The Aston Martin Lagonda is a full-size luxury four-door saloon manufactured by Aston Martin between 1974 and 1990, 645 in total. The name came from the Lagonda marque that Aston Martin had bought in 1947, and there are two distinct generations: the original, short-lived 1974 design based on a lengthened Aston Martin V8, and the entirely redesigned wedge-shaped Series 2 introduced in 1976.
Aston Martin Lagonda at a glance
| Produced | 1974–1990 |
|---|---|
| Built | 645 cars |
| Series 1 | 1974–1975, seven built, long-wheelbase four-door V8 based on the DBS |
| Series 2, 3, 4 | wedge-shaped, designed by William Towns in 1976 |
| Engine | 4-cam carburetted 5.3 L V8 with Chrysler three-speed TorqueFlite automatic |
| Fuel economy | 12.4–12.5 mpg in contemporary road tests |
| Firsts | the first production car with a digital instrument panel |
| Successor | the Lagonda Taraf, announced for the Middle East in 2014 |
This page is based on English Wikipedia only (a trusted source), so the facts were not cross-checked against a second source.
History of the Aston Martin Lagonda
Aston Martin was under financial pressure in the mid-1970s and needed something to bring in funds. It had traditionally built 2+2 sports cars, but the Lagonda was a four-door saloon; as soon as it was introduced it attracted hundreds of deposits and boosted the company’s cash reserves.
Series 1, 1974–1975
The long-wheelbase four-door version of the Aston Martin V8 was announced at the 1974 London Motor Show. Designed by William Towns and based on the DBS, it was the first car to wear the Lagonda name since the 1961 Rapide. The 5.3 L V8 came with a five-speed manual or an automatic gearbox, and only seven were built.
Series 2–4, from 1976
After the seven Series 1 cars, the Lagonda was designed from the ground up in 1976 by William Towns as an extreme interpretation of the classic 1970s “folded paper” style. With contemporaries such as the Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit and DMC DeLorean, it is often named among the most striking wedge-shaped designs. It combined striking styling with a premium leather interior and, for the day, advanced instrumentation. Coupled to a Chrysler TorqueFlite automatic, its four-cam carburetted V8 gave poor fuel economy, affected little by the change to fuel injection in the Series 3.
The hand-built Lagonda was among the most expensive luxury saloons in the world; the only other production cars to approach its price were the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur and the Bentley Mulsanne. It was the first production car to use a digital instrument panel; the development cost for the electronics alone came to four times the budget for the whole car, and the Series 3 used cathode-ray tubes that proved even less reliable than the original LED display.
Reception
Bloomberg Businessweek named it one of the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years, and Time magazine included it in its “50 Worst Cars of All Time”, describing it as a mechanical “catastrophe” with electronics that would be impressive if they worked. As of 2022, 113 remain registered in the United Kingdom, 82 of them SORN.
Design and features
- Design: William Towns’s wedge, the “folded paper” style.
- Instruments: the first digital panel on a production car, LED at first and later cathode-ray tubes.
- Engine: a four-cam 5.3 L V8 with a Chrysler TorqueFlite automatic.
- Interior: premium leather.
Aston Martin Lagonda versions
- Series 1 (1974–1975): seven built.
- Series 2 (1976): the wedge-shaped redesign.
- Series 3: fuel injection and cathode-ray tube instruments.
- Series 4: the last version, to 1990.
More Aston Martin cars are in our Aston Martin collection, for example the V8 on which it was based, the Bulldog, also styled by William Towns, and the Virage.
Aston Martin Lagonda questions and answers
When was the Aston Martin Lagonda built?
From 1974 to 1990.
How many were made?
645.
Who designed it?
William Towns.
What was special about its instruments?
It was the first production car with a digital instrument panel.
What replaced it?
The Lagonda Taraf, announced in 2014 for the Middle East.
Video: Kult – Aston Martin Lagonda Shooting Brake | Motor mobil
Video by DW Deutsch on YouTube.
Sources
- Aston Martin Lagonda, English Wikipedia: history, models, reception
