Lot Ended
Description
Four owners from new; only 32k miles indicated; original DOHC engine;
wonderful red leather interior; original number plate; last on the road about 50
years ago; complete car which will make a nice winter project for
someone
As they never
tire of telling you, Yorkshiremen have many fine qualities which set them apart
from their soft Southern neighbours, not least an ability to make money out of
the most unpromising materials*.
Born in
Huddersfield, David Brown grew up amidst the coal and soot of his family’s
ancestral foundry business so the adage “Where there’s muck there’s brass” was
probably tattooed on his brain as an infant.
And
while it would be a gross injustice to call the Lagonda 2.6 ‘muck’, it
is certainly true that the real ‘brass’ lay under its bonnet. Which is why Sir
David (he was knighted in 1968) bought Lagonda lock, stock and barrel in 1947,
having bought Aston Martin a few months before.
Prior to World War Two, Lagonda was famed for making some of the
finest cars ever to grace planet Earth, machines like the M45 Rapide and the
spectacular V12 Saloon. By 1947
they were in deep financial mire and while the 2.6 Saloon was by no means a bad
car, it did have its shortcomings.
Yes, it
retained the mechanical sophistication of a premium luxury car – bridging the
gap between Jaguar and Rolls-Royce, with all-round independent suspension,
rack-and-pinion steering, hydraulic self-jacking system and an
interior from an exclusive Pall Mall club – but it was no catwalk beauty and
was very costly to make.
Its real
trump card was the magnificent 2.6 straight-six engine, designed by none other
than WO Bentley, which is what David Brown was really after when he bought the
company. This featured an advanced dual overhead cam design, more typically
reserved for high-performance racing engines, with an intricate barrel crankcase
for exceptional rigidity and smoothness.
Producing around 125bhp, it could sweep the Lagonda toward 90mph with
barely a ripple on a glass of champagne, a pair of showgirls
lolling in furs across the back seats as his Lordship floored the pedal.
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh was a typical owner – not that we are suggesting
anything...
Fiercely expensive, only around 510
were sold between 1948 and 1953 (around 385 saloons and 125 drophead coupes) but
the 2.6 engine went on to power the far more successful Aston Martin DB range
which ultimately earned Sir David his knighthood.
Survivors of all types are now extremely rare as many were broken for
their engines, so this 1952 Lagonda 2.6 four-door Saloon is right up there with
hen’s teeth. First registered in London in November 1952, it comes with no real
history other than a V5C stating just three previous owners, an HPI check
suggesting that the first owner kept it right up until 1988.
The next owner kept the car for another 32 years, the current owner
acquiring it via Brightwells in early 2021 at which point it was in much the
same condition as you see today.
An old tax disc
suggests that it was last on the road in c.1978 and when we sold it in 2021, we
were told that it had been driven into storage in a garage in the south-east of
England at around that time.
As you can see in
the photos, NGO 648 is in a fairly sorry state but is far from being a basket
case. The chassis looks reassuringly sound and the largely aluminium coachwork
is in fairly decent shape too (only the front wings, the boot lid and the outer
sill covers are steel).
The interior is wonderfully mellowed and
original and should need little more than some sympathetic repairs to
the upper backrests of the front seats and a deep clean. Even the
carpets may be saveable, and the headlining perhaps, leading us to
believe that the indicated mileage of 32,024 may well be correct – who
knows?
Best of all, the original 2.6 engine and gearbox are still intact and
will no doubt set pulses racing among the Aston Martin fraternity, eager to
crane them out for use in a DB2. We think this car is rather too good to suffer
the indignity of that fate but that is up to you…
Retaining its original London-issue number plate, NGO 648 (which is
transferable, according to the V5C) this rare and luxurious sports saloon is
potentially a £50k car. On offer here at no reserve, it should make a
worthwhile winter project for someone,
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com
*Before you write in, your
scribe is 98.2% Yorkshire and while that may not be apparent from his accent, he
has the DNA results from ancestry.com to prove it…