Aston Martin Lagonda

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Outlandish and massive, the Lagonda’s ability to shock hasn’t diminished one iota over the decades. Granted, it is not anything like as exotic as a DB5 or DB6, but the Lagonda certainly makes a good, sportier alternative to a Bentley, Rolls or Jag XJ12 and is far more exclusive than just about anything else on the road yet (in Aston terms anyway) a bit of a bargain to buy, if not to own.

Driving

Being the size of a small lorry at more than 17 foot, and weighing two tonnes, even its meaty Aston V8 power plant can’t provide the neck snapping performance you’d expect of an Aston Martin but it is fair enough for such a ludicrously large limo at around nine seconds for the 0-60mph sprint.

Because of the car’s Yank-sized proportions, the Lagonda isn’t an Aston for fast cross country thrills, even so this super saloon feels surprisingly crisp and agile. That hefty kerbweight and a wheelbase that runs to nearly three metres ensures that the ride is equally impressive; bumps are literally smashed into submission by the Lagonda’s sheer mass!

Values

Buy with care has to be the watchword. Biggest problem is lack of proper care over the years reckons specialist David Marks, caused by owners who never had the money to run them properly and there’s still a lot of these cars around. Shunned by Aston lovers, it has kept prices low, although they are now seriously on the move for really good cars, such as one example which almost made £100K at the annual Works Auction a few years ago; five figures are now commonplace. You need at least £35,000 to secure a car that’s in pretty fair order, and be wary of a so-called bargain. S4s lost some of the purity of the earlier cars but replaced it with welcome reliability instead.

Timeline

1976 Débuted, looking like nothing ever built before – or since – by Aston, the Lagonda Series 2, as it’s become known, was striking saloon, broadly based upon a modified DBS platform

1979 Production finally got underway; the original digital instrumentation superseding the previous problematic plasma affair while the advanced power steering was ditched for a much simpler, but no less worthy, Rover SD1 system

1983 BBS alloy wheels, larger bumpers and opening rear windows instead of fixed glass.

Within a year, cathode-ray tube instrumentation was fitted along with multi-lingual voice warning system

1985 Series 3; 300bhp thanks to the adoption of fuel injection

1987 Series 4 features softer lines and ditches pop-up headlamps

Best models

S2/S3

Loved for their sheer quirkiness and style, the earlier the car the better choice as an investment if those instruments have been sorted out

S4

The best developed and rarest model and yet the least liked although any Lagonda has to be bought on condition rather than model or spec

‘DBS’ Lagonda

Best of all? Original mid 70’s Lagonda was a stretched four-door DBS; less than 10 were made and sheer rarity ensures values on par with a DB6

Top five faults

General

 
It’s a complex piece of kit so if you don’t know what you are looking for, then enlist a known specialist on the model such as David Marks www. davidmarkgarages. co.uk plus click on www. lagondanet.com.

Interior

 
Don’t dismiss a tired interior lightly. With no less than 11 hides used, refurbishment costs can be easily mount up to Rolls-Royce invoices

Body

 
The A, B and C-posts need fanatical inspection; on the rear door shut there’s a removable alloy panel that potentially hides a multitude of horrors. Take a look at the wheelarches. The latter are three-piece items, and if rotted, then the C-post is likely to have gone as well. Making all this good again, can easily cost £10,000 or more

Electrics

 
A weak point, dash repairs can cost £5000 to rectify but can be upgraded to modern standards; converting to conventional instruments will affect the car’s values

Suspension

Has unique front wishbones and camber setting. Self levelling damping obsolete and suspension has hard life with all that weight