Body no.

Y558 '(The) much improved '4½'...

comes up to expectations...

It is doubtful whether a fast car has ever been made so steady and yet so comfortable.

It is almost uncannily easy to take this car round bends at high speeds and at the same time the insulation offered to passengers is of the highest order.' - The Autocar , 17th June 1938.

By the mid-1930s, cars using the proprietary Meadows engine were seen as the way forward for Lagonda.

The first of these - the M45, introduced in 1934 - deployed Meadows' 4.5-litre, twin-plug 'six' to good effect, saloons being capable of reaching 90mph and tourers the 'ton' under favourable conditions.

Under the great W O Bentley's technical direction the big Lagonda became more refined, gaining synchromesh gears, flexible engine mounts and centralised chassis lubrication among many other improvements.

The ultimate expression of the big, Meadows-engined Lagonda - the LG6 - arrived in 1937.

Announced at the same time as the Bentley-desig...