‘Of the half-dozen patrician motor cars still remaining on the world market, none ever inherited such a rich patrimony of design as the 12-cylinder Lagonda .

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It is a new-born car, unrelated to any yet on the road - here or on the Continent .

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Such is the 12-cylinder Lagonda - a car destined to rank from now on, among the greater names in motoring history'.

(Lagonda Press Release, August 1937) The most technologically advanced motorcar to come out of Britain pre-WW2, the Lagonda V12 had few international peers.

Bugatti's Type 57 may have boasted a similarly exotic overhead camshaft powerplant but its chassis layout was positively archaic by comparison.

Mercedes-Benz's 540K could match the British car's power output but only when its refinement-compromising supercharger was engaged, while Hispano-Suiza's J12 needed over twice the cubic capacity to develop an extra forty horsepower! A landmark design, the Lagonda will forever be notable as the world's first production car ...