Four Of A Kind
Brooklands Lagonda 2-Litre team cars emerge for sale at Bonhams
Aremarkable quartet of vintage racing Lagondas that has been in the same family for 60 years will be offered by Bonhams at its Goodwood Revival sale on 18 September. The Fox and Nicholl Team squad of four 1929 Lagonda 2-litre Low Chassis Tourers was prepared for the 1929 racing season by the garage of the same name based in Tolworth, which was in Surrey at the time and not far from Brooklands. All four Lagondas were registered to Arthur Fox and given consecutive registration numbers – PK 9201 through 9204 – though the first two were actually owned by a syndicate and PK 9204 by Robin Jackson.
First outing for the team was at the 1929 Brooklands Double Twelve meeting – a 24-hour race run in 12-hour sessions over two days, hence the name. The Fox and Nicholl cars took second, third and sixth places in the race, enough to win them the team prize though they were pipped to the outright win by another Lagonda.
The car pictured, PK 9203, took third place and was the only one of the quartet to be entered into the 1929 Le Mans 24 Hours race where it was driven by Tim Rose Richards and Brian Lewis. Despite the fact that it retired after 283 miles with a blown head gasket, simply running at Le Mans confers extra kudos and value on the car. The other three have each been given a £200k-£300k estimate by Bonhams, while PK 9203 is expected to make £300k-£400k.
Other races followed including the Irish Grand Prix at Phoenix Park and the BARC six-hour race at Brooklands, where another team prize was collected. After the end of the 1929 season the cars were all sold off to different individuals and that might have been it. However, between 1948 and ’61 they were diligently tracked
‘After the 1929 season the cars were all sold off to different individuals and that might have been it, were they not diligently tracked down between 1948 and 1961’
down and bought by Captain Ivan Forshaw. He made his name as a Lagonda specialist in the Thirties, established the Lagonda 2-litre Register, then launched Aston Service Dorset in 1972. It was that company that then over time restored the cars to their present period-correct condition. They remained in the showroom at Aston Service Dorset until last year, still in the ownership of the Forshaw family. They come with period photographs – and documents included their original buff logbooks, along with a comprehensive history file on the cars put together by Ivan Forshaw. By the time of the sale all will have been properly recommissioned for road use.
It’d be nice to think that the cars will remain together, but whether that happens or the set is broken up, calling this a rare opportunity would be an understatement – none of the quartet has been offered for sale for at least six decades and the estimates aren’t outrageous.