1981 ASTON-MARTIN LAGONDA Registration Number: VPC 941X Cha...

Estimate

£42,000 - £50,000

1981 ASTON-MARTIN LAGONDA

Registration Number: VPC 941X
Chassis Number: L00R13074
Engine Number: V/580/3074
Recorded Mileage: c.41,000 miles

- Two private owners from 1982 - 2019
- Recent cosmetic refresh

The revival of the Lagonda brand was expressed first in 1974 as a long-wheelbase, four-door version of the Aston Martin V8, and latterly as a striking four-door executive express. Introduced in 1976 at the London Motor Show, the striking new model caused jaws to drop at launch. Its cutting edge “folded-paper” design, penned by William Towns, was mated to the same long-wheelbase V8 chassis as its immediate predecessor. Teething problems with the space-age electronic instrumentation delayed production to April of 1978, eventually to be replaced by a slightly less radical design. The coachwork was futuristic and the interior luxurious, featuring Connolly hides, deep Wilton carpeting and plentiful walnut veneer, all hand-finished by skilled craftsmen in the best Aston Martin tradition. A hugely expensive model, the Lagonda was face-lifted in 1987, acquiring a slightly softer, less hard-edged look, and continued in production until May 1990, by which time a total of 645 had been built. It has to be said, very few cars can match the visual presence of the Aston Martin Lagonda.

This particular Lagonda was first registered in August of 1981 to Saudi-based businessman Ibrahim Hassan Sharbatly. The car was specified in Scarborough Blue with a Beige leather interior, and with the registration XKX 331X. A year later the Lagonda was in new long-term ownership with a Mr. Stephen Chitty of Surrey, now wearing its current registration of VPC 941X. As such by the end of this first year the Lagonda showed three registered keepers, possibly as a result of applying and later removing private registration numbers. Registered to Mr. Chitty’s business until 1993, and to him personally until 2002, at some point in this period the Lagonda’s coachwork was refinished in black. In October of 2002 the Aston-Martin was registered to dealer Smith Parkinson of Brigg in Lincolnshire, trading the car to a Mr. Albert Edwards of Cromer in Norfolk at 35,315 miles. Mr. Edwards appears to have kept the car until 2019, until more recently the Lagonda passed to its current owner.

Looking through the original service book, we find stamps at 9,881 and 15,874 miles in 1983 (H.W. Motors), at 25,707 miles in 1985 (again by H.W. Motors), and later in 2003 at 36,621 miles by A.Wright & Sons of Norwich. Wright & Sons appear to have maintained the car on behalf of Mr. Edwards throughout the early 2000s, as indicated by annual MoT certificates from 2002 through to 2011, and a number of service bills during this period by Wright & Sons.

When acquired by our vendor the paintwork was a little tired, and so was refinished in a deep shade of metallic black, the interior cleaned, and the car serviced ((in April 2023) with new oil, filters, plugs, rebuilding of all four carburettors, engine compression checks, and setting of timing and fuelling. The Lagonda currently shows c. 41,000 miles recorded.

Offered complete with its original service book, wallet, handbook, warranty card and wiring diagram, and with an MoT certificate valid to November 2024, this uber-cool spaceship of a car really does merit closer attention.