Aston Martin has owned the
Lagonda brand since 1947 and over the years dropped and revived production. A noteworthy revival was the
Aston Martin Lagonda. Some 645 were built between 1974 and 1990.
There were four Aston Martin Lagonda series, the last three of which were on a new platform. Only eight Series 1 cars were made, one being the prototype. The stylist was William Towns. I wrote about the Series 2 design
here and elsewhere.
All images below are via Bonhams auctions.
Gallery
The front fender air vent is in the Aston Martin tradition, but the grille centerpiece harkens to the traditional Lagonda design theme. Quad headlights and that centerpiece help create a fussy appearance, aided by the sunken outer headlight assemblies that otherwise are an interesting idea.
Rear end detailing is also fussy, in part due to the cramped space at taillight level and below.
This brightwork-less rear is more pleasing, though the reflectors by the license plate create clutter.
The big V-8 motor apparently required that large hood bulge.
The blue car seen here and two images higher had a different motor and seemingly a longer hood and front end. Retained are the tall passenger greenhouse and its fastback profile.
A series 2 Aston Martin Lagona for comparison. Its has essentially the same wheelbase as the Series 1, but it's longer and lower: Too much so.
I didn't know about the Series I. Seems like it's a stretch of a DBS. Probably half the panels beaten out on a tree stump.
ReplyDeleteBut as you know the Series II pictured is a later version with all the extended aero bodywork along the bottom, similar to what was done to several other cars in that period. Like it or not, it corrupts the original design. The interior design of those things deserves a post of its own.
I saw more than one of them in traffic on the LA freeways back then.
The pictured Series 2 still has the slot down the side so it must be from somewhere in the middle of the run. More recently Aston made a stretch sedan version of their originally 2 passenger car, the same concept as the Lagondas above but a lot more of them. Aston also did a super expensive sedan a couple years ago that for some reason only went to ME oil sheiks, I think. Anyway, really beautiful and worth a post.
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