Lagonda Rapide

The Lagonda Rapide was a hand built, full-sized luxury four-door grand tourer produced by Aston Martin from 1961 until 1964 under its Lagonda marque. It was David Brown's attempt to revive the Lagonda name, unused since the 3.0 litre cars stopped in 1958, and it brought back the Rapide name that Lagonda had used in the 1930s. Based on the Aston Martin DB4 and styled by Carrozzeria Touring, it had rear-end styling similar to the DB4 convertible and an adapted Lagonda grille. A 4.0 litre straight-six double overhead camshaft engine, later used in the DB5, powered it, with a de Dion tube rear suspension, servo-assisted four-wheel disc brakes, a three-speed BorgWarner automatic gearbox on most cars and aluminium panels over a Superleggera tubular steel frame. Built to order at a base price of 4,950 pounds, 55 were produced, of which 48 survive, and one was converted into a shooting brake in 2005 and 2006.