Aston Martin Lagonda Rapide

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 “We wished to create something which should, from the outset, invade the future audaciously and set such an advanced standard of mechanical perfection, beauty of form and all round performance, that no other car would compare with it.”

Three long years in development, the Lagonda Rapide was very much the personal project of David Brown, the tractor magnate who had bought both Aston Martin and Lagonda in the late 1940s. Finally unveiled in 1961, it was a truly bespoke motorcar that was hand-built to order, no two cars being exactly alike.

Effectively a four-door version of the outstanding DB4 but with a DB5 engine, it shared the same platform as the DB4 but extended by 16” and reconfigured by Harold Beach to accept De Dion suspension and allow for the addition of a spacious rear passenger compartment. As with the DB4/5, it was clothed in Superleggera magnesium aluminium alloy coachwork by Touring of Milan.

Powered by a 4.0-litre 236bhp version of the Tadek Marek-designed DB4 twin-cam six that would later power the DB5, the Rapide certainly lived up to its name with sub-10 second 0-60 acceleration and a 130mph top speed, even with the recommended Borg Warner three-speed automatic transmission (although eight cars were ordered in manual form). When fitted with optional triple carbs, its power output exceeded 260bhp.

Dual circuit, servo assisted disc brakes, allied to DB4 steering and suspension, ensured sportscar control and handling, while fittings to the ‘gentleman’s club’ interior included electric windows, picnic tables to the rear, remote fuel filler flap opening and a Motorola radio as standard.

Costing some £5,000 when new, the Rapide was 25% more expensive than a DB4 and three times the price of an E-Type so ownership would always be restricted to a privileged few. Just 55 examples were sold before production came to an end in 1964, of which only 47 are thought to survive and it is rare for any to come on the market.

As copies of the original factory build sheets confirm, chassis number 53 of 55 was built to order for Hawker Siddeley Ltd and was originally Aegean Blue with a Fawn Connolly hide interior. Delivered on 19th December 1963 with the registration number 1077 PP, it was retained by them for several years (possibly until 1974) and is believed to have been the personal car of newly appointed Hawker Siddeley Group Chairman and Managing Director, Sir Arnold Hall.

A brilliant aeronautical engineer, scientist and industrialist, Hall had designed the compressor for Frank Whittle’s first jet engine and the gyroscopic gun-sights of Allied fighter aircraft in World War Two, but became world famous for heading the team that finally solved the riddle of what had caused the catastrophic failure of the De Havilland Comet jet airliner in the mid-1950s.

A green log book confirms that by November 1974 ownership of 1077 PP had transferred to motor traders Sanders & Co of Hendon, NW4, before it was acquired by Nicholas Channing of Cranleigh, Surrey, in September the following year. Already the owner of another Rapide (chassis number 46), Channing was to keep the car until July 1984 when he sold it to Robert McNab of Kensington, W14, at which point an old MOT shows that it had just over 80,000 miles on the clock. McNab kept the car for 19 years but barely used it before finally selling it to the current owner in August 2003 with only another 300 miles added to the odometer.

As the current owner lives in central London and had nowhere suitable to store the car, he loaned it to motoring journalist Martin Buckley, who was to use it frequently over the next few years and often wrote about it within the pages of Classic & Sportscar magazine.

Early on in Buckley’s custodianship, the car was handed over to Graham Whitehouse Autos of Halesowen to render it in more roadworthy condition, invoices from 2004/05 showing that some £11,000 was spent on various improvements including an overhaul of the braking system with new discs and pads all round, much work to the suspension and the electrics, a thorough engine tune and, most significantly, the fitting of a new Jaguar XJ40 4-speed automatic gearbox in place of the original 3-speed unit, a conversion for which Whitehouse is internationally renowned and which has been carried out on at least three other Rapides.

The car then clocked up another 9,000 miles (taking the total to 90,650) before the decision was taken to treat it to the full restoration that the owner believed it now deserved. To this end it was entrusted to John Wills of Cotswold Classic Car Restorations, Cirencester, for a stem-to-stern refurbishment while retaining as much originality as possible.

A thick file of bills shows that some £60,000 has been spent on the car between late 2011 and mid 2014, including a bare metal repaint in Dubonnet Rosso, a full rebuild of the original engine, a sympathetic refurbishment of the original interior and a host of other improvements too detailed to list in full here, the whole process being meticulously recorded in photographs.

Now in magnificent condition throughout, the car is due to have a fresh MOT before the sale and will need a period of careful running in before the performance can be exploited to the full. Only reluctantly being sold to fund the purchase of a new property, this wonderful matching numbers motorcar, with few owners and a known history from new, is ready to embark on the next chapter of its fascinating life to date.

One of the rarest Aston Martins of all, and the personal favourite of David Brown, this aristocratic machine is sure to be of interest to any serious collector. At a fraction of the price of a comparable DB5, the Rapide seems curiously undervalued today, a situation which we feel sure will not continue for much longer. Another one to buy now while you can still afford to?
 

Please note that the car was nearing completion when these pictures were taken and any minor imperfections visible (like the paint chips on the rear right door, the missing glass on the fuel gauge etc.) will all be attended to in time for the sale.