Tag Archives: lagonda

Lagonda V12

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1939 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 15, 2023

Photo – H&H Classics

Lagonda’s V12 engine was designed by W.O. Bentley and debuted just in time for WWII. Production of the V12 model commenced in 1938, and just two years later only 189 had been produced when the war broke out.

The 4.5-liter V12 produced 180 horsepower, which was enough to propel the cars over 100 mph, regardless of what body style they wore. This short-wheelbase car features factory drophead coupe coachwork and received a replacement V12 under warranty when new.

It later spent over 40 years in a barn in England before being pulled back out into the light in 2006 and subsequently restored. This is one of the great pre-war classics, and perhaps England’s best. This one has an estimate of $300,000-$360,000. Click here for more info.

Lagonda 3-Litre

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1957 Lagonda 3-Litre Mk II Saloon

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | November 30, 2022

Photo – H&H Classics

The 3-Litre was Lagonda’s follow-up model to the 1948 through 1953 2.6-Litre, which itself was Lagonda’s first post-war car. The 2.6-Litre was also the first Lagonda produced by the company after its takeover by Aston Martin‘s David Brown.

The 3-Litre was produced between 1953 and 1958. It was available as a four-door saloon, a two-door coupe, and a two-door drophead coupe. Power is actually from a 2.9-liter inline-six (curse you Lagonda marketing department!) that made 140 horsepower. The sedan could hit about 110 mph.

The Mk II debuted in 1955 and featured a redesigned dashboard and a floor-shifted transmission. Just 266 3-Litres were produced. Lagonda took a few years off after this model before coming out with the Rapide in 1961. The pre-sale estimate here is $33,000-$41,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Withdrawn.

An Early Lagonda

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1904 Lagonda 10HP Tricar

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 4, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

There’s nothing scarier on Halloween than being the front passenger in a tricar. You are the bumper and crumple zone.

Wilbur Gunn was actually born in the United States. He was an opera singer that became a British citizen in the 1890s and got his start in the automotive realm by building motorcycles in his backyard around 1904. He named them Lagonda, after a place in Ohio. Naturally.

The first four-wheeled cars arrived in 1907, meaning this tricar predates Lagonda “cars.” It’s thought to be the oldest known example of the marque and is powered by a 1.2-liter V-twin that was rated at 10 or 12 horsepower, depending on which rating system you subscribed to.

A Lagonda tricar was victorious in its class in a London-Edinburgh trial in 1906. This car is considered a prototype of its kind and is the only Lagonda eligible for the London-to-Brighton run. It was restored in 1936 and again in the 1990s (and in the ’90s it was Lagonda that did the work). It’s been under current ownership since 2004. The estimate is $85,000-$90,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Lagonda 12/24

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1925 Lagonda 12/24 Tourer

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 16, 2022

Photo – H&H Classics

Lagonda, which sounds somewhat exotic and high-end, is actually named after a place in… Ohio. The company, which is British, was founded by an Ohioan named Wilbur Gunn. It was taken over by Aston Martin in 1947 and used as a model name on a few Astons over the years.

But this car pre-dates Aston and was offered between 1923 and 1926 alongside the “12”, which carried a slightly lower taxable horsepower rating. Between the two models, approximately 6,000 examples were made, 2,250 of which were the 12/24. Only five are known to exist.

The car features semi-monocoque construction and is powered by a 1.5-liter inline-four that could push the car to 50 mph. Many later Lagondas have swoopy, sporty styling. But this early, more staid example is proof that the company had more humble roots. It has an estimate of $20,000-$22,500. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $21,666.

Lagonda 2-Litre

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1929 Lagonda 2-Litre Low-Chassis Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | Chichester, U.K. | September 18, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

Lagonda was acquired by Aston Martin in 1947. But prior to that, the company produced some fairly sporty cars, starting with 1925’s 2-Litre model. A Lagonda won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1935.

The 2-Litre was updated in 1927 and could later be had with a supercharger. Yes, this green tourer looks pretty much just like a period Bentley, but it is in fact a Lagonda. Shockingly, Bonhams has four nearly identical cars all up for auction the same day. It’s powered by a 2.0-liter inline-four that was tweaked in period for racing use.

This particular car is one of the four prepped by Fox & Nicholl for the 1929 endurance racing season. The competition history for this chassis includes:

  • 1929 Brooklands Double 12 – 18th (with Frank King and Howard Wolfe)
  • 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans – 18th, DNF (with Tim Rose-Richard and Brian Lewis)

It’s been part of the same collection since 1960, and it has the highest pre-sale estimate of the four Fox & Nicholl-prepped Lagondas in this sale at $410,000-$550,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Lagonda 2.6 Drophead

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1952 Lagonda 2.6-Litre Drophead Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | March 20, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

Lagonda has an interesting history of being a marque, then a model, then a marque again. The 2.6-Litre was the first model produced by Lagonda after the company was acquired by David Brown, who paired it with his other baby, Aston Martin.

The 2.6 was produced between 1948 and 1953, and just 510 examples were built, split between four-door sedans and two-door drophead coupes. The engine is a 2.6-liter inline-six that, in Mk II form as seen here, made 125 horsepower.

The current owner of this car bought it five years ago, and it was restored prior to that. It carries a pre-sale estimate of $83,000-$110,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $105,632.

Lagonda V12

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1939 Lagonda V12 Sports Saloon

Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | July 25, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

Someone shopping for a large British luxury car in the late 1930s had some solid choices. There was of course Bentley and Rolls-Royce, but you could also choose from the likes of SS, Alvis, Brough Superior, Railton, and Lagonda.

