1945 Lanchester LE27 All-Weather Tourer by Vanden Plas

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Broadway, U.K. | August 4, 2023

The Lanchester brothers were some of the earliest Britons to start working on cars. They took a big swing in 1928 on a new luxury car, but it would be their undoing, and the company was acquired by Daimler in 1931.

Daimler pretty quickly started selling badge-engineered Lanchesters that were just Daimlers with Lanchester badges on them. There was a Maharaja in India who was a big Lanchester fan, and at the end of World War II, he wanted to get his hands on some new cars after a few dry years.

In 1946, Daimler introduced their DE27, and for the Maharaja, four Lanchester versions were commissioned and dubbed LE27. These were powered by a 4.0-liter inline-six. Two of the four were bodied by Vanden Plas in all-weather tourer form, including this car here, which returned to the U.K. around the 1980s. It was restored in the 2000s/2010s in its original colors.

This one has an estimate of $50,000-$65,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold $57,861.