Cass:
Good questions all. How Hurlock got together with Frua was probably a natural progression, given the trend of British manufacturers to ally themselves with Italian designers in the early '60's. Triumph teamed with Michelotti for the TR4, Spitfire, 2000 Sedan, and others, and with Vignale for the Italia. Gordon-Keeble (the few that were produced) was a Bertone design, Aston Martin had Touring do their DB4 and 5, and Zagato did their DB4 Zagato.
There was a lot of that going on, and maybe AC just went with the trend. Unfortunately for AC, the convoluted and more sophisticated manufacturing processes, (body stamped and assembled in Italy, then shipped back to Thames Ditton for the trimming and fitting), probably pushed the finished costs beyond what they were aiming for. All of a sudden they were in Ferrari territory, price wise.
Before the 428, the E-type, Corvette, and Cobra all sold at roughly the same $6000US price point. Had AC been able to sell the 428 in that price range, they probably would have moved thousands of them. Of course, AC was a tiny company compared to Jaguar or GM, so, even if they could streamline the assembly process, the economies of scale would have prevented it.
As to the value of 428's on the classic car market, it doesn't appear to me that they seem to suffer that much relative to their direct competition, aside from Ferrari. Maserati, Bizzarini, Iso, Jensen, Lamborghini, Aston Martin all seem to hover around the same price range. Only Ferrari is worth more, model for model.
Why? Because nothing else in the world is Ferrari, with the competition history, glittering clientele, reputation, etc. Plus Ferrari has that V12 engine.
The 428 may be a better car in many ways, and a lot rarer as well, but if you put a Ferrari emblem on it, it's value would triple overnight.
Only dedicated car nuts know who the Hurlock brothers were, or the Orsi Brothers, or David Brown, or even Ferruchio Lamborghini. Everyone knows who Enzo Ferrari was.
Re:the Daimler prototype. A brief online search didn't turn up any pictures of it. I do remember an article in either Classic and Sportscar or T&CC (my Britbooks, as I call them). If I can find the article, I'll scan it and try to post a picture on this forum. Of course, if Mark posts a pic of MA200's rear end, we can moot the point, entirely.
Got any more pictures, Mark?