Aston Martin Lagonda

:"This article is about a particular model of motor vehicle. For the motor vehicle manufacturer, see Aston Martin Lagonda, Ltd."Infobox Automobile


name=Aston Martin Lagonda
manufacturer=Aston Martin
production=1976–1991
predecessor=Lagonda Rapide
successor=Aston Martin Rapide
class=GT car
body_style=4-door saloon
layout=FR layout
engine=5.3 L V8 __NOTOC__The Aston Martin Lagonda was a luxury four-door sedan (saloon) built by Aston Martin of Newport Pagnell, England, between 1976 and 1989. 645 examples of this model were produced and the average selling price was £150,000.

Aston Martin was about to go out of business in the mid-1970s and needed something to bring in some much-needed funds. Traditionally, Aston Martin had worked on 2+2 sports cars, but the Lagonda — the model being named after a grand sporting marque — was a four-door saloon with a brand new V8 engine. As soon as it was introduced, it drew in hundreds of deposits from potential customers, helping Aston Martin's cash reserves.

The car was designed by William Towns in an extreme interpretation of the classic 1970s "folded paper" style. It was as unconventional a design then as it is now. 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 the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur, Bentley Mulsanne, and Maserati Quattroporte.Fact|date=February 2007

A number of "series" were produced during the lifetime of the model, including a facelift in the 1980s which attempted to round off the car's razor-like lines and removed the troublesome pop-up headlights, which had proved unreliable.

The Lagonda was the first production car in the world to use computer management and a digital instrument panel, although the computers in many of the original cars are failure-prone. The development cost for the electronics alone on the Lagonda came to 4 times as much as the budget for the whole car. The second series used cathode ray tubes for the instrumentation, which proved even less reliable than the original model's LED display.

The Lagonda's striking design and opulent, club-like leather interior, together with its then-state-of-the-art instrumentation, contrasted starkly with its decidedly "old world" 4-cam V-8 carbureted engine and Chrysler 3-speed "TorqueFlite" automatic transmission; the latter two combining to provide a poor, often single-digit miles-per-gallon rating.

Special variations of the series included:

* Rapide (a two-door, short wheelbase version)
* Tickford limousine
* Estate

pecifications

* Engine: 5.3 L (5340 cc/325 in³) DOHC V8
* Length: convert|17.4|ft|m|abbr=on
* Width: convert|5|ft|11.5|in|m|abbr=on
* Weight: convert|4622|lb|abbr=on
* Top speed: convert|230|km/h|mi/h|0|abbr=on

References

*cite book | author=Sujatha Menon, ed. | title=Super Cars, Classics of Their Time | publisher=Quintet Publishing | year=2004 | id=ISBN 0-7607-6228-7

External links

* [http://www.lagondanet.com/ Lagonda Net] — Roger Ivett's site dedicated to the Aston Martin Lagonda.
* [http://www.lagondarapier.co.uk/ Lagonda Rapier Enthusiasts web Site]