ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA VIGNALE, 1993

The Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale Concept was presented at the 1993 Geneva motor show alongside what would become the new DB7. It was produced for Aston by Ghia, a marriage of two storied design houses.

The name came from Alfredo Vignale’s outfit, a noted Italian coachbuilding firm bought by Ford in 1973 along with Carrozzeria Ghia. You’ll know both badges better for being slapped on the side of top trim Mondeos for over 30 years.

The Vignale concept was a generally well received attempt to gauge the interest in a four-door Lagonda. That endless sagging rear and pizza pan alloys evoke a long bygone era, while the deep-pile carpets, luxurious leather and wooden accents were designed to conjure the feeling of being in a gentleman’s club – the classy kind, not the one with the greasy poles. But this was the same retro pastiche style that would later hobble the Jag S-Type – perhaps designer Moray Callum inspired his brother, Ian.

The chassis was another retro nod, the concept built on a stretched Lincoln Town Car set-up itself built on Ford’s Panther platform, in use since 1979. Interestingly, other cars on the same platform include the Ford Crown Victoria of New York taxiand US police fame and George H W Bush’s 1989 presidentiallimo.

It’s often thought only two Vignales were built – blue and grey versions were used at the Geneva show and for promotionalpurposes. The blue was auctioned off in 2002 for $403,500 after a decade in storage at Ford’s globalHQ, while the grey car was destroyed in 1993. But in classic sequelbaiting style, a third survived. This burgundy example included the V12 rather than a V8, two armchair-style rear seats instead of the already sumptuous bench, and a restyled grille. This was sold to the deep-pocketed Sultan of Bruneiin 1995 for a cool£1.3m.

In the realword, though, Ian’s DB7 got the nod – must have been an awkward Christmas in the Callum house – because Ford execs were nervous about the money. There had been various abortive attempts to establish the marque – the futuristic blocky Lagonda saloon was on sale from 1976–90, and the Rapide (a name since stolen by Aston) was a swanky four-door saloon available from 1961–64.

Most recently, the Lagonda name was slapped on a tarted up $1m Rapide, of which 120 were sold. Now Aston Martin plans to relaunch Lagonda as an all-electric brand, with a giant electric SUV concept getting wheeled out at various motor shows. Perhaps we’llbe writing about that one in 30 years...