1983 Aston Martin Lagonda

UK-supplied in right-hand drive. Rare in Windsor Red Metallic

Great expenditure between 2010-'15 by the previous owner

Full body respray and interior refresh in 2016 Now looks in remarkable condition for its age.

Supplied with UK V5c, MOT July '18 and huge history file

Large garage required for this at 17 foot 4" long

The Aston Martin Lagonda was a luxury four-door saloon built by Aston Martin of Newport Pagnell, between 1976 and 1989. A total of 645 examples were produced at an average selling price of £150,000, and the name was derived from the Lagonda marque that Aston Martin had purchased in 1947. Aston Martin was facing severe financial pressure in the mid-1970s following the petrol crisis and the Lagonda was aimed predominantly at the US and Middle Eastern markets.

Traditionally, Aston Martin had built two-door sports cars but the Lagonda was a four-door saloon utilizing the 5430cc, Tadek Merak-designed V8 engine that powered the current Aston Martin V8 models. As soon as it was introduced, its dramatic looks attracted hundreds of deposits from potential customers and in so doing, helped Aston Martin's finances. The car was designed by William Towns in an extreme interpretation of the classic 1970's "folded paper" style. It was as unconventional a design then as it is now, and even today car enthusiasts are fiercely divided on the car's aesthetic value. Throughout the history of the marque, these hand-built Lagondas were amongst the most expensive saloons in the world. The only other 'production' cars to approach its lofty price tag were from the stables of Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

The Lagonda was the first production car in the world to use computer management, a digital instrument panel and second series cathode ray tubes for the instrumentation. It combined striking styling with an opulent, 'members club' leather interior, and with its state-of-the-art instrument panel was a veritable spaceship. Coupled to a Chrysler 3-speed "TorqueFlite" automatic transmission, its quad-cam carbureted V8 could provide massive linear thrust when required. The later Series 3 and all Series 4 models were fuel injected.

This UK-supplied, right-hand drive Aston Martin Lagonda Series II was ordered new by a Mr D. Simmons of Walton-On-Thames and was first registered to him on 1st August 1983. The car was finished in Windsor Red Metallic with a magnolia leather interior piped in Burgundy and being an '83 car was a Series II model - the first of the "Wedge' Lagonda's sporting an LED digital dashboard. The first owner kept the car some five years before it was sold to its next keeper in Portsmouth. A string of owners later and the car was bought by a Mr R. Jerrom of Warwick in November 1997. He sent the car to marque specialists, Four Ashes Garage where it received a host of remedial work triggering a bill of £8,727.

Two more owners on and chassis #13277 was purchased by a Mr J. Clark of Stockport in 2010 who treated himself to this Aston on his 40th birthday. In Mr Clark's ownership, a great detail of work was carried out to detail areas of the car, including the engine bay, electrical system and interior. In fact, there is a full folder of photographs and descriptions, as Mr Clark was logging his progress on the LagondaNet forum. In 2015 the car was sent to David Marks of Nottingham for some bodywork welding repairs to the chassis and D-posts - a common area for corrosion on Lagondas. A series of invoices for almost £6,000 is included in the file.

Our vendor purchased the car in 2016 and has since had a full body respray along with a thorough clean of the interior leather, which now looks in remarkable condition for its age. Supplied with a UK V5c, an MOT until 24th July 2018, its handbook and a raft of folders containing its history, this car is now in presentable condition and reads just over 108,200 miles on the odometer. Interest in these cars has increased in recent years as classic car collectors acknowledge their limited production numbers-only 645 made until 1989 and their futuristic styling. This Aston is now ready to be someone else's 40th birthday present!