1939 Lagonda V12 Medium Chassis Saloon For Sale

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Chassis number 16049
Engine Number 16049
Registration FGX978

Rare when new, & rarer now. This is one of around 5 known survivors with the medium length chassis; they seldom come to market.

In the owner's words:

This car is a black Lagonda V-12 Long Saloon with a Lagonda factory coach built body on the Medium chassis; it has a gold coach line on the sides, on the Ace wheel discs, and on the twin wing cases, as was done when the car was new. There is a miniature family crest (mine) on each rear door.

The upholstery is mid brown leather and is original; it has lasted well and I think is too good not to keep. The full width sliding roof works properly and keeps the rain out. The windscreen opens forwards and has a new rubber seal. The wipers have a new motor.

The wheelbase of the medium chassis gives about 8 inches more legroom in the back as compared to the short saloon, otherwise the two cars and their bodies are identical. The obvious advantage of the longer of the two cars is that the back seat is exceptionally comfortable, and has plenty of legroom for a tall passenger even when the driver is also tall. The short saloon lacks this vital property and is very restricted in the back. Short chassis cars have chassis numbers configured 14????, Medium chassis cars 16????, Long chassis cars 18????.

This is a Medium chassis car and carries Chassis number 16049, engine number is also 16049, with an additional factory engine number V-12 / 17. The Registration number is FGX978 and the car was first registered on New Year’s Day 1939, 1-1-39. Without knowing exactly, it seems likely that there are fewer than ten of these cars in existence world wide; I believe the probable number is seven or eight.

Overall conception and design was by W. O. Bentley, (from 1935, Technical Director of Lagonda), who was tasked by Alan Good, the Chairman, to design and build the “Finest Car in the World”. The Lagonda V-12 is the result. A similar car put 101 miles into the hour at Brooklands including bursting a tyre and changing to the spare on the track during the attempt. It then put in a lap at112 mph.

The body was designed by Frank Feeley, who later went on to design the bodies on the Aston-Martin DB2, DB 2/4, the DB Mark III, the DB3S and the Lagonda 2.6 and 3.0 cars. The design team for the V-12 included a number of key personnel who came from Rolls-Royce and had worked on the V-12 Phantom III, including Tresillian amongst others.

The Lagonda V-12 can be regarded as one of the first of the modern engine designs, whilst the Phantom III represents a late continuation of the large slow revving vintage derivatives. The Lagonda with only 4.5 litres comfortably outperforms the 7.3 litre Phantom III.

Late in the winter of 1938/39 Alan Good bullied W. O. Bentley into a project to enter two V-12 specially prepared racing cars at the 1939 Le Mans 24 hour sports car race. Bentley agreed, with the proviso that the cars would run to a pre-set time target of 2mph faster than the winner in 1938. He insisted that the cars would not race in the ordinarily accepted sense, but would conduct their own speed and reliability trial and go for an outright win in 1940, which of course became impossible. The two Lagondas finished 3rd and 4th behind the winning Bugatti Type 57SC Tank and a Delage, which came second. The Lagondas finished at exactly the speed W. O. Bentley had set for them and they didn’t even open their bonnets during the race. One of these cars won the last ever race at Brooklands in August 1939. Both of the racing V-12s survive and a number of saloons, including the Brooklands one hour car, have been converted into Replica Le Mans cars.

This car, FGX978, was first owned by Major D. R. Crawfurd-Stirling-Stuart, (known as Cuddy) who lived at Crakewell Hall near Bedale in Yorkshire. My late wife knew the family as do a number of friends of mine. The story is told that the Lagonda went up to Scotland to their place in the highlands with the children in August 1939, and that Mrs Cuddy followed with the luggage and staff in a Lancia Aprilia. On arrival, the Lancia drove into the back of the Lagonda on the drive. That honourable wound is still in evidence! I have since had a genuine rear bumper fitted.

The next owner was Geoffrey Haseler, and the amazing co-incidence is that in this tiny village of about forty souls, lives his niece, Jean Haseler. The car has lived in the Isle of Wight, in Ireland and at Lymington, where we, co-incidentally, also used to have a house. As far as I can detect, it has always lived with people who could afford to look after it and it has never sunk into dereliction as so many others have. The car is substantially original, the seats and headlining are original, the carpets, however, are new.

The owner from whom I bought it about twelve years ago, Jonathan Oppenheimer, Chairman of the Lagonda Club, had a great deal of work done to the car, new radiator, extra cooling fan, extra fuel pump in the rear, telescopic shock absorbers in the front, new suspension joints and bushes, and he had the steering overhauled.

I have continuously refurbished and looked after this car and I had the engine completely rebuilt with a new crankshaft, valve gear, Carillo connecting rods, Arias forged aluminium pistons and a modern oil filter concealed in the original body, and a new starter motor. I also had a dip stick fitted. Naturally all the main and big end bearings are new, and the block was rebored giving very slightly larger bores at the extremities. I have attended to the transmission and gearbox and have had a new clutch fitted. A lot of tiresome, fiddly and expensive work has been done by me to the body as well. All locks and winders have been adjusted and reworked, and the windows have been made not to rattle and to fit properly. New wooden panels have been made and fitted to the doors under the original leather. All the door hinges have been through bolted and plated on the inside to avoid the problem of wood screws failing to grip the wood. The headlights and radiator shell and louvers have been rechromed as have a small number of the details. The louvers have been adjusted and packed to stop them rattling. The battery and the voltage regulator and speedometer cable are new. A new stainless steel exhaust system has been fitted. Most of this work was done by Bishop Gray, the leading Lagonda restorers. Minor work has been done by Alan Clear and also by Nigel Hudson.