Here’s lookin’ at you, Lagonda

Remembering an iconic British car maker.

It is strange to think how an Italian-sounding car marque started by a Scots-American became one of the brightest stars in the British car firmament.

Yet these attributes apply to Lagonda, which is actually named after a gorge, first settled by the Shawnee tribe, in Springfield, Ohio, where opera singer-turned-entrepreneur Wilbur Gunn was born in 1859.

Gunn moved to the UK around 1890 and some years later started making motorbikes in his garden in Staines, Middlesex.

They were good – one of them won the London-Edinburgh trial in 1905. In 1907 he made his first Lagonda car, a 20hp sixcylinder called the Torpedo, and expanded from there.

When he died in 1920, Lagonda was quite a big firm by the norms of the time.

The car-maker assembled the engine, driveline, chassis and wheels, then farmed it out to various body-builders who put in the floor, body, glass, seats and top.

It took decades before Henry Ford’s assembly-line system was adopted by top-of-the-market car-makers.

However, Lagonda’s repute attracted top talent from other manufacturers, such as Lea Francis and Rolls Royce.

Biggest catches were W.O. Bentley, who designed some formidable engines, and Richard Watney from Rootes, who steered Lagonda through the Second World War when it produced everything from big guns to shells to flame-throwers.

In 1947 Lagonda was bought by David Brown and tied in with Aston Martin, then based at Feltham, Middlesex, although the combined firm later moved to Newport Pagnell, Bucks.

Lagondas continued to be produced but the focus was on Aston Martin, so they became the also rans with long periods when the marque went off the market.

The last model seen in any numbers in the UK was the Aston Martin Lagonda, produced from 1976 to 1989.

Designed by William Towns and seen as highly futuristic, it was a sharp-fronted low-slung four-door saloon with a string of tiny square headlights.

Despite high points, Aston Martin has had its share of problems. It endured changes of ownership, including several years with Ford, expansion followed by drastic slimdowns, years of bad losses, a move to Gaydon in Warwickshire and, most recently, plans for a new plant in South Wales.

Small wonder Lagonda got sidelined. However, plans were announced around 10 years ago for a new exclusive saloon, the Taraf, for the Middle East market.

The name Lagonda is not quite buried yet.

The Aston Martin Lagonda.