toy and Transport Museum at Wanaka, 424 kilometres south-west of Christchurch. The City of Christchurch sold the car in 1955 for 500 pounds to Reg Dear who used the vehicle to tow a trailer containing building materials from Christchurch to Akaroa to build a holiday home.

He kept the car for 17 years before selling it to Russell Cloake of Mossburn for $750. The car was dismantled and remained in storage for several years before being purchased by the museum for restoration and display. It is still a striking car in appearance featuring two-tone black and blue paintwork.

One thing we like about the Daimler is the boot with it's wheel-shaped spare wheel cover included in the boot lid. Reminds us of Chrysler product some many years later, in particular the 1960 Plymouth Valiant and the closely related R-Series Valiant sold in Australia in 1962. The Daimler was powered by an in-line six of 3317cc capacity run through a four speed pre-selector gearbox. Although it is called a limousine, it is closer to a sedan in length at 16ft 11/2 inches, although it was in reality a mini-limo, not the full monty. It tips the scales at a healthy 39 cwt, or almost two tonnes. While those with genuine power – and money – required full-size limousines like the Daimler V26 straight-eights, the EL24 catered to tighter budgets and less pomposity.

The seven bearing engine was a development of the earlier 2.7 litre units found in Daimler LQ20 and EL20 models. In 1936 it was increased in size to 3.3 litres, but still had to work hard to haul around the heavy EL24 body. Only 710 of this model were produced.

The car had a top speed of 75 miles per hour and returned a reasonable 15 miles to the gallon. The museum rates the car's horsepower at 31.74 at 3600 rpm.

Engine: 3317cc in-line six driving the rear wheels.

Head: OHV

Bore: 80.31mm Stroke: 109.21mm

Carburettor: SU HV 5S