In 1936, Lagonda introduced the V12, which featured a 4.5-liter V12 designed by W.O. Bentley and rated at 180 horsepower. It was the company’s first car to feature more than six cylinders. Production started in 1938 and ended at the outbreak of war in 1940.

Just 189 examples were produced. Lagondas have always been very exclusive cars, but the V12 is exclusive even by Lagonda standards. This one is largely original and is one of the final examples built. Its stately four-door sedan body will hold back the value a bit when compared to sportier body styles and open cars, but it should still command between $75,000-$100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, Bonhams, London, October 2020, $80,004.

Spring 2020 Auction Highlights

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Well, the world is a mess, and most auction houses have postponed or canceled more or less every scheduled auction that was scheduled to be held anytime in late March through… well I don’t even know yet. It’s mid-April as I begin typing this post, and the calendar has more or less cleared out through May and into June (Edit: it took until June to wrap this up).

But! There are still some results to cover, beginning with H&H Auctioneers’ late March sale, which was pretty much the last one to get in before everything went haywire. The top seller was this 1938 Lagonda LG6 Drophead Coupe that brought roughly $237,510 (this was the day that the markets tanked, so the exchange rate was at its lowest in a long time).

Photo – H&H Auctioneers

The Jensen CV8 we featured brought $46,980, and complete results are available here.

RM Sotheby’s shifted their entire Palm Beach sale to online-only, and the top sale ended up being this 1996 Porsche 911 GT2 for $891,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Intermeccanica Murena GT was withdrawn from the sale. More results can be found here.

H&H also had a sale in late April, even after things were shutting down. The top sale at this abbreviated sale was this 1967 Ford Mustang GT, and it sold for approximately $75,277.

Photo – H&H Auctioneers

The Austin sedan we featured sold for $10,949. More results are available here.

Osenat was one of the first houses to hold a mid-COVID (“mid” because it ain’t over yet) sale. The Panhard we featured didn’t sell, but the overall top seller was this 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S that sold for $950,518. Click here for additional results.

Photo – Osenat

Bonhams held an online sale at the end of May that included a Frazer Nash, an Allard L-Type, and a Lamborghini Urraco that we featured. Only the Lambo sold (for $75,178), and the top sale was for this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 that brought $184,400. Complete results are available here.

Photo – Bonhams

Lagonda Taraf

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2016 Lagonda Taraf

Offered by Bonhams | Cheserex, Switzerland | September 29, 2019

Photo – Bonhams

When Aston Martin announced that they would be building a four-door car in the mid-2000s, Lagonda would’ve been a solid choice for a name. After all, they’ve built multiple four-door Lagonda models in the past 50 years, including some as late as the early 1990s. They went with “Rapide” instead.

Lagonda, as a marque, was founded in 1906 and built luxury cars through their acquisition by Aston Martin in 1947. The marque was phased out after 1965 and subsequent Lagondas were models in the Aston line. Until 2015, that is.

Aston resurrected the Lagonda marque for this, the Taraf (which means “side” in Turkish). It’s based on the same platform as the DB9 and Rapide, and it is powered by a 533 horsepower, 6.0-liter V12 paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission that could propel the car to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds on the way to a 195-mph top end.

The target market for the car was the Middle East, which was pretty much the only market. This Kuwait-registered example is one of only 120 built between 2015 and 2016. The goal was to make a Rolls-Royce seem commonplace, and cheap, too, apparently: the Taraf retailed for a cool $1 million. This one has covered only 50 miles and should bring between $850,000-$1,100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

August 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. I

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Before we get to August, we have another one from July: Silverstone Auctions’ Silverstone Classic Sale. The top sale was this 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster for $1,127,595.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The TVR Sagaris failed to sell, but the Rinspeed R69 sold for $73,699 and a previously-featured Lola F1 street car brought $69,277. More results can be found here.

First up in August is Mecum’s Harrisburg sale and, big shocker, a 2006 Ford GT was the top sale. It went for $302,500. A previously-featured Continental Mk II failed to find a new home at this sale as well. Full results can be found here.

Photo – Mecum

And now we’re into Monterey… starting with Bonhams. The Mayfair 540K brought $3,277,500 but was eclipsed for top sale honors by this 1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competitzione that went for $3,525,000.

Photo – Bonhams

The Talbot-Lago Coupe de Ville brought $962,000 and the Delahaye failed to sell. Other no-sales included the Simplex Crane and the 1913 Mercedes Phaeton. The 1934 BMW Roadster sold for $134,400 and the wonderful Fina Sport sold for $775,000. Click here for more results.

We’ll cover Gooding & Company next. The amazing SSJ Duesenberg sold for $22,000,000 – the most expensive American car ever to trade hands at auction and easily the top seller at this sale. Other big-ticket items included the Porsche RS Spyder at $4,510,000 and the 1966 911 Spyder for $1,430,000. Most Interesting goes to this 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona NART Spider by Michelotti that sold for $572,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

A previously-featured Maserati sold again here for $797,500. The Gulf-Mirage GR8 and the Derham Duesenberg failed to sell. Click here for complete results.

And finally, for now, RM Sotheby’s in Monterey. The Le Mans podium-finishing GT40 brought an impressive $9,795,000 – but that was far, far from the biggest sale of the day. Even the $21,455,000 Aston Martin DP215 didn’t come close. No, the honor goes to the much-hyped Ferrari 250 GTO that managed $48,405,000. That cleared the last 250 GTO to change hands by a cool $10 million.

We’ll give Most Interesting to this two-tone 1939 Lagonda V-12 Drophead Coupe that brought $307,500.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Plymouth Asimmetrica sold for $335,000, but the Fiat-Patriarca, Isotta-Fraschini Boattail, Ferrari 250 MM, and Ferrari 375 America all failed to sell. Click here for the rest of the results.