Daimler 'Green Goddess' could fetch $800,000

If you're big and rich, we have just the car for you. It's big and you'll need to be plenty rich to own it, giving that it has been appraised at about $800,000.

It's the 1949 Daimler DE-36 "Green Goddess" Hooper Drop-Head Coupe, which will be offered by Bonhams at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif., in August.

The Daimler has been completely restored. Once part of the Harrah's auto collection, it sports a two-tone burgundy with a white leather interior. The car won its class at the 1994 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Bonhams says only seven were ever constructed. With a 147-inch wheelbase, the car is more than 20 feet long and nearly 80 inches wide. It weighs nearly three tons. The car is powered by a large "straight eight" engine and has a semi-automatic fluid flywheel transmission.

Bonhams describes its history:

The original Daimler Green Goddess debuted as a show car at the 1948 Earl's Court British Motor Show in London and was the most expensive car on display. The result of a joint collaboration between Sir Bernard Docker, chairman at the time of Daimler's parent company, BSA, and designers at Daimler, the "Green Goddess" appellation came from the car's special jade green paintwork. Even though the six following replicas of this majestic Daimler were finished in varying colors, the "Green Goddess" designation is applied to any DE-36 bodied in the original show car's distinctive style.

The Dockers, particularly Sir Bernard's wife, Lady Norah, caused a sensation and sometimes scandal wherever they went. They were beloved by the press and paparazzi and known for indulgence in all forms, from fur coats and over-the-top champagne receptions to specially-customized Daimlers fitted with exotic materials like ivory and crocodile, lizard and zebra skins, even gold plating.

After the Earl's Court Show, the Green Goddess was handed over to Sir Bernard, a man who liked his toys large. He owned the biggest privately owned yacht in England and now his personal Daimler would ensure him similar dominance on the road.

Daimler was the first car to be manufactured in England. Introduced in 1897 the Daimler nameplate paid tribute to the German engine used in the very earliest examples but the British and German Daimler (now Daimler-Benz) concerns have always been separate entities. An on-going association with the British Royal Family began when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) selected a Daimler for his first automobile in 1898 and shortly thereafter appointed the company the official motorcar of the British monarchy.

With most of the few surviving Green Goddess Daimlers already securely ensconced in permanent museum collections, the opportunity to acquire one of these legendary convertible coupes is an extremely uncommon occurrence.-content.usatoday.