Daimler – original vintage late 1960s/ early 1970s Les Leston Accessories/ Manhattan Products keyring – collector’s item

An original Les Leston Accessories Daimler keyring which will have been produced in the late 1960s or early 1970s .

We have just this one example of this keyring to offer – when this keyring has been sold this listing will be cancelled.

An original Les Leston Accessories Daimler keyring made for Les Leston Accessories by the very well known Manhattan Products of Birmingham who later became Manhattan Windsor who produced the very finest automotive keyrings ever produced .

Manhattan Product’s early ‘ MP’ mark can be seen on the reverse of the badge – interestingly the badge itself is almost the same as the earlier CUD ( Castles Unit Development Co. ) Daimler badges ……………. quite possibly Manhattan Products had taken over the badge die when CUD ceased trading as CUD in the very late 1960s or early 1970s although Melsom Products of Birmingham were also using the same badge at the same time !

We have listed very few original Les Leston Accessories keyrings over the years  – these keyrings are rare – and this is the only Les Leston Daimler keyring which we have ever listed .

This keyring is in exceptionally good condition with the nickel plated vitreous enamel badge mounted onto a keyfob in genuine full grain black leather – superb quality .

The reverse of the leather keyfob is gold embossed with Les Leston’s double ‘L’ logo .

Les Leston was a larger than life character who served in WWII as a mid-upper gunner in an Avro Lancaster bomber – unlike many of his colleagues he survived and then went on to embark on a career as a racing driver.

Originally racing a Jaguar SS100 he then went onto drive for Lotus and Aston Martin .

After escaping from a serious crash during a race at Caen in 1958 he went on to concentrate on developing his motorcar accessories business – Les Leston Accessories – which became very well known for marketing high quality motoring accessories in the 1960s and 1970s.

The range of accessories included steering wheels, gear lever knobs, mirrors, etc and also gloves and flame proof clothing .

Many of the accessories were aimed at Jaguar cars and owners and Bud Marston has devoted a couple of pages of his ‘Vintage Jaguar Keyrings’ book ( featured in our Jaguar section here in this website shop ) to describing the life & times of Les Leston together with descriptions of the products .

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive .