Lagonda Motor Co., Staines, Middlesex, UK 1906 - 1913

Lagonda Ltd., Staines, Middlesex, UK 1913 - 1935

L.G. Motors (Staines) Ltd., Staines, Middlesex, UK 1935 - 1937

Lagonda Motors Ltd., Staines, Middlesex, UK 1937 - 1947

Lagonda Motors Ltd., Feltham, Middlesex, UK 1947 - 1957

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, UK 1958 - 1975

Aston Martin Lagonda (1975) Ltd., Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. UK 1975 - 1989

The company was founded by an American, Wilbur Gunn, who having failed to make a career as an opera singer turned to making motorcycles in 1904. The company was named after the town in which he was born, Lagonda being an anglicised version of the French La Okonda which in turn was derived from the Indian Ough Okonda (meaning buck's horn). Gunn progressed to making tri-cars in 1906, but by 1908 the seasonal nature of his business persuaded him to enter the car market. Tri-car production was only about 70 but he had by then a small factory capable of making all the components for a car including the engine. Gunn was assisted by Alf Cranmer who remained a partner in the Lagonda company until 1935 when he retired.

A prototype light car was built using the V-twin engine from the tri-car, but by the time production started there were two models catalogued, the 14/16hp and the 16/18hp, both with Coventry Simplex engines. A 16/18hp model was recorded as being one of the new makes entered for a race at Brooklands in 1909. For some unexplained reason Lagonda dealerships were initially established in Russia, particularly St. Petersburg and Moscow. In order to publicise their cars Wilbur Gunn and Bert Hammond entered the Russian Reliability Trial of 1910, which they won. In spite of this effort very few cars appear to have been sold and none are known to have survived.

By 1911 two new models were available for the British market, but this time they were fitted with engines of their own design and manufacture. There was a4-cylinder model with an engine capacity of 3,052cc and a 6-cylinder model of 4,578cc. Both engines used the same cylinder dimensions of 90mm x 120mm as the bore diameter was limited by the machines in their small factory. Although receiving some favourable press comment these cars did not sell very well either as there were better known makes already established in this mid-price bracket of £525 to £725.

By now Wilbur Gunn had concluded that a well made but lower cost car was what was likely to sell in Britain and in 1913 he launched the Lagonda 11.1hp light car. It was an interesting an in many ways innovative car with a number of advanced features. There was an early version of what is now known as a perimeter chassis which formed part of the body structure. The front suspension was by transverse leaf spring but employed an anti-roll bar and an early example of the fly-off handbrake was fitted. The engine was a 4-cylinder monoblock unit of 1,099cc with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves. The radiator was a curved "bull nose" affair with vertical cooling tubes. In order to expand the factory financial assistance was sought from the brewer Henry Tollemache.

The first Lagonda 11.1hp was a 2-seater, followed in 1914 by 4-seat and van versions. Unlike the majority of motor manufacturers Lagonda cars continued in production throughout the First World War, and 500 were built in 1916 and even in the 1919 - 1920 period there were sales of 270 cars.

They also made munitions for the war effort and the factory was expanded and rebuilt from the series of sheds that had grown up piecemeal around the original premises which were the greenhouse in Wilbur Gunn's back garden. Offices and the sales department occupied additional premises at 195 Hammersmith Road, West London.

Wilbur Gunn died at the age of 61, in 1920, having worked tirelessly for the war effort.

The Lagonda company was continued by three directors headed by Colin Parbury who was already a substantial shareholder. At first they made the pre-war 11.1hp model enlarged to 1,421cc soon after, and with a new flat honeycomb radiator. In 1921 two cars were entered in the JCC 200 Miles race at Brooklands driven by Oates and Hammond, both of whom finished, but Oates retired in the 1922 event. There was also a 12/24hp model introduced in 1924 with a conventional chassis and the same enlarged engine. Later models were fitted with front brakes and did very well in long distance reliability trials, including a run from London to Cape Town, South Africa. A feat repeated in 1954 by the intrepid Hamish Moffat. Although these sturdy little cars sold at the rate of about 700 a year it was clear to the directors that they could not compete for very long in this market. The competition from the high volume manufacturers Austin and Morris producing nearly eighty times as many cars a year was way outside their reach. A decision was made in 1925 to move back into the higher price range and Arthur Davidson was commissioned to carry out the design work.

He produced a new engine with twin high camshafts on either side of the cylinder block operating overhead valves in a hemispherical combustion chamber. It was a 4-cylinder monoblock casting with a capacity of 1,954cc and an output of 60bhp. The chassis was similar to the earlier 12/14hp model but was fitted with the very effective Rubury braking system. It was fitted with either open touring or saloon coachwork of attractive design, but the artillery wheels did nothing to enhance the appearance and were replaced by wires in 1927. The new car was catalogued as the 14/60 from 1926 alongside the 12/24 which was phased out at the end of the year. Prices were back to the pre-war levels and double those for the previous model so, inevitably, sales volume fell in proportion but the company remained profitable.

In 1928 the 14/60 became the Lagonda 2-litre and at the same time a tuned version with twin carburettors and increased compression engine was announced. This was called the Speed Model and with a light 4-seat touring body it would touch 75 mph. This attractive little sports car looked very much like a smaller version of the 3-litre Bentley and at about half the price it was popular. Later known as the "high chassis" model it was followed, in 1930, by the "low chassis" model with more sporting cycle type mudguards instead of the full length ones of the earlier model. The performance was also improved and 80 mph was now possible with 90 mph when fitted with a Cozette supercharger. Only about 170 supercharged cars were sold and most were later converted back to normal aspiration because the Cozette was a very unreliable device prone to rapid wear and expensive to repair. By 1932 it had larger brakes and a sloping radiator and was sold as the Continental. In all there were about 1,350 were produced up to 1933.

A 2-litre car was entered for the 24 hour race at Le Mans in 1928 driven by D'Erlanger and Hawkes into 11^th place and in 1931 a supercharged version was driven to 4^th place in the Monte Carlo Rally by Lord de Clifford. The following year a similar car won a Glacier Cup in the Alpine Rally driven by the St. Albans motor dealer W M Couper.

The plan to move up-market was not simply a matter of improving the 14/60 it also included a new larger model, the 3-litre 6-cylinder Lagonda with a pushrod overhead valve engine of 2,389cc initially. The chassis was a stretched version of the 14/60 and in this form it was called the 16/55 and launched in 1927. Factory built saloon and tourer bodies were catalogued, but a number of coachbuilders were now offering to build bodies on Lagonda chassis. However, even with the light factory built fabric saloon bodies built under the Weymann patents the cars were under-powered.

By 1929 the engine capacity had been raised to 2,931cc and in an attempt to overcome the difficult gearchange there was the choice of the Maybach vacuum operated pre-selector gearbox. This transmission offered the unusual combination of 8 forward speeds and 4 reverse and was known as the Doppelschnellgang (for, double fast speed). With this option the 3-litre was marketed as the Selector Special at an additional cost of £75, but only about 30 were sold.

The 2-litre car was re-engineered as the 16/80 for 1933 with a 1,991cc Crossley 6-cylinder engine replacing the twin camshaft 4-cylinder unit designed by Davidson. The Crossley engines were mated to an optional ENV pre-selector gearbox, which became a standard fitting in 1934. Body styles were similar to the previous models except that the fabric covering gave way to steel. By this time the Depression was having a serious effect on car sales and only about 260 of the new model were made and sales of all models had fallen to about 180 a year.

The policy of making cars for the higher price bracket continued in 1934 with the introduction of the M45, a 4.5-litre sports car. It used the 6-cylinder pushrod overhead valve Meadows engine of 4,467cc latterly supplied to Invicta and mated to a Meadows 4-speed crash gearbox with right hand shift. The car was in many ways old fashioned, but it's saving grace was a top speed of 95 mph in touring trim or 90 mph as a saloon. It was also reasonably priced for a car of this performance at between £825 and £950. A team of 3 cars specially prepared by Fox and Nicholl, the London Lagonda dealers, were entered for the Tourist Trophy in 1934 and finished 4^th, 5^th and 8^th driven by Lewis, Hindmarsh and Dodson. The latter two finishing 7^th and 8^th in 1935 in the same event.

In 1935 an improved engine giving 119bhp was added and called the M45R (R for Rapide). It was fitted in a shorter chassis which was achieved by moving the engine further forward. It could be ordered with either saloon or touring coachwork. A special lightweight version built for Fox and Nicholl was entered for, and won, the 24 hours race at Le Mans in June 1935 driven by Hindmarsh and Fontes at an average speed of 77.85 mph. Unfortunately the company were unable to capitalise on this splendid performance as it went into receivership within the month.

The year before Lagonda had introduced their first small car for many years. It featured a completely new 1,104cc double overhead camshaft engine designed by Tim Ashcroft. The camshafts were chain driven and operated 90 degree valves in a fully machined hemispherical combustion chamber. The bottom end of the engine was very sturdy with a fully counter-balanced crankshaft running on three 2inch diameter main bearings. There were two SU carburettors, the compression ratio was 7.5 to 1 and it was capable of up to 6,000 rpm.

The chassis was also new and was fitted with the new Girling brakes which could bring the car to a halt from 30 mph in 25ft. The ENV pre-selector gearbox was a standard fitting and with the factory built touring body the little Rapier could cruise at 75 mph all day. Other bodies were fixed and drophead coupes by Abbott, a sporting 2-seater by Eagle and various styles by Corinthian, Ranalah, Maltby and Silent Touring. A Lagonda Rapier, with it's engine reduced to 1,080cc and supercharged, was entered in the 24 hours race at Le Mans in 1934 by Lord de Clifford and Charles Brackenbury to finish in a creditable 16^th place. On the strength of this a sports racing version was marketed as the "De Clifford Special" by Dobson & de Clifford Ltd with a bored out engine and a conventional gearbox.

The company was bought from the receiver by a young lawyer named Alan Good who outbid Rolls-Royce and persuaded W O Bentley to head the design team at Lagonda. There was a large stock of unsold cars the bulk of which were Rapiers. These cars together with all the tooling and spares were bought by Ashcroft, Oates and Brocklebank who formed a new company called the Rapier Cars Ltd. At this date the company only offered one model, the M45.

