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Lot 314
1939 Lagonda V12 Saloon
Registration no. GVU 675 Chassis no. 14105 Engine no. 48
?80,000 – 100,000
?99,000 – 120,000http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21906/lot/314/
The factory-bodied Lagonda V12 saloon offered here was originally built for the then managing director of Lagonda Motors, Richard ‘Dick’ Watney, and delivered to him on 24th October 1939, shortly after the outbreak of WW2. Mr Watney left for Australia immediately after the war and the Lagonda was then rebuilt by the factory and sold as a new car to one F C Price of London NW1 on 27th June 1946. Mr Price registered it in Manchester on 15th May 1947 as ‘GVU 675’.
The accompanying Lagonda Club letter from its Hon Registrar, Arnold Davey, lists the following subsequent owners in factory and Club records: Major R de C Vigors of Chester (1948), R L Steynor of Ledbury (circa 1950), Les Buckton of Morton Bagot (May 1970) and David Dunn of Monkstown, Dublin (circa 1975). The Lagonda subsequently went to Australia where it was owned by Marcel Seroussi of Prahran and later Armadale, Victoria, and in August 2005 was recorded as owned by Advocate J P Labesse of St Lawrence, Jersey, Channel Islands. The car next changed hands in June 2013, apparently to another member of the Labesse family.
Now reunited with its old UK registration, ‘GVU 675’ is described by the vendor as in generally good condition, its engine running very smoothly. The car is offered with aforementioned correspondence, MoT to September 2014 and V5C registration document.
Interesting history, must have been one of the last cars “sold” by Lagonda.
I do like the Australia connection, there seems to be a significant number of V12 cars that took trips to Oz, and no doubt visited “Walcha” in some form or other…
Now at H & H with the original reg number.
Interesting….has a Sanction 1 engine.
And Riley RM boot hinges!
Estimate is more sensible as well at ?60-80k, meaning there is a stronger possibility it might actually sell this time round..
Doubt it !
Goodness knows what lurks beneath the bonnet .
Why do you think that ?
Have you inspected or driven the car in the last year ?
Went to the auction and the car sold for over ?88k including premium so the new owner will have some fun I am sure , although I didn’t bid on the car myself .
It was clear that the car was going to sell with such a low reserve, it just depended on how much the two buyers bidding want to buy a V12, and someone paid ca. ?88k.
Perhaps they know something we don’t ?
I assume you inspected the car at Duxford as you know an awful lot about it. Maybe you can enlighten us what we missed.
I was with two Lagonda guys and we have five running V12’s between us . There wasn’t one piece of paperwork in the car file to say what or when anything had last been done. Zip Zero Nada and you say it was clear it was going to sell.Please explain as it baffles me how by looking at a shiny rocker cover you can tell whats lurks beneath. I left a bid at half the sales amount including commission but I would guess as the event was swarming with German and Belgiums that it went abroad and is a likely candidate for yet another Le Mans special.Dear Stewart,
the body of this car looks far to good to me to destroy it for a special and I think it is not especially the Germans and Belgians who build the V12 specials. I bought mine (deVille Saloon body) 11 years ago at auction (different price level though at that time). I was lucky with my purchase. Nothing bad lurking, but this was luck no proof by restauration papers.
But I am also curious to hear if one of you knows more about things lurking beneath this bonnet
Stewart,
I had seen the car and been informed of its history.
Contacting the club is always a good starting point.
Yep the body wasn’t too bad and its nice that someone has been informed of its history ?
There was nothing at all with the car to say what had been done and therefore it was impossible to tell what lurked under the rocker covers . If I were selling particularly an incredibly expensive to repair V12 . Then I would be shouting from the roof tops what had been done and not the opposite . Time will tell.
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