Gregor Wenner
Specialist Consultant
LOT 145
1938 Lagonda 4½-Litre LG6 Drophead Coupé Coachwork by Lagonda Chassis no. 12327 Engine no. 12327
Estimate: €150,000 - €170,000
Lot 145
1938 Lagonda 4½-Litre LG6 Drophead Coupé
1938 Lagonda 4½-Litre LG6 Drophead Coupé
Coachwork by Lagonda
Chassis no. 12327
Engine no. 12327
Coachwork by Lagonda
Chassis no. 12327
Engine no. 12327
• One of an estimated 25 LG6 drophead coupés surviving
• Ownership history known since 1954
• Long-term ownership from 1989 onwards and well maintained
• Ownership history known since 1954
• Long-term ownership from 1989 onwards and well maintained
Footnotes
"(The) much improved '4½'... comes up to expectations... It is doubtful whether a fast car has ever been made so steady and yet so comfortable. It is almost uncannily easy to take this car round bends at high speeds and at the same time the insulation offered to passengers is of the highest order." - The Autocar, 17th June 1938.
The Lagonda Motor Company was founded in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by the American Wilbur Gunn (1859-1920), a former opera singer who named it after a river near his home town of Springfield, Ohio. Gunn had started out building motorcycles in the greenhouse at his home in Staines with some success. He later added tricars to the line-up, one of which, driven by its creator, won the 1905 London to Edinburgh Trial. Single-cylinder tricars were offered at first, followed by others powered by v-twin engines, the first (single-cylinder) three-wheeler being delivered in December 1903. After some teething troubles had been sorted out and improvements made, the Lagonda tricar was ready for its public debut and was the subject of an illustrated article in the 5th April 1904 edition of The Motor Cycle.
Motorcycles were dropped in 1906 and the tricars in 1908, the next Lagonda being a proper four-wheeler powered by a v-twin engine, only a few of which were made. Small scale production began soon afterwards with Coventry-Simplex-powered four-cylinder 14/16hp and 16/18hp models. Having established its reputation by winning the Moscow - St Petersburg Reliability Trial of 1910 with one of the 16/18hp tourers - crewed by Gunn and chief tester, Bert Hammond - Lagonda concentrated mainly on the production of light cars before reverting to sporting and luxury models in the mid-1920s with the introduction of the 14/60.
By the mid-1930s, cars using the proprietary Meadows engine were seen as the way forward for Lagonda. The first of these - the M45, introduced in 1934 - deployed Meadows' 4.5-litre, twin-plug 'six' to good effect, saloons being capable of reaching 90mph and tourers the 'ton' under favourable conditions. Under the great W O Bentley's technical direction the big Lagonda became more refined, gaining synchromesh gears, flexible engine mounts and centralised chassis lubrication among many other improvements.
The ultimate expression of the big, Meadows-engined Lagonda - the LG6 - arrived in 1937. Announced at the same time as Lagonda's Bentley-designed V12, the LG6 used a similar, diagonally cross-braced chassis featuring independent front suspension by means of unequal length wishbones and torsion bars. Two chassis lengths were made (standard and long, those of the six-cylinder cars being longer than the V12's) and both models came with Lagonda's own coachwork. Regardless of the style of body fitted, the LG6 was good for around 100mph, with lighter types capable of considerably more. Only 64 short wheelbase LG6s were made between early 1938 and late 1939 (plus 18 long wheelbase) of which around 50 are believed to have survived. Some 25 are thought to be drophead coupés like this example.
Originally registered in the UK as 'FXF 6', this particular LG6 first came to the Lagonda Club's attention in 1954 when it was owned by a Mr Verral. In 1958 the car passed to a Mr R J Hands of Ross-on-Wye, who was followed in 1962 by one Harold Collins, the registration changing to 'HJC 50' at this time. The Club records the car as belonging to one E Gottishall in the USA in 1976, and it subsequently returned to the UK in 1982, once more in the ownership of the aforementioned Harold Collins. In 1989 the Lagonda was sold via the Carriage Co to next owner Mr Alan Pascoe of Middlesex, who would be its custodian for the next 30-or-so years.
The accompanying history file consists of bills accumulated during Mr Pascoe's ownership, testifying to the fact that the car was well maintained during this period. A wonderful opportunity to acquire one of the finest British sporting cars of the 1930s in its most desirable drophead coupé form.
Additional information
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