Lagonda: The Opera Singer's Masterpiece
Most great British car companies were started by engineers, mechanics, or racing drivers. Lagonda, characteristically, was different. It was founded in a shed in Staines in 1906 by an American former opera singer named Wilbur Gunn. This slightly theatrical, transatlantic beginning perfectly set the stage for a company that was always a bit grander, a bit more dramatic, and ultimately, a bit more tragic than its rivals. From the very start it was putting on a show.
Gunn's early cars were high-quality, robust machines that quickly earned a reputation for durability. After a victory in the 1910 Moscow-St. Petersburg trial, the company became a surprise hit with the Russian aristocracy. But it was in the 1920s and 30s that Lagonda truly found its voice, producing a series of magnificent sporting cars that could stand proudly alongside the best in the world. Cars like the 2-Litre and the M45 were handsome, fast, and built to an exceptional standard.
The Le Mans Champions
The company's finest hour of this early period came in 1935. A Lagonda M45 Rapide, entered almost as an afterthought by a privateer team, took outright victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race. It was a stunning achievement that put Lagonda on the top step of the global motorsport podium. They were no longer just a quality car maker; they were champions. This victory attracted the attention of a new, ambitious owner who was determined to take the company to even greater heights.
But the most significant development was yet to come. After Rolls-Royce had bought and effectively neutered his own company, a deeply unhappy W.O. Bentley was looking for a new challenge. He found it at Lagonda. The arrival of the greatest British automotive engineer of his generation heralded a new golden age. W.O. poured all his genius into creating what was arguably his masterpiece: a magnificent, hugely powerful, and buttery-smooth V12 engine. For a brief, glorious period just before the Second World War, a W.O. Bentley-designed V12 Lagonda was the finest luxury performance car in the world.
The End of the First Act
The war, as it did for so many, brought an end to the glory. By 1947, Lagonda was bankrupt. And this is where its story becomes inextricably linked with another great British name. A tractor magnate named David Brown, who had just bought the struggling Aston Martin company, also purchased the remains of Lagonda. He didn't really want the company; he wanted two priceless assets: the Lagonda brand name and, more importantly, W.O. Bentley's superb six-cylinder engine, which had been developed in parallel with the V12. This engine would go on to power the legendary "DB" series of Aston Martins for the next decade.
The great, independent Lagonda marque was no more. Its engineering genius had been transfused to save its new stablemate. For years, the name was kept alive, but only as a suffix. It was occasionally resurrected and bolted onto the boot lid of special, four-door versions of Aston Martin cars. The name still signified luxury, but it was now a supporting actor in another company's play.
One Last, Mad Encore
Then, in the mid-1970s, Aston Martin decided to do something completely and certifiably mad. They decided to properly relaunch the Lagonda brand on a new, standalone car. The result was the 1976 Lagonda saloon, a car so futuristic, so outrageously ambitious, and so technologically complex that it looked like it had landed from another planet. It was a gigantic, four-door saloon styled entirely with a ruler, a "folded paper" wedge of such dramatic audacity that it shocked the world.
The interior was even more insane. It featured the world's first all-digital, LED dashboard and a bizarre collection of touch-sensitive buttons. It was the stuff of science fiction. It was also a catastrophic, glorious failure. The cutting-edge electronics almost never worked, driving owners to despair. It was a magnificent, beautiful, and deeply flawed masterpiece. After a short production run, the great name once again fell silent.
The Name on the Door
The story of the Lagonda marque is a perfect tragedy in two acts. It's the tale of a heroic, pre-war champion that built some of the finest cars of its era, a company graced by the genius of W.O. Bentley himself. And it's the tale of a ghostly second act, a brief, shocking, and brilliant flash of futuristic madness in the 1970s. It is a name that stands for both the very best of old-world engineering and the most ambitious, if not entirely successful, dreams of the future.