It was not until 1936 that the M45 was revised to become the LG45 Lagonda and showed signs of the Bentley influence with longer springs and Luvax dampers. By October 1936 the Meadows engine had been worked on to improve it's performance with improved inlet porting in the redesigned cylinder head, a lightened flywheel and other modifications which allowed the rev. limit to be raised to 4,000. This was known as the Sanction III. The final development was the LG6 of 1938 with Sanction IV engine giving 140bhp. The chassis had independent front suspension with torsion bar springs and the brakes were now hydraulically operated.

By now the Lagonda was recognised as one of the foremost British luxury cars and attracted a number of coachbuilders in addition to the factory models styled by Frank Feeley. In competitions they were no mean performers with wins in the large engined classes of both the French Grand Prix and the Belgian 24 hour race. They were placed 4^th and 5^th in the Tourist Trophy driven by Fairfield and Howe and Brian Lewis took 3^rd place in the BRDC 500 miles race at Broolands in a stripped version.

In order to satisfy the demands of the seriously wealthy W O Bentley designed a brand new V-12 engine for an entirely new chassis to compete with the Rolls-Royce Phantom III. Although announced at the Motor Show in October 1936 the first cars were not available until late 1937.

The capacity of the overhead camshaft engine was 4,480cc and it produced 180bhp and the car would accelerate from 7 mph to 103 mph in top gear. In the intermediate gears it could be taken up to 5,000 rpm and so it had a lively performance. The factory bodies were almost identical to those fitted to the LG6 except that the twin horns were concealed. The chassis for the LG6 and V-12 were the same except they were available in two lengths for the LG6 and three for the V-12. Chassis prices started at £875 and rose to £1,250. The demand for such an expensive car was limited and so only 85 LG6s, and 185 V-12s were made by the time production ceased in 1940.

Speed records and racing were good publicity and in 1938 Earl Howe drove a V-12 Lagonda for 1 hour at Brooklands to cover 101.5 miles. The following year two lightweight 2-seaters were prepared for the 24 hour race at Le Mans with the engines tuned to give 220bhp and ran very reliably to give a 3^rd place for Brackenbury & Dodson and 4^th for Lord Waleran & Lord Selsdon.

Towards the end of the war W O Bentley realised that a smaller car would be more likely to sell than the expensive V-12 and so set about designing a twin overhead camshaft 6-cylinder engine of 2,580cc. The chassis, with all independent suspension, was a cruciform affair with inboard brakes at the rear. Although a Cotal electric gearbox was planned the production cars were fitted with a conventional 4-speed unit. Announced in 1945 there was a very long delay before any cars were built due to the post-war shortage of materials. By 1947 Alan Good had tired of the motor industry and was actively seeking a buyer for Lagonda and finally found a buyer in David Brown, a successful tractor manufacturer, who had recently taken over Aston Martin. So Lagonda was sold for £52,000 and became a subsidiary of David Brown & Sons Ltd. The Lagonda factory was sold and the company moved into the Aston Martin works at Feltham.

The Bentley designed engine was first used in the Aston Martin DB2 because the Lagonda did not go into production until 1949 as 4-door saloon and 2-door drophead. It remained unchanged until 1953 by which time 511 had been made. The engine capacity was increased to 3-litres and more attractive 2-door saloon and drophead bodies were fitted. The latter being favoured by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. A 4-door saloon was offered in 1955 but in 1958 the 3-litre Lagonda was discontinued when the factory moved to Newport Pagnell.

The Lagonda Rapide name was revived in 1961 for a large 4-door saloon fitted with the 3,995cc Aston Martin engine. This was built on a stretched Aston Martin DB4 chassis with independent front and de Dion rear suspension with dual servo disc brakes. It was fitted with an all aluminium Superleggera body styled by Touring of Milan. This was a car capable of 125 mph with a high level of refinement and finish and at £5,000 was about £1,000 less than the Bentley S3. It did not have the same appeal and only 55 were made when it was axed in 1964.

Once again the Lagonda marque was revived in 1974 for a long wheelbase 4-door version of the DB6, but only 7 were made.

In 1976 a futuristic new wedge shaped 4-door Lagonda was announced fitted with the 5,340cc V-8 Aston Martin engine. The car was styled by William Towns and the prototype was fitted with experimental electronic instruments with digital and graphic displays replaced by more conventional units on production models. This was the last Lagonda model to date and ceased production in 1989 when about 600 had been made including a long wheelbase version costing over £100,000

The Lagonda Club caters for owners and can be contacted by the Secretary:-

Colin Bugler at Wintney House, London Road, Hartley Wintney, Hampshire RG27 8RN

For pre-war Lagondas the Vintage Sports Car Club is active and the Secretary is:-

Stuart Pringle at The Old Post Office, West Street, Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 5EL

Bibliography:-

Lagonda, by Arnold Davey, published by David & Charles, 1978

Aston Martin and Lagonda V-engined cars, by David G Styles,

published by Crowood AutoClassics, 1994