Aston Martin Lagonda
Encyclopedia
- This article is about a particular model of motor vehicle. For the motor vehicle manufacturer, see Aston Martin Lagonda, Ltd.Aston MartinAston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
The Aston Martin Lagonda was a luxury four-door saloon built by Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
of Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...
, England, between 1974 and 1990. A total of 645 were produced. The name was derived from the Lagonda
Lagonda
Lagonda is a British luxury car marque, founded as a company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by a former opera singer from Ohio, but of Scottish ancestry, named Wilbur Gunn . He named the company after a river near the town of his birth, Springfield, Ohio, United States...
marque that Aston Martin had purchased in 1947. There were two very distinct versions, the short-lived 1974 saloon based on the Aston Martin V8
Aston Martin V8
The Aston Martin V8 is a two-door coupé automobile manufactured in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1989.Aston Martin's customers had been clamouring for an eight-cylinder car for years, so Aston Martin designed a larger 2-door saloon for V8 applications. The engine was not ready, however, so in...
, and the contrasting ultra-modern version in 1976.
History
Aston MartinAston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
was facing severe financial pressure in the mid-1970s and needed something to bring in some much-needed funds. Traditionally, Aston Martin had worked on 2+2
2 plus 2
The term 2+2 is a phrase used to describe the configuration of a car with seating for two passengers in the front, plus two smaller seats for occasional passengers in the rear.-Description:...
sports cars, but the Lagonda was a four-door saloon. As soon as it was introduced, it drew in hundreds of deposits from potential customers, helping Aston Martin's cash reserves.
The car was designed by William Towns
William Towns
William Towns was a British car designer.Towns began his training as a designer at Rootes in 1954, where he was mainly involved in the styling of seats and door handles. Later he was also involved with the styling of their Hillman Hunter. He moved to Rover in 1963 and worked there for David...
in an extreme interpretation of the classic 1970s "folded paper" style. It was as unconventional a design then as it is now. Car enthusiasts are fiercely divided on the car's aesthetic value. The Lagonda combined striking styling with opulent, club-like leather interior, and then-state-of-the-art instrumentation. Coupled to a Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
3-speed "TorqueFlite
TorqueFlite
TorqueFlite is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite...
" automatic transmission
Automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
its 4-cam carbureted
Carburetor
A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....
V8 provided poor, often single-digit miles-per-gallon, little improved by the change to fuel-injection in the Series 3.
Throughout the history of the marque, these hand-built Lagondas were amongst the most expensive saloons in the world. The only other "production" cars to approach its lofty price tag were the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit
Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit
For the cruise ship see MS Silver SpiritThe Silver Spirit is a British saloon automobile made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in England. It was launched in 1980.The Silver Spur was a long-wheelbase version of the Silver Spirit, produced at the same time....
/Silver Spur and Bentley Mulsanne
Bentley Mulsanne
The Bentley Mulsanne is a performance luxury car which was produced by Bentley Motors Limited from 1980 until 1992, though derivative models like the Continental T and Azure continued in production into the 2000s...
.
The Lagonda was the first production car in the world to use computer management and a digital instrument panel, although the computers in many of the original cars are failure-prone. The development cost for the electronics alone on the Lagonda came to four times as much as the budget for the whole car. The Series 3 used cathode ray tubes for the instrumentation
Instrumentation
Instrumentation is defined as the art and science of measurement and control of process variables within a production, or manufacturing area....
, which proved even less reliable than the original model's light-emitting diode
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
(LED) display.
It was named by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years.
Models
A number of "series" were produced during the lifetime of the Lagonda, the original Series 1, and the wedge shaped Series 2, 3 and 4. A total of 645 cars were produced in the 12 year production run of the wedged shaped version.Series 1 (1974–1975)
A long-wheelbased, four-door version of the Aston Martin V8Aston Martin V8
The Aston Martin V8 is a two-door coupé automobile manufactured in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1989.Aston Martin's customers had been clamouring for an eight-cylinder car for years, so Aston Martin designed a larger 2-door saloon for V8 applications. The engine was not ready, however, so in...
was announced at the 1974 London Motor Show. Designed by William Towns
William Towns
William Towns was a British car designer.Towns began his training as a designer at Rootes in 1954, where he was mainly involved in the styling of seats and door handles. Later he was also involved with the styling of their Hillman Hunter. He moved to Rover in 1963 and worked there for David...
and based on the DBS, it was the first car to wear the Lagonda name since the 1961 Rapide. The 5.3 L V8 engine supplied with a 5-speed manual or automatic transmission. Only seven were sold.
