While W.O.

Bentley’s name might now be synonymous with his own eponymous marque, the great designer and engineer had great influence on other prominent English automotive manufacturers of the day—not least Lagonda.

W.O.

joined the enterprise at the persuasion of Alan P.

Good, who had newly acquired rights to the Lagonda brand, and Bentley brought some of his team with him.

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-litre 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 recognised the model’s merits, with British publication The Autocar reporting that the LG45 offered “all the performance that anyone can reasonably require, and at the same time has been silenced, smoothed out and made a much more comfortable car,...