Young entrepreneur Alan P.

Good landed quite a coup when he purchased Lagonda in 1935.

Not only had he prevented the financially troubled company from falling into the hands of Rolls-Royce, he also persuaded none other than W.O.

Bentley to join the enterprise—and to bring some of his team with him.

Further signaling the marque’s celebrated upward trajectory, drivers Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés piloted a Lagonda M45 Rapide to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June of that year.

The first production Lagonda to be touched by the brilliance of W.O.

was the LG45.

The successor to the M45, the LG45 was built around the same highly capable, competition-proven 4.5-liter Meadows inline-six engine, but featured refinements such as synchromesh gears and a central lubrication system.

Introduced in 1936, the public and motoring press alike immediately recognized the model’s merits, with British publication The Autocar reporting that the LG45 offered “all the performance that anyone...