Specification
- Engine: 5.3 L 5340 cc DOHC V8V8 engineA V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
, producing 280 bhp and torque 301 lbft - Top speed: 149 mi/h and acceleration to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds
- Length: 4928 mm (194 in)
- Wheelbase: 2910 mm (114.6 in)
- Width: 1829 mm (72 in)
- Height: 1323 mm (52.1 in)
- Weight: 2000 kg (4,409.2 lb)
Series 2 (1976–1985)
The wedge shaped Lagonda V8 saloon was launched in 1976 at the London Motor Show and was a total contrast to the 1974 model, sharing little but the engine. In 1977 the retail price was £32,620. Deliveries of the Lagonda did not commence until 1979. Series 2 cars were originally fitted with digital LED dashboards and touch pad controls, but the innovative steering wheel controls and gas plasma display were abandoned in 1980. The Lagonda retailed at £49,933 in 1980, significantly more than a Ferrari 400Ferrari 400
The Ferrari 400 and Ferrari 412 are front-engined 2+2 coupé cars from Italian manufacturer Ferrari. They were available with 5-speed all synchromesh or an optional 3-speed automatic transmission unit from General Motors. Their design was derived from the almost identical looking 365 GT4 2+2...
or Maserati Kyalami
Maserati Kyalami
The Maserati Kyalami is an automobile which was produced by Maserati in Italy from 1976 to 1983.Named after the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa, it was a new model rushed into production after Alessandro de Tomaso took helm of the company...
but less than a Rolls-Royce Corniche
Rolls-Royce Corniche
The Corniche was Rolls-Royce's coupé and convertible version of the Silver Shadow produced between 1971 and 1996. The Corniche was named "Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward two door fixed head coupé " from 1966 until 1971 when the Corniche name was applied. The exterior design was by John Polwhele...
. The car commenced sales in the US from 1982 with minor amendments to the front bumper and airdam.
Specification
- Engine: 5.3 L 5340 cc DOHC V8V8 engineA V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
, producing 280 bhp @ 5000 rpm and torque 302 lbft @ 3000 rpm - Top speed: 143 mi/h and acceleration to 60 mph in 8.8 seconds
- Length: 5281 mm (207.9 in)
- Wheelbase: 2916 mm (114.8 in)
- Width: 1791 mm (70.5 in)
- Height: 1302 mm (51.3 in)
- Weight: 2023 kg (4,460 lb)
Series 3 (1986–1987)
The Series 3 was only produced for one year with 75 models manufactured, and featured fuel injected engines. Originally with cathode ray tubeCathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
instruments, later versions featured a vacuum fluorescent display
Vacuum fluorescent display
A vacuum fluorescent display is a display device used commonly on consumer-electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. Invented in Japan in 1967, the displays became common on calculators and other consumer electronics devices...
system similar to that used by some Vauxhalls and Opels, but externally were the same as the Series 2 model.
Series 4 (1987–1990)
The Series 4 was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1987 and received a significant exterior facelift by the car's original designer William Towns. The car's sharp edges rounded off and the pop-up headlights eliminated, with a new arrangement of triple headlights each side of the grille being the most obvious alteration, along with the removal of the side swage line (or character line) and the introduction of 16-inch wheels. With production of around one car per week, 105 Series 4 Lagondas were manufactured. The last car was produced during January 1990.81 remain registered in the United Kingdom , down only slightly from 94 in 1994, but 32 of the surviving examples are SORN.
Special variants
Non-standard variations of the Lagonda included:- TickfordTickfordTickford is an automobile engineering and testing company with a history of coachbuilding and tuning and is famous for such products as the 140 mph Tickford Turbo Capri.-Early years:...
Lagonda (1983) five Series 2 Lagondas were sold with a bodykit and upgraded interiors - TickfordTickfordTickford is an automobile engineering and testing company with a history of coachbuilding and tuning and is famous for such products as the 140 mph Tickford Turbo Capri.-Early years:...
limousineLimousineA limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
(1984), four long-wheelbase Lagondas were made, at a cost of £110,000. The main external difference being the rear door window glass split vertically in half - Rapide (a two-door, short-wheelbase version), one made, and shared the front triple light design of the Series 4
- Shooting-brakeShooting-brakeShooting-brake, shooting brake or shooting break is a term for a car body style that has evolved through several distinct meanings over its history....
(Estate), by Swiss company Roos Engineering, one made in 1998 using a 1987 model