4 DOOR DRIVE

The little known and even less often seen cousin of Aston Martin, the Lagonda Mk 1 from 1974, L/12003/RCAC was the third 4 door version to be built and was the 1974 Earls Court show car appearing in Cosmic Fire Tourmaline Blue with Off White Leather. It was interestingly described in the press release as "Not being a car for the masses" and launched at GBP14,040 which included 8% VAT of 1,040 but is a genuine 4 seater with a wheelbase of 2,914mm and kerb weight of 2,000kg. 12003 is one of the 5 automatic versions built with the remaining 2 being manual. Sometime later an eighth one was assembled from spare parts found within the factory.

In 2003 and in need of some body repairs, a previous owner had the car upgraded to "Oscar India" specification by closing off the power bulge, adding the tail lip, retrimming the interior with the POW finishes and adding a POW spoiler and Ronal 16 inch rims, making a fully detailed record of the transformation as it progressed and completed the upgrade with a R S Williams 7 litre engine version developing 480hp at the wheels. While making this an exhilarating car to drive, fuel consumption barely reaches above an eye watering 9 mpg but she will happily sit at 90mph all day long or until the fuel runs out.

in 2017, I bought the car from Aston Martin Works and shortly after discovered that the engine block that RSW had used for the conversion was not the original block but based on the later 580 series so an original 540 series block was found which was then given the RSW treatment and with the 18 year old Spraytech paintwork still shining like new, L/12003/RCAC is close to as perfect a condition as can be.