Lagonda V12 Short Chassis Saloon

"We are going to build the best car in the world and we have just two years in which to do it. That is your part of the job – mine is to find the money." With these words, Lagonda boss Alan P Good set in motion an epic feat of engineering that was to culminate in one of the most spectacular machines ever to grace a British highway.

The year was 1935 and the men he was addressing comprised some of the most gifted automotive engineers of their era, headed by none other than WO Bentley, newly appointed Technical Director at Lagonda. WO had just been freed from a five-year contract at Rolls-Royce, part of the settlement exacted when Bentley Motors was taken over by Rolls, and designed to keep their former rival out of competition with his new bosses.

Other key members included Stuart Tresilian, the brilliant ex-Rolls-Royce engineer who had played a key role in developing the "R" racing engine for the Schneider Trophy seaplanes; Charles Sewell, 'gearbox genius' at Bentley and Napier; and Frank Feeley, Lagonda's own stylist who had a gift for capturing the spirit of the age and went on to pen some of the most striking automotive silhouettes of all time at Aston Martin.

What all these men had in common was a desire to push the boundaries of road car design, to combine the engineering excellence of Rolls-Royce with the flamboyance of continental rivals like Hispano-Suiza, Bugatti and Delage. Freed from the conservatism that traditionally ruled the top end of the British motor industry and spurred on by the 'can do' attitude of Good, they aimed to create a luxury machine that would marry limousine refinement with sportscar pace and film star looks.

At the heart of the car was to be an all-new 4.5-litre V12, 'WO Bentley's masterpiece', that would cruise at over 100mph, all day long, in conditions of near total silence. Featuring overhead camshafts (one per bank), twin SU carburettors, twin oil pumps, twin fuel pumps, a combined duplex-chain / gear-driven timing system and Lanchester-type crankshaft vibration damper, it developed 180bhp at 5,500rpm. Drive was through a four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on the top three ratios.

Available in three wheelbase lengths (10'4", 11'0" and 11'6"), the car was supported on a substantial cruciform-braced box-section chassis that boasted sophisticated unequal-length wishbone independent front suspension actuated via unusually long torsion bars and special shackle pins on the semi-elliptic rear leaf-springs that together dramatically reduced the twisting loads throughout the frame. Armstrong hydraulic dampers were fitted all round, along with a Marles steering box, Salisbury hypoid rear axle and twin master cylinder Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes. A sophisticated automatic chassis lubrication system was included, as was a built-in jacking system.

Under the watchful eye of works manager Dick Watney, quality control was nothing short of obsessive, as Lagonda historian Arnold Davey relates: "Each V12 engine was run light (unloaded) for 10 hours at 800-1000rpm, followed by a run-up to 4,500rpm to test power. The engine was then stripped and the valves ground in. It was then reassembled and run on the bench for 5 hours and then tested for maximum power. If pronounced fit, it was then released to the assembly shop and eventually went out on road test for at least 300 miles.

"The same standards were applied to the chassis, and axles and gearboxes were swapped wholesale to get quiet ones. The record for one single chassis was 23 axles and 17 gearboxes. Dick Watney made the works construct a detachable truck-like cabin to go on the rolling chassis, which would magnify any noises and make them easier to identify."

Although the V12 caused a sensation when it was shown in prototype form at the 1936 Motor Show, the first cars did not go on sale until February 1938. Press reaction was ecstatic, as Arnold Davey relates: "The Autocar took [a V12 saloon] for a tour of Devon followed by a full road test in March 1938. This was the first of what eventually became almost embarrassingly frequent road tests of V12s by the magazine, whose staff had clearly fallen in love with the cars. The series even extended into wartime, with 1940 tests conducted on Pool petrol and in the blackout.

"Concerning the character, behaviour and performance, the road test was pure eulogy... The V12 was docile and quiet, it handled well and it was extremely comfortable and well equipped. The acceleration (0-60mph in 12.9 seconds) was better than anything in its class by miles, and the braking inspired perfect confidence. The best timed speed was 103.45mph and Brooklands was lapped at 97.95mph... The engine started at once, as V12s always should... and considering the weight (39.5cwt empty) the fuel consumption of 12-15mpg was reasonable... No doubt about it, WO Bentley's new creation was stealing customers from Rolls-Royce. The car offered a dashing sportiness that the Phantom III did not, with more refinement than the 4.25-litre Bentley and more performance than either."

A 1938 road test of a V12 Saloon by The Motor remarked that "so successfully does it combine tremendous performance with smoothness and quietness and excellent road holding... its cruising speed is practically anything that road conditions allow." As if to prove the point they went on to record a top speed of 109mph on a downhill stretch of the A11 near Newmarket, prompting an outraged MP called Sorensen to raise the matter in the House, demanding that the Minister of Transport ban such obscenely powerful machines forthwith! Luckily for us, Mr Burgin, the Minister, replied that Section 10 of the Road Traffic Act forbade him from doing any such thing.

As a bit of pre-Motor Show publicity, in October 1938 Lord Howe took a standard V12 Short Chassis saloon to Brooklands with the aim of covering 100 miles in one hour. After 21 laps he was averaging 105.52mph when Brooklands' notorious bumps punctured a tyre. The car's own jacking system was used to change it, the stop costing 2mins 42sec. The attempt resumed and Lord Howe pressed on to finish the hour with 101.5 miles under his wheels, opening it up on the last lap to record an average of 108.27mph. Cool as a cucumber, his Lordship had smoked a cigar and listened to the radio throughout.

As another publicity stunt, in 1939 Good instructed WO Bentley to mount an assault on the Le Mans 24-Hour race, by then just six months away. Every effort was made to reduce the weight of the two Short Chassis cars selected, which were fitted with open aluminium bodies and specially tuned engines, theoretically capable of 140mph. So tight was the schedule that neither car received any proper testing and one had to be run-in on the drive to catch the ferry at Newhaven. WO gave strict orders to the four drivers (Lords Selsdon and Waleran plus Charles Brackenbury and Arthur Dobson) that the aim was not to win but to finish, and they must average no more than 84mph – which was 1.7mph faster than the previous year's winning Delahaye. A proper attempt on the race would be made the following year.

Following their orders to the letter, the two cars eventually crossed the line in third and fourth place overall, averaging 83.61mph and 83.35mph respectively, behind a Delage and the winning supercharged Bugatti. The race was faster than predicted and there was a lot of speculation that, had WO set a higher target, the Lagondas could have won outright. Both cars had certainly held up well, for they were driven back to England.   

In all just 190 Lagonda V12s were built before World War Two halted production in 1940 (and put paid to another attempt at Le Mans), 110 of which were short chassis models, numbered from 14010 to 14120. Fewer than 100 V12s are thought to have survived to the present day, such rarity only enhancing their mythic status. Utterly magnificent and hugely expensive (prices started at £1,150 for which you could buy a row of terraced houses), the customer list for the V12 was suitably exclusive and read like a 'Who's Who' of Thirties high society.  

Typical of these customers was The Hon Dorothy Paget, the millionairess who first owned the car you see here today, chassis number 14053. The daughter of Lord Queenborough and the fabulously wealthy American heiress, Pauline Payne Whitney, Dorothy Paget dominated the British horse racing scene in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, owning dozens of championship winning thoroughbreds and thinking nothing of sticking £10,000 or more (£320,000 in today's money) on her horses whenever they ran.

Her other passion was motor racing and she famously bankrolled the team of supercharged Bentleys run by Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin and the other 'Bentley Boys' in the late 1920s. Naturally such a fast lady would need an equally racy car and she took delivery of her Lagonda V12 Short Chassis Saloon from University Motors in 1938 and was to keep it right up until 1950 – during which time it covered approximately 10,000 miles according to information held by the Lagonda historian, Arnold Davey. The car then had two further London owners until it was sold to a Rolls-Royce dealer in Dallas, Texas, in 1965. After his death the car had two further US owners, the last of whom was John Larch of Lafayette, Indiana.

In 1990 the car was bought from Larch by Lagonda aficionado Peter Blenk of London, who reimported it back to the UK and recovered its original University Motors-issued number plate, MG 6280. The car now had about 63,000 miles on the clock and Blenk embarked on a thorough rolling restoration which was to go on for about 12 years and consume over £50,000 – as bills in the substantial history file attest.

Significant works included: a full engine rebuild with new pistons at Vintage Coachworks of Hartley Wintney in 1992; a further engine strip and rebuild in 1997 to rebore one cylinder; front suspension rebuild in 1993; new wiring loom in 1994; rebuilt Salisbury hypoid rear axle and steering box in 2001; rear suspension, brake system and propshaft overhaul at BishopGray of Camberley also in 2001; rebuilt carbs, shock absorbers and hydraulic jacking system in 2002; and a new distributor and fuel pumps in 2003. Correct new Michelin 600/650 x 18" tyres have also recently been fitted all round.  

Always in regular use between these works, the car has covered some 10,000 miles since returning to the UK in 1990, including a trouble-free run to Le Mans, and is now showing just over 73,500 miles on the clock. It is still said to run and drive well with excellent oil pressure (75lbs when hot) and, on the occasion of our visit to take these photographs, it certainly fired up quickly and ran beautifully smoothly on our short test drive with notably responsive brakes.

The current vendor has recently had the seats reupholstered in the original grey leather, but the car is otherwise thought to be highly original with all original aluminium bodywork and possibly much of the original paint, which is now rather cracked and worn all over. The 18" wire wheels are also thought to be original and retain their Ace wheel discs.

Currently MOTd until May 2009, the car comes with all its old MOTs back to 1991 to show regular use, a bulging file full of bills, copies of the original factory build sheets and records of early maintenance works carried out at the Lagonda factory in Staines. There is also a small quantity of spares including a spare crankshaft. The car is also prominently featured in Arnold Davey's definitive book, "Lagonda 4.5 Litre and V12 in Detail", published in 2004 – a copy of which is included in the sale.

These Lagonda V12 Short Chassis saloons are now exceedingly rare and only about 13 examples are currently thought to exist, many others having been lost or rebodied into Le Mans replicas. Much more wieldy and handsome than the medium and long chassis versions and the taller De Ville models, they are the epitome of pre-war sporting elegance and recall a lost era when Britain truly ruled the world. All the more amazing then, that they are so undervalued compared to rival (and some would say inferior) models from the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The best car in the world? Buy now while you can still afford it!