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Aston Martin Lagonda Series 1 - Child of the crises

Name: Aston Martin Lagonda Series 1 1974
Brand: Aston Martin

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Created on February 8, 2022

Text:

Paul Krüger

Photos:

Bonhams

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Bonhams

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Sedan based on the Aston Martin V8

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Only seven were built, two of them with manual transmission

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Four-door version of the Aston Martin V8

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Very similar to the Aston Martin V8 from the rear

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - One of four examples with a seven-liter engine

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - The radiator grille distinguishes it from the V8 Coupé

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Deep recessed headlights and indicators from the large series

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - The arch in the radiator grille quotes the Lagonda Rapide

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Mighty air scoop on the hood

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Exterior mirrors adjustable from the inside, still with chrome-plated housing

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Ornamental door handle and separate door lock

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Alloy wheels with complicated topography

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - 15-inch alloy wheels from the DBS V8

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Nardi wooden steering wheel and green tinted glass

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - fuel filler flap hidden between rear window and trunk

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Slim Lucas taillights

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Mounted rear fog light and the right of the two exhaust pipes

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Mahogany on the steering wheel and walnut on the dashboard

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Retrofitted Nardi steering wheel in the luxurious cockpit

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Small kilometer scaling in the mileage speedometer

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Speedometer up to 200 miles per hour (322 km/h)

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Seven Smiths instruments in wood

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Indicator light in the rev counter

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Kienzle quartz clock between the window regulators

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Air conditioning over a much too modern radio

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Switch panel with prominent cigar lighter and holder for a modern car telephone

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Narrow gear selector aisle in wide wooden panel

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Handbrake lever in the footwell

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Seats without headrests

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Electric seat adjustment

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Electric windows also rear

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Rear seat bench with folding center armrest

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Four examples were retrofitted with a seven-liter engine

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - Shrink-wrapped valve cover with clear labeling

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - R.S. Williams Ltd increased the engine capacity to seven liters

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Aston Martin Lagonda 7 Litre (1975) - This car is the sixth of seven examples built

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Strictly speaking, the Aston Martin DBS was the coupé version of the Lagonda and appeared as early as 1967

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The Lagonda shares its technical backbone with the DBS. The view-through drawing shows the six-cylinder

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The DBS V8 can be distinguished from the six-cylinder mainly by the alloy wheels and the front spoiler.

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The first four-door car was called the Lagonda DBS V8 and was built for David Brown in 1969. The purple one-off can still be seen here with the original wire wheels.

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The now dark blue car was offered (unsuccessfully) by Bonhams on May 17, 2014.

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This is what the production version of the Lagonda DBS V8 should look like. Note the twin headlights and the radiator grille.

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At the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, Aston Martin presents the 5.3-liter V8 engine with short stroke and Bosch fuel injection

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In April 1972, the name DBS was dropped. The new car was simply called the Aston Martin V8 and had single instead of twin headlights.

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Aston Martin Lagonda (1975) - Four-door sedan based on the V8, bearing the name 'Lagonda' again after many years

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This Lagonda with the car number "SWW 6" was the first "production" example and the company car of Aston Martin boss William Willson

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Probably the last Lagonda with chassis number 007 shortly before completion at the factory

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Summary

Ten years after the unsuccessful Lagonda Rapide, Aston Martin once again ventured to produce a four-door saloon. Based on the architecture of the DBS, it was intended to capture the market share of the recently discontinued Maserati Quattroporte and secure Aston Martin's financial position as a volume model. In the end, the number of cars built only marginally exceeded the number of insolvency proceedings. This article tells the story of the first four-door Aston Martin built in (small) series and shows it in many photos.

This article contains the following chapters

Two before four
Eight or six
The first bankruptcy
Two instead of four
The second bankruptcy
Three at once
Two for seven

Estimated reading time: 10min

Preview (beginning of the article)

William Towns preferred to shorten rather than lengthen. Aston Martin's in-house designer preferred to derive a coupé from a four-door saloon rather than artificially lengthen a two-door sports car and somehow cheat an entrance for the rear seat passengers into the bargain. Even if it was usually done differently in the circles of small-series sports car manufacturers, Towns followed not only the aesthetically but also the etymologically correct sequence. After all, "Coupé" means "cut off" in French. Whereas the name "Prolongé" is rarely used for saloons. When a successor to the Aston Martin DB6 was sought at the end of 1966, Towns began designing a hatchback saloon, following his own logic. Company owner David Brown no longer wanted to leave the luxury sports saloon segment to Jaguar and Maserati without a fight. The design language of the new Aston Martin was more angular than that of its predecessor, the basic features of which dated back to the 1958 DB4. A radiator grille across the entire width of the car with recessed twin headlights made the new model look wider and lower. Although both body variants were developed more or less in parallel, only the coupé initially went into series production. With a shorter wheelbase, lower roofline and half the number of doors, the new Aston Martin made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October 1967 as the "DBS